• by Laurie Petersen , May 3, 2007

Joost has put Denmark in the spotlight, but that's not why I'm going there this summer.

My college roommate and I are celebrating a milestone anniversary of our junior year in Copenhagen. Neither of us has been back since that semester in '77. Why mess with a perfect memory?

Conferring on the phone this week as we viewed our travel options online, it was obvious we're no longer the same backpacking hitchhikers nursing one bottle of beer all night to stretch our student budgets. Torn between charm or convenience, we opted for a hotel with A/C and high-speed Internet access.

When I searched for a good online map to confirm we will stay within walking distance of all our favorite old haunts, I realized the city has changed as well. Entire new neighborhoods and landmark buildings appear to have blossomed.

I was just about to switch over to Google Earth for a better view when I stopped.

The Web offers an astonishing power to see places before you get to them. But anticipation of what is coming is half the fun of travel.

I have religiously Googled every last, lost and unrequited love of my life -- but the people I met in Denmark have not undergone such scrutiny. They remain to me as they were 30 years back. I suspect some are dead by now.

We will leave our laptops home when we go to Denmark this July. And we'll set out with the identical spirit that powered us all those years ago -- it's all an adventure, revel in it, for you may never see these people again.

Has the Web enhanced or diminished your experience of travel and sense of adventure? Go to the blog and talk about it.