In Google Earth Pro for Desktop, you can record a tour in real time by clicking the navigation controls or by clicking on saved placemarks. However, unless you are just moving from one point to another, the resulting tour may not be as smooth as you’d like. For example, if you have three placemarks, then as you click each placemark while recording the tour, the transition between placemarks will not be smooth.
To create a smooth tour that appears as if you are flying a plane or drone at a fixed altitude along a multipoint path, you need to create a path in Google Earth. Here’s an example. Let’s say we want to fly along the Las Vegas Strip.
Change Settings
Go to Tools > Options > Touring and change the settings as in this screenshot. Make sure to click the “Apply” button and the “OK” button to save your changes.
Now, click the “Navigation” tag and change the settings to match this screenshot.
Create Path
When adding a path, your mouse pointer will turn into a crosshair and you will need click to add points along your desired path. In this mode, you will not be able to zoom, change altitude, direction or pan by clicking on the screen because doing so would add path points. If you need to move around, you’ll need to use the navigation controls.
When creating a path, I find it easier to have your view facing straight down to the ground like this. In this example, my starting point will be just south of the south end of the Strip before the Mandalay Bay.
Click Add > Path
A dialog window will pop up. We’ll name the path “Las Vegas Strip”. Let’s also specify the altitude we want our flight path to be from the ground.
Click the “Altitude” tab.
Set Altitude to “400m” for 300 meters.
Make sure “Relative to ground” is selected.
Click to add path points
In the screenshot below, you’ll see that I created 3 points. From bottom to top, there’s 2 red points and 1 blue point.
Since I need to pan to the north to add more points along the Strip, I will use the navigation control up arrow to do so.
After adding all the last point (just north of the STRAT), I zoomed out to check the entire path. As you can see, all but the last point are red and the path curves to the right as it goes north.
Now that my path is done, I’ll click the OK button in the path dialog window. That adds the path to My Places.
Since I don’t want to see the white path line / curve, I’ll uncheck the checkbox next to the path name.
To play the path tour, just click the path Play Tour button, as shown below.
If you’re happy with how the tour looks, you can record it by clicking the “Record a Tour” button and then click the Play Tour button.
Then click Tools > Movie Maker to export the video.
UPDATE: I watched the Sphere Experience “Postcard from Earth” show at the Sphere in June 2025. It was just okay. I’d give it a 3.5/5.
Buffets
Buffet at Wynn
5/5
Buffet at Caesars Palace
4/5
Buffet at Palms
3/5
Buffet at SouthPoint
2/5
Note: Though the food at the SouthPoint Garden Buffet was just 2/5 on average, the prime rib was delicious. As one the cheapest buffets in Vegas, if you like prime rib like I do, then this buffet is worth it for $36.
Prime Rib Cooked Medium at SouthPoint’s Garden Buffet
Water Parks
Vegas can get really hot in the summer, which may make you want to go to a water park.
Personal opinion: the wave pool isn’t impressive. There’s only one wave every few minutes. The lazy river is small, but it has a strong current, which is nice.
Personal Opinion: This is a relatively small waterpark compared to the ones I’ve tried in Orlando, FL. However, it wasn’t crowded, which meant lines were short. There was a decent variety of rides and they were all fun. The wave pool creates large waves every 5 minutes and they last for maybe 5 minutes. Definitely a lot of fun as the strong waves can push you towards the beach. The lazy river is of decent length, however, the current wasn’t very strong.
Take free tram to Luxor and Excalibur or walk through the enclosed walkway
Luxor
Opened in 1993
4400 rooms
Take pictures of Egyptian architectural theme
Titanic Artifact Exhibition Apr 27 – Sep 4 | 11 AM – 8 PM; Last admission 7 PM Sep 8 – Nov 12 | 11 AM – 6 PM; Last admission 5 PM Nov 13 – Dec 31 | 11 AM – 8 PM; Last admission 7 PM $32
Bodies… The Exhibition Apr 27 – Sep 4 | 11 AM – 8 PM; Last admission 7 PM Sep 8 – Nov 12 | 11 AM – 6 PM; Last admission 5 PM Nov 13 – Dec 31 | 11 AM – 8 PM; Last admission 7 PM $32
See Cirque du Soleil’s Mystere FRIDAY – TUESDAY* 2 Shows | 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. Arrive 30 mins early for pre-show entertainment Actual performance time is approximately 90 mins $64 – $135
This itinerary assumes a starting point in Foster City, California near Qualys headquarters. It does not include every single tourist destination, but it does include many popular ones. This particular itinerary includes brunch and dinner at restaurants based on personal preference. The itinerary was designed to make a loop to avoid backtracking as much as possible.
