Do you enjoy looking at burnt villages and/or deserted cities? How about being exposed to radiation?

If that’s your thing, you are in luck with new “grief tourism” vacation packages being offered in Indonesia (site of a horrifying volcano) and the Ukraine (home to Chernobyl). As Scientific American explains:

“Grief tourism,” however ghoulish it might seem, is far from uncommon. Similar trends were seen in Haiti, devastated by a powerful earthquake in January, as well as in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

The trend isn’t exactly a new one; tourists have been swarming historical disaster sites, like the crumbling Pompei ruins, for decades. Now, tourism groups are encouraging visitors to travel into more recent disaster zones, like the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, where the Mount Merapi volcanic eruptions this fall killed more than 350 people and sent nearly 400,000 to refugee camps.

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Imagine what it would be like if you could instantly feel the heat of the Aruban sun, smell the ocean, and hear the sound of waves on the sand as you sip a Caribbean cocktail—all without leaving your living room. U.K. researchers from the University of York and the University of Warwick are hoping their new virtual reality gadget will allow people to do just that, essentially becoming “virtual tourists.”

While virtual reality has been used in video games, helped soldiers cope with war trauma, and  even allowed a women to commit “virtual murder,” the experience has been limited to two senses (sight and sound). But the new Virtual Cocoon helmet can mimic all five senses, so that people can truly experience the trip.

The Daily Mail illustrated how the machine actually works:

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