Seven Great Time-Lapse Travel Videos
Lists: Jim Benning sifts through YouTube's accelerated videos to find the seven best
01.13.09 | 9:09 AM ET
Watch enough time-lapse videos and you realize that speeding something up doesn’t necessarily make it more interesting. In the worst instances, watching a three-minute video of a three-day road trip feels like three weeks behind the wheel.
In recent days, I watched dozens of high-speed road trip movies. I endured videos with names like “Hong Kong Construction Afternoon Time Lapse” (music by Pink Floyd). And though it had nothing to do with travel, I even observed a tomato turn from a plump, bright red to a sunken moldy black in mere minutes. (Gross.) I did this to find YouTube’s best time-lapse videos that capture the feeling of travel, or a strong, unique sense of place. Because some are truly mesmerizing.
Herewith, seven time-lapse videos worth a little bit of your (accelerated) time.
Time-Lapse Albuquerque International Balloon Festival
Time-Lapse Cross-Country Drive, L.A. to New York
Time-Lapse Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
Time-Lapse Trip Through the Panama Canal
Time-Lapse Eiffel Tower, Paris
Time-Lapse Northern Lights, British Columbia
Time-Lapse Grand Central Station, New York City