I imagine that this step for Google and Russian Railways will push forward the virtual world that many use  already online, it will enable people looking at different places to go on holiday to get a realistic taster of the feeling of being there rather than staged shots in travel guides where a lot of the pictures can be quite similar.

Some state that this could be an alternative for cash-strapped people who want to look at areas of the world they may never get to travel to, however I think that it may give those with the natural curiosity to travel even more itchy feet; it certainly did me! For whatever reason you’d like to see the Trans Siberian Railway though, this new view is worth a look. Check it out here.

Holiday Villas and Cottages Magazine on MyeBook.com

There are several ways to read our paper-based sister publication, Holiday Villas and Cottages magazine. The most common is in popular news agents, such as WH Smiths. Or you might stumble upon it in the waiting room of a doctor’s, dentist’s, hairdresser’s, or health club.

But we’ve also been putting copies online. The usual way to read the magazine online is via Zmags — and you can always read the latest issue at the magazine’s website. More recently, we’ve been playing about with putting online issues on another virtual magazine publisher, myebook.com. The site allows you to flick through a virtual copy of the magazine and comment on the articles. You can read the latest issue via myebook.

We’re also really happy to announce that a previous issue of Holiday Cottages magazine has now reached over 12,000 views. So we’re looking forward to adding future issues onto the platform and reaching new audiences for the magazine.

We’re just putting the finishing touches to the latest issue of Holiday Villas & Cottages magazine. I’ll add another post when it hits the shelves (and when we add it to the virtual newsstand here on Villaseek!) But before that happens, I wanted to highlight a few of the articles from the last issue (HV & C issue 2).

First up, Jos Simon discovers a quieter part of Crete – starting off at the Drapano Peninsula, near Chania.

And we have a brief intro to the other articles you can find in Issue 2, right here.

We’ve got articles on the Costa de la Luz, a guide to holidaying in Fuerteventura (Canary Islands), a piece on Sarasota (Gulf Coast), plus loads more features — 268 pages of travel articles and holiday villa listings. I hope you enjoy reading it – and please let us know what you think, either by adding a comment below, or by getting in contact via Villaseek.com.

I think it’s very clever the way Tom K has put Holiday Villas magazine on-line. It’s a pity that it’s tucked away in a blog entry (June 4th) but I believe it’s shortly to be made much more visible when Tom and Jason complete a new Villaseek front page.

I suppose the question arises: why print a magazine if you can read it on-line? Well, there are lots of reasons: for a start, there are still people who do not use the Internet. I know several elderly people who love to go on villa holidays but who have no idea what a URL is, and they’re really too old to learn. The phone has served them well up till now, so why change? they say. Then, there’s the scenario of being curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine or, indeed, a cup of cocoa with a magazine full of fantastic sounding places to go. Yes, using the laptop on the sofa is almost as good but not quite and most people (I assume anyway – are there any figures?) have desktop computers rather than laptops. I’ve spoken to lots of people who love the magazine and a few people who now only book their villa holidays on-line. So I think we’ve got all angles covered. Well done, Tom. When will the new Villaseek front page be ready?

Eve