Exploring a city with help from your iPhone and Google Transit

June 11, 2009 – 11:44 pm

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.

Posted in Tech, travel | 1 Comment

I’m sorry for overgeneralizing you, California

June 8, 2009 – 11:13 pm

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.

Posted in travel | No Comments

Back to school, reconsidered.

May 31, 2009 – 7:47 pm

I’ve definitely reconsidered my previous decision about going back to school full time.

As much as I would love to go back to school full time, common sense kicked in after I recently glanced at my continuously growing pile of student loans and realized that I would have to be a complete idiot to take out even more. I’m now thinking that school part time is the best option. I don’t think I can afford to give up an income, even for just a year.

Unfortunately this decision makes my other goal, which is to eventually leave California, even more difficult. If only I could somehow live in Chicago. Depaul has a part time HCI program downtown. Plus, Chicago is awesome.

I’ll figure something out.

Posted in life | No Comments

Hey, you remind me of you

May 28, 2009 – 9:06 pm

Have you ever seen someone and thought to yourself “that person reminds me of someone”, only to eventually realize that the person they remind you of is actually them?

I do this way too often.

Posted in wtf | 1 Comment

Upcoming travels

May 17, 2009 – 10:14 pm

Okay. I lied. I said last week that I probably wouldn’t write another blog post until after June 13th. I’m wrong a lot.

Not that anyone really cares, but I just felt like mentioning some of my upcoming travels for the summer.

Boston: May 21 – 26

I’ll be working out of the Cambridge Google office for a day and then probably wandering aimlessly the rest of the time. I might have mentioned this a few times before, but Boston is by far my favorite U.S. city. In a perfect world I would be living there, working at Google and have my own personal robot butler. Alas, the world is not perfect.

I’m not exactly sure what I’ll be doing in Boston this year, but it most likely include an assortment of the activites listed below:

• Red Sox game(s)
• NCAA lacrosse championship tournament
• Consumption of Dunkin’ Donuts beverages and breakfast sandwiches
• Consumption of delicious foods
• Consumption of delicious beers
• Meeting up with friends
• Meeting up with my older brother
• Meeting new random people
• Wandering aimlessly
• Not checking my email

That’s probably a good list to work from.

San Diego: June 6 – 7

Southwest Airlines was having a one-day half-off sale a few weeks ago. I couldn’t resist a $70 roundtrip flight to a place that I’ve never visited before. I have no idea what I’ll be doing, but that’s fine with me. If you have any suggestions I’d love to hear them.

Syracuse, NY / Fulton, NY: July 1 -7

Central New York may not be the ideal getaway location, but it’s my old stomping ground. I wasn’t planning on being there for a whole week, but I had an award flight voucher from jetBlue and those were the only dates I could use it for around the July 4th weekend. I’ll do whatever it takes to save a few hundred bucks.

I’m really looking forward to it. The whole reason I’m making the trip is because my maternal grandparents are both turning 90 this year and the Irish side of my family has decided to celebrate. There’s no way in hell I’d miss it. My grandfather’s health has also hit some rocky times as of late. So I really want to capitalize on every opportunity I can get to travel home. It’s not easy living 3000 miles away.

As always, visit mikeleotta.com/location to find me anytime.

Posted in travel | No Comments