Eggs Benedict: Grilled Canadian Bacon, Two Poached Eggs, Crispy English muffins & House-made Tomatillo Hollandaise Sauce. Served with Rosemary Garlic Potatoes or Fresh FruitEggs Florentine: Sautéed Spinach, Roasted Tomatoes, Crispy English muffins, Two Poached Eggs, Topped With House-made Tomatillo Hollandaise Sauce. Served with Rosemary Garlic Potatoes or Fresh FruitHash on Haight: Corned Beef brisket, sauteed peppers, onions, Rosemary Garlic Potatoes & 2 eggs any style topped with house-made tomatillo hollandaise sauce. Served with a side of Fresh FruitPhilly Cheese SteakFunky Monkey Crepe: Bananas, brown sugar, Nutella, ice creamBerrylicious Crepe Tiramisu Crepe Basic Dessert Crepe
Drive from Tracy to San Francisco Int’l Airport (SFO)
8:30 AM
Check in
Flight
SQ 31
Airline
Singapore
Confirmation Number
2ZAVWN
11:30 AM
Take off to Singapore
Flight Duration: 16h 40m Plane: Airbus A359
Sunday, October 27, 2024
7:10 PM
Land at Changi International Airport, Singapore
7:10 PM
Go to connecting flight
Layover in Singapore: 3 hours 30 minutes
Flight
SQ 968
Airline
Singapore
Confirmation Number
2ZAVWN
10:40 PM
Take off to Jakarta
Flight Duration: 1 hr 35 min Plane: Boeing 777-300ER
11:25 PM
Land in Jakarta, Indonesia
12:00 AM
Drive to Hania’s house
Jalan Sakatak lll No.47 RT 2 / RW 15 Abadijaya, Sukmajaya, Depok City, West Java 16417 Indonesia
Food to Eat
Sticky sweet rice with shredded coconut
Sumedang Tofu
Bubur Kacang Ijo with Ketan and Santen
Sweet Martabak (مطبق)
Mutabak or Martabak is a street food that originated in southern Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and its name in Arabic (مطبق) means folded. It spread to Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Brunei, where it is even more popular than in Arabia and has many variations, including a sweet and a savory version. The matabak that is found on the streets of Sanaa is usually an egg or cheese version, but you can add a variety of fillings.
Hotel Skypark Myeongdong 2 호텔 스카이파크 명동 2호점 22, Myeongdong 9-gil, Jung-gu, Jung-Gu, Seoul, 04538, South Korea 중구 명동9길 22, 중구 (서울특별시, 04538)
8:30 PM
Walk around Myeongdong
9:30 PM
Dinner at Myeongdong fried chicken street
Korean fried chicken
Saturday, May 13
9:00 AM
Go to Myeongdong Tourist Information Center
Buy 3-day mPASS and local SIM card
There is a $4.11 deposit. Get deposit refund (minus $0.41 for the cost of the card) at the Tourist Information Center at the airport before leaving Korea.
MPass can be used on subway lines, airport railroad all-stop train, Seoul city buses (mainline buses, branch buses, circulation buses, village buses, night buses)
The pass offers 20 rides a day for the duration of the pass.
A traditional street market in Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea. The market is one of the oldest and largest traditional markets in South Korea, with more than 5000 shops and 20,000 employees in an area of 42,000 square meters.
HONG BAR Myeongdong is an all-you-can-eat buffet-style restaurant located in the center of Myeongdong, a popular tourist destination. Samgyeopsal (three slices of pork), yangnyeom daegalbi (seasoned pork), yangnyeom dakgalbi (seasoned chicken), and other 7 types of meat that you cannot miss on your trip to Korea, along with side dishes such as tteokbokki and salad, will fill you up for 90 minutes.
Eat 찐빵 (Jjinppang: Fluffy steamed buns filled with sweet red beans)
12:30 PM
Take subway to Jamsil station, visit Seoul Sky Observatory
The Seoul Sky Observatory is located at the top of the Lotte World Tower, the world’s fifth tallest building standing 123 stories and 555 meters high. As the tallest building in South Korea, it is the only place where you can take in a gorgeous 360-degree view of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea roaring with brilliant history and dynamic modern culture.
Hottoek is a Korean-styled pancake. One of the most popular Korean street snacks, it is made from a simple flour batter and filled with sweet syrup made from cinnamon, brown sugar, and peanuts. It’s a great snack when you’re between meals.
*
화전 (Hwajeon: Pan-fried Sweet Rice Cakes with Flower Petals)
Red beans are mixed with eggs and wheat dough by hand, then this artisan bread is shaped and baked without any artificial sweeteners or preservatives, keeping only the sweetness of its original natural ingredients.
Hodu means walnut in Korean and they are cookies filled with red bean paste and walnuts.
허니 브래드 (Honey Bread)
Thick bread is divided into nine parts filled with whipped cream and then topped with honey, caramel syrup, and cinnamon powder. Its original name was Honey Butter Bread.
