The growing popularity of consumer VR headsets is presenting content creators, educators, app developers and travel companies with a great opportunity to let audiences experience parts of the world they’ve never seen – and which they might never get the chance to see – without leaving their living room.

It’s easy to turn your nose up at VR travel, writing it off as something that’s solely a tool for travel agents to flog holidays or a cheap thrill for the unadventurous. But it opens up fantastic opportunities for education as well as recreation, highlighting issues such as conservation, and giving those who are limited by finances or disabilities the chance to enjoy experiences they previously might only have dreamed of.

So we’re going to take you on a whirlwind tour of this lovely planet of ours in 80 VR experiences, from exploring caves filled with carnivorous glow-worms and paragliding over the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio to making a rocky descent back to Earth from space… we did say around the world, not necessarily on it.