Time and money are pretty essential elements to travel. When one or both are in short supply there are other ways to get away. Google Street View is one of them.

What started as a way to get around by previewing directions in Google Maps has turned into a form of virtual tourism. Google has played tour guide with world cities ancient and modern, U.S. states, wonders of the world natural and manmade, museums, oceans, NASA, and CERN. It's logged over 5 million miles, and is still on the move.

While most everyone is familiar with the Google Car, what you might not know is that Googlers also use trikes, snowmobiles, and boats to get to the places not served by roads. The 360° images are captured by nine cameras and then they are aligned using GPS, speed, and direction data. Panoramas are stitched together so that the landscape appears seamless.

Even when you know how the trick is done, it can seem like magic when you amble through places like Angkor Wat, which Google recently added to Street View. But the temples of Cambodia are not the only breathtaking attractions available on Street View. Take a look at a few of our favorites in the slideshow.