계란빵 (Gyeran-ppang: Egg Bread)
has a shape of rounded rectangle and contains whole egg inside of a bread. They are often sold by street vendors.
꽈배기 (Kkwabaegi: Twisted Korean Doughnuts)
It is made with glutinous rice flour and melted butter. The dough is deep-fried in oil and tossed in sugar and cinnamon powder. Like most fried breads, it tastes better when it’s hot. You can enjoy the original taste of twisted bread by eating when it just comes out of the oil, or by heating them up.
뚱카롱 (Ddungcaron: Fat Macaron)
Rice Punch 식혜 (Korean Sweet Rice Drink)
Songpyeon half-moon rice cake (송편)
The fillings for these rice cakes vary, but the most common are sweetened sesame seeds and mung beans.
Planning a trip can be fun, but it can also be challenging. With so many activities to plan for, having a high-level view of a month-long or two-week-long trip makes it easy to see the bigger picture, but a certain amount of detail is necessary to ensure your planned itinerary is reasonable and makes sense, e.g. if it takes 2 hours to get to the airport and you have to be at the airport 3 hours before departure, then you better take that into account so you don’t miss your flight. One simple way to plan a trip is by using a spreadsheet like Google Sheets. I’ve created a hypothetical San Francisco, USA to Seoul, Korea vacation plan showing day-by-day and hour-by-hour activities in two different views.
Month View (each time block is 3 hours long) – View template
2-Week View (daytime time blocks are 1 hour long) – View template
Of course, you can group or split each time block to have less or more time slots depending on your needs.
Plane ticket prices can vary significantly from one day to another and by airline, number of stops, total trip duration, etc. If your dates are flexible, you can easily find cheaper flights using Kayak.com and Google Flights’ price grids. Here’s an example. Say I want to fly from San Francisco to Korea some time in early May.
I want no more than 1 stop / layover
I don’t want a layover longer than 4 hours
Kayak
On Kayak.com, you need to select +- 3 days for each departure and return date.
Choose some filters.
After the search results appear, expand the Flexible Dates section to show the price grid.
What’s nice about Kayak is, when you hover over a price, you see
the total price
the airline
the number of stops
the total flight plus layover time, if any, for both departure and return
the total trip duration
In the example above, the $1339 price offers nonstop service for a 9-day trip. If we compare that to the cheapest price ($1095), we’d have to stop somewhere and the total trip duration would be 11 days.
Google Flights
On Google Flights, you can do a similar search. For round trip flights, there will always be a price grid so you just enter your preferred departure and return dates. For the filters, I chose “1 stop or fewer” and “Under 24 hr”.
What’s interesting, and very useful, about Google Flights is, once you choose a departure date, prices start to show up in the date picker so you can choose a return date that is cheaper than others.
Google Flights is really fast. The prices and search results show up almost instantly.
On Google Flights, the cheapest prices are highlighted in green cells. In this example, it’s $1050. Compared to Kayak, it looks like Google Flights has more flight options as all of the cells have a price. However, unlike Kayak, in order to see more information like the airline, trip duration, and number of stops, you have to choose a price and click OK. The price grid will disappear and you will see the flight details.
Which is cheaper?
If we put both grids next to each other, we find that
Google Flights offers more flights (all cells have a price)
Google Flights offers either the same price or cheaper prices, even if the price difference is just $1.
KayakGoogle Flights
Note
Kayak can book flights for you whereas Google Flights will always send you to an external booking website. Price differences are often due to different travel websites offering different prices. It’s always preferable to book directly with the airline as that cuts out any intermediaries and, if there are any issues, you can contact the airline (or Kayak) directly and usually get better customer service. Just because Google Flights may offer cheaper flights, you might still find an overall better deal on Kayak.
This is not a complete list of tourist places and popular Korean food. It’s just a list of places that I think may be worth visiting and a few other relevant things.
As of December 30, 2021, all travelers, including fully vaccinated travelers, must submit a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of departure in order to board flights to the US. Learn more.
As of March 2, 2022, foreigners must submit a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of departure in order to board flights to Korea. Read consular notice.
Starting from April 1, 2022, vaccinated travelers who have completed vaccination overseas AND register their vaccination history through the Quarantine COVID19 Defence (Q-Code) systemBEFORE traveling to Korea will be eligible for quarantine exemption. Vaccination is considered to be complete 14 days after the 2nd shot for a two-dose vaccine (valid up to 180 days) or with booster shots. Read consular notice.
Incheon Airport Tourist Information Center: 1F, Passenger Terminal 1 in front of Gates 5 & 10 / 7 AM-10 PM
Myeong-dong Tourist Information Center: In front of Euljiro 1(il)-ga Station (Seoul Subway Line 2), Exit 5 / 09:00-20:00, Closed on the day of Seollal (Lunar New Year’s Day) & Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day)
Seoul Station Tmoney Town : 1F, Seoul City Tower near Seoul Station (Seoul Subway Line 1, 4, AREX), Exit 10 / Weekdays 09:00-18:00
There is a $4.11 deposit. Get deposit refund (minus $0.41 for the cost of the card) at the Tourist Information Center at the airport before leaving Korea.
