It’s easy to “travel” the world from the comfort of your home. There’s no shortage of vloggers showing us what each and every country has to offer. And you need just scroll through Instagram to live vicariously through them. There are people racking up impressive lists of places they’ve visited. And some even boast about having been to every, or almost every one.

Today, we can book a plane ticket using just our phones. We can find out about our destination long before we even arrive. We’re likely to know exactly where we are going. How long it’ll take to get there. What some things will cost. And what to pack. But it wasn’t always like that.

Imagine a time when people thought the world was flat. They risked their lives to explore unknown territories and discover new places. They traveled by ship and on horseback, without the convenience of Google Maps, TripAdvisor, Uber, or even travel agents.

The Age of Exploration began in the 15th century. Also sometimes called the Age Of Discovery. Europeans started venturing out of their comfort zone and into the vast wide world. Fuelled by a drive to find trade routes, spices, knowledge and wealth. While their “discovery” of the Americas and Africa brought back big benefits, it also opened up the door to colonization and slavery.

Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Dias led the first European expedition around the southernmost tip of Africa. And helped pave the way for a trade route between Europe and Asia. Dias left Europe with three ships in August 1487. He managed to pass the Cape of Good Hope the following year. And sailed out of the Atlantic Ocean, around Cape Agulhas, and into the Indian Ocean.

Following hot on Dias’ heels was Christopher Columbus. He was an Italian explorer. He’s often credited with “discovering” the New World. But those already living there at the time might beg to differ. Columbus was on a mission to find a direct route from Europe to Asia. He made four transatlantic trips in 1492, 1493, 1498 and 1502.

Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan and his crew were the first to circumnavigate the globe. It took the crew three years to get back home. But it was so dangerous that only one ship returned. As History.com notes, “only 18 of the fleet’s original crew of 270 returned with the ship. Magellan himself was killed in battle on the voyage, but his ambitious expedition proved that the globe could be circled by sea and that the world was much larger than had previously been imagined.”

Nowadays, we don’t need to take three years to make our way around the planet. Charles Lindbergh opened up a whole new world of possibilities when he flew solo across the Atlantic. He left New York on May 20 1927. And arrived in Paris 33,5 hours later. He had traveled more than 3,600miles. By the 1950s, commercial flights were taking passengers around the world.

These explorers were just some of the people who paved the way for us to know about and enjoy the differences between countries around the world. Today, we can book a round the world trip using just our mobile devices. It's convenient, generally safe and a lot faster than it was back in the day. What countries have you already been to? What countries do you still want to go to? Let us know in the comments.