Exploring a city with help from your iPhone and Google Transit

One thing that I really enjoy doing is flying to city that I’m unfamiliar with and doing some exploring. Of course flying means that I don’t have a car with me, and not having a car means that I have to rely on public transportation to get around. In the past this has involved fumbling with multiple bus route pamphlets and subway maps, trying to coordinate time schedules to get from point A to point B.

But ever since I got my iPhone and Apple integrated Google Transit into the Maps application, I haven’t even had to think anymore.

Let’s say I’m at some random point A. It doesn’t matter where I am. I don’t even have to know where I am. All I need to know is where I want to go, and I don’t even need to know the address of point B. I just search for the point of interest and let Google Maps find it for me:

From there I click the blue arrow from my desired result and then select “Directions To Here” on the following screen. “Current location” should be the default starting position on the following screen:

Now I just click “Route” and let the magic happen:

Bada boom! I don’t even have to think! Google Maps tells me where I need to be  at 7:15pm to catch the closest bus that will get me to my destination, as well as providing me with the trip cost and any transfers necessary. To see the itinerary in list view, click the page flap icon in the lower right corner:

Most cities will offer a two or three day unlimited metro pass, which is usually the best deal if you plan on doing some extreme exploring.

To see a list of global cities where Google Transit directions are available, visit the Google Transit site.

Happy exploring!

* Disclaimer – I work for Google, but I’m still allowed to think this is awesome.

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I’m sorry for overgeneralizing you, California

I’ve been a little hard on California over the past year or two. While I don’t believe that all of my remarks were completely unfounded, I am willing to admit that perhaps I’ve overgeneralized California a bit. I think I’ve come to realize that much like upstate New York (where I grew up) and downstate NY (New York City) are two very different worlds, northern California and southern California also cannot be lumped into the same category.

What I’m trying to say is that I don’t dislike living in California. I just dislike living in northern California.

I took a short trip down to San Diego this past weekend. They have beaches there. They have real beaches there. Beaches like I saw in movies and TV shows about California as a kid. Beaches that just don’t exist up here in northern California.

The beach city vibe and laid back lifestyle is great too. Seemed like nobody had a care in the world.

This doesn’t change anything, however. I’m still planning on leaving California. But if someday far in the future I ever come back, and I no longer have a care in the world, San Diego is where it will be.

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