MPass can be used on subway lines, airport railroad all-stop train, Seoul city buses (mainline buses, branch buses, circulation buses, village buses, night buses)
The pass offers 20 rides a day for the duration of the pass.
Hotels
When choosing a hotel, if you want to be close to
many attractions
easy subway transportation with direct connection to the airport
tons of food options
tons of shopping options
you probably want to stay around the Myeong-dong area.
The Seoul Sky Observatory is located at the top of the Lotte World Tower, the world’s fifth tallest building standing 123 stories and 555 meters high. As the tallest building in South Korea, it is the only place where you can take in a gorgeous 360-degree view of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea roaring with brilliant history and dynamic modern culture.
Seoul Grand Park is a park complex to the south of Seoul, South Korea, in the city of Gwacheon. Facilities at Seoul Grand Park include hills and hiking trails, Seoul Grand Park Zoo, Children’s Zoo, a rose garden, Seoul Land amusement park, and the Seoul Museum of Modern Art.
Tour package is available from the KORAIL Travel Center at each departure station
Foreigners can purchase train tickets from Yongsan Station to Dorasan Station online, but will have to register for the Dorasan Security Tour at Dorasan Station if they wish to travel further.
Operating days: Wednesday-Sunday, once a day / No trains Monday-Tuesday
To visit the DMZ Joint Security Area, you must go with an approved travel agency. This visit is part of the Panmunjeom Tour. Panmunjeom is one of the most visited tourist sites of the DMZ
A traditional street market in Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea. The market is one of the oldest and largest traditional markets in South Korea, with more than 5000 shops and 20,000 employees in an area of 42,000 square meters.
Hottoek is a Korean-styled pancake. One of the most popular Korean street snacks, it is made from a simple flour batter and filled with sweet syrup made from cinnamon, brown sugar, and peanuts. It’s a great snack when you’re between meals.
Red beans are mixed with eggs and wheat dough by hand, then this artisan bread is shaped and baked without any artificial sweeteners or preservatives, keeping only the sweetness of its original natural ingredients.
Hodu means walnut in Korean and they are cookies filled with red bean paste and walnuts.
허니 브래드 (Honey Bread)
Thick bread is divided into nine parts filled with whipped cream and then topped with honey, caramel syrup, and cinnamon powder. Its original name was Honey Butter Bread.
계란빵 (Gyeran-ppang: Egg Bread)
has a shape of rounded rectangle and contains whole egg inside of a bread. They are often sold by street vendors.
꽈배기 (Kkwabaegi: Twisted Korean Doughnuts)
It is made with glutinous rice flour and melted butter. The dough is deep-fried in oil and tossed in sugar and cinnamon powder. Like most fried breads, it tastes better when it’s hot. You can enjoy the original taste of twisted bread by eating when it just comes out of the oil, or by heating them up.
뚱카롱 (Ddungcaron: Fat Macaron)
Rice Punch 식혜 (Korean Sweet Rice Drink)
Songpyeon half-moon rice cake (송편)
The fillings for these rice cakes vary, but the most common are sweetened sesame seeds and mung beans.
Pat-sirutteok 팥시루떡 (Layered rice cake with red beans)
율란 Yul-lan – Chestnut cookies
무지개떡 Mujigae-tteok (Rainbow rice cake)
불고기 Beef Bulgogi
Thinly sliced or shredded beef marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, sugar, scallions, and black pepper, cooked on a grill (sometimes at the table). Bulgogi literally means “fire meat.” Variations include pork (dwaeji bulgogi, 돼지불고기), chicken (dak bulgogi 닭불고기), or squid (ojingeo bulgogi, 오징어불고기).
Galbi (갈비) – pork or beef ribs
Cooked on a metal plate over charcoal in the centre of the table. The meat is sliced thicker than bulgogi. It is often called “Korean barbecue” along with bulgogi, and can be seasoned or unseasoned.
Dak galbi (닭갈비)
Stir-fry marinated diced chicken in a gochujang-based sauce, and sliced cabbage, sweet potato, scallions, onions and tteok.
Dubujeon (두부전)
Steamed tofu mixed with ground beef and vegetables.
Bungeoppang (붕어빵; “carp-bread”)
is the Korean name for the Japanese fish-shaped pastry Taiyaki that is usually filled with sweet red bean paste and then baked in a fish-shaped mold. It is very chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside.
Gukwa-ppang (국화빵)
is almost the same as bungeoppang, but it is shaped like a flower.
Places Not in Seoul
As a bonus, here are a few places in Korea outside of Seoul.
