The world could quite literally be at our fingertips with Google’s latest development in virtual reality.

Google Expeditions, an upcoming virtual reality app, paired with Google Cardboard, a relatively inexpensive headset that slips over a smartphone, will allow just about anyone to travel the world without leaving their house. They can fly over the Great Pyramids of Egypt, dive into the world’s largest oceans with various sea creatures and see the Eiffel Tower, shimmering, lit up at night with a 3D experience with a 2D screen.

Students in two Warwick Schools, St. Kevin and Hoxsie Elementary, were able to get a first-person look into this new world of travel when Google visited over the last couple of weeks.

The technology is nothing short of impressive; the images transport students right into the scenes, offering a 360-degree view so no matter where students turn there is always something new to see. The students constantly responded with “oohs and aahs” at the unbelievably real pictures before them.

Now, this has unbelievable applications in the world of education. For under-funded schools, where field trips are far too expensive, virtual reality can allow the students to see things they may never have otherwise. For visual learners unable to grasp concepts from lectures alone, this technology can help them visualize the learning material. Students can travel the galaxy, flying past planets and stars from the safety of a classroom. They can shrink down to a miniscule size and follow the life of various microscopic organisms. Students can experience what they are learning in the classrooms without ever leaving it.

Students looking into higher education can take a virtual tour of college and university campuses around the world without having to take the time and finances to travel there.

Outside of the educational realm, this technology can be used in so many facets, from amplifying the film and television experience, improving the accessibility of live music, theatre and comedic performances – the possibilities are endless.

Yet, no matter how sophisticated this program this technology becomes, it can’t replace the experience of being somewhere in person, of having all five senses engaged in a singular place.

You can tour the oceans, but you’ll never feel the water on your skin. You can visit the Eiffel Tower but never smell the crepes being sold at the kiosk down the street. You may be able to listen and view a concert but won’t experience the unity and thrill of the audience.

There remains, and will continue to remain, a huge gap between this virtual reality and the reality of the human experience, of being completely consumed by the space you occupy, the awe-inspiring feeling of being somewhere in person.

As beneficial and innovative as this technology may be, and as many applications as it may have, it cannot replace April in Paris.