Using Google Maps when traveling to create itineraries and not get lost

If there's one post that I love reading on other blogs, it's favorite travel apps. No surprise, after all I love technology (graduated in computing hehe) and I don't even know how many different applications I have on my cell phone.

But I can't understand people who don't put the Google Maps on these lists. It's been my #1 for so long that I can't even imagine traveling without checking how long and how far it takes to get somewhere. It was the first app I put on our Travel Resources, and rightly so!

The truth is that I trust the locator (affectionately called by me) so much ball) from Maps that the day he told me to go through the bush to get to the bus stop I thought it was strange, but I followed the instructions! Hahaha For those who are curious, there is the outcome of this story at the end of the post.

As I can no longer live without it, nothing is fairer than showing how I use it. Google Maps when traveling ! Whether it's for planning, finding out when the next bus is coming or even if the Walmart on the corner is really good.

How I use Google Maps when traveling

• Planning

Perhaps a not so common way of using the app, but for me it starts to be useful when the trip is still taking shape.

If I plan to travel between several cities, I enter them all and find out what would be the best order to travel my route. Google calculates the route according to what you enter, and visually you can already get an idea if it is a good route and add or remove stops. The same function can be used to change countries via land, as may be the case in Europe or South America.

After creating the itinerary, I enter the places I want to visit in each city into the app. This way, I can get a general idea of ​​the areas where it would be best to stay to save time on transportation, and which tours can be done together in a single day.

Something that many people don't know is that Google Maps shows the path between two points for those who are by car, on foot, bicycle, public transport and even calculates an estimated price for Uber. So, if you don't rent a car, it's easy to find out if taking the bus is a good option, or if it's better to include the price of a taxi in your budget.

When putting together our itinerary for Los Angeles, for example, my family and I realized that we would waste a lot of time if we stayed in the center and went to Santa Monica and the region for several days. At the time, there was no subway between the two places, and the bus took 1:20 hours to arrive and the same time to return. We decided to rent two different apartments on Airbnb, one in West Hollywood for the first few days of the trip, and one in Santa Monica for the remaining time.

Remembering that if you register on Airbnb through my link, there is a discount of R$100 on the first reservation!

• On the trip

I confess that I don't like driving outside Brazil. In fact, even outside of Floripa I don't get very excited anymore, so the ease with which I use Google Maps when traveling to find public transport where I am is my favorite part of the app.

As I already said, the application shows how to get to a place using the bus (or subway, or train), but it’s not in the “Take bus number so-and-so” style. The business is so complete, it shows the route I should take on foot to the right bus stop, the name of the stop, the name of the bus, and what time it will pass.

Furthermore, it also shows how many points until I reach my destination, what they are, and after boarding I still monitor the tracker to know if I'm going correctly. After getting off at the indicated point, Maps still shows me the route to walk to get to the door of the place. IS IT OR IS IT NOT LOVE?

And the best part: because it's online, it shows several public transport options, listing the one you're going to first. take you faster, adding the time on foot and by bus/subway/train. This means that, depending on the time of day, the search results to get somewhere may be different.

And there's no problem when I don't have Wifi. It is possible to download a certain area for offline use, and the app shows the routes to get from one point to another on foot or by car. It doesn't show traffic information like when connected to the internet, but it takes me to my destination.

And, when I don't buy an internet chip and depend on public transport, I do a search on Wifi before leaving the hotel and put the estimated departure time. This way, it shows the best options based on the time I provided, and I don't run the risk of waiting for a bus that will no longer be running.

As I said, I have a lot of apps, and one that I always check before going to eat somewhere is Foursquare. For those who don't know, it shows general information and, best of all, reviews from those who have already visited and tips on what to order (and not to order).

As I have been using this application for a long time, I am not used to using Google Maps when traveling for this type of research. But it could. There is a button “explore”, where he shows you places in the region to eat, drink or whatever interests you. It's in the same scheme of showing basic information and people's opinions, so you don't need to download both apps.

And, if I still haven't convinced you to use this wonderful app more, here are two moments in which it saved my day (or just helped me, but then it's not that impactful hahaha):

• Los Angeles

I went to Los Angeles for the last time to visit my sister and parents who were spending time in the city. As I had already been there a few months before, I still remembered the bus number, which way to go and I felt A super expert on public transport. WHY RIGHT?

I remember one day I decided to go to Santa Monica, where my family was staying. I opened Maps, saw which street was the 704 and walked there, without paying much attention. When I arrived, I saw the stop with my bus number clearly visible. across the street, I crossed and, after a while, boarded.

After a few minutes, I began to recognize the landscape. I passed through Beverly Hills, and noticed, after half an hour, that I was approaching Hollywood. At first it just crossed my mind “wow, it's still all the way from Holly to Santa Monica”…until I realized I was going the other way.

I checked Maps at the same time, saw that I had caught the bus on the wrong side of the street and got off. I didn't know where I was (#boatime), but I quickly added Santa Monica to the app and it told me where the closest point was. Luckily I still had money for a new ticket and I managed to get to my parents' house (much) later.

You might also like: Los Angeles without a Car – Tips and Tricks to enjoy the city

• Vancouver

This story is to show my trust in the application, because that alone explains it.

My parents and I were in a park in Vancouver. I confess that I don't remember if it was a park or a trail, but I know it was disappointing and at the time we were cold and hungry. Our search on Maps at that time was for a Panda Express-style restaurant (another favorite), and as we were far from everything, we would need to take a bus.

Everything was fine, until we looked at the path to get to the point. It was simple, just go straight, but straight was enter the middle of the woods. There was even a path, but it was so unmarked and empty that we thought the app had gotten confused. We researched again, we walked in the opposite direction thinking that it might not be in the right direction but the path didn't change.

We then decided to accept, we concluded that “in polka dot we trust” and we walked through the woods. It turns out that a few minutes later, this trail joined a larger one, full of people and we found the bus stop in a few minutes.

Now How Google knew this empty and hidden path I really don't know. But he was right, which is really amazing (and a little scary).

You might also like: 6 reasons why you need to visit Vancouver

There was even a third story, but I think I've already managed to show my love for Google Maps and how useful it is for planning and helping with trips!

Is that you, Also have a favorite map app? Do you use Google Maps when traveling? Did you find this post boring? Tell me in the comments!!!