Ever take a trip to a city you're excited to visit, then realize shortly after arriving you've got no idea how to get around, where to go, and what to do? Next time, arrive as an expert with these tips and tools.
In March, I'm attending SXSW Interactive for a second year, and this year, I really want to explore Austin, TX. Here are the web sites, apps, and research tools I'm using to ensure far more exposure to local awesomeness this year.
As with any conference, SXSW has panels, keynotes, schmoozing opportunities, and hotel room keys that are easy to lose. The real excitement, at least for a guy from upstate NY that doesn't get out much, is exploring the city and nearby areas, finding the local eatery that none of your fellow visitors have discovered, and getting a feel for how things work and flow in the surrounding city.
By nature, I'm terrible at knowing which way to walk and where the cool stuff might be. In the mini-trips I've taken since last year's shindig, though, I've devoted some time to prepping for fun, both in time spent before the trip and stocking up my phone and pockets with helpful apps and notes. You might find a few of these useful before, and during, the next trip where you've got some free time to wander.
Planning ahead
No matter how powerful your smartphone, it's easier and faster to search out, plan, and prepare for your walks and wanderings from a real computer, with a full keyboard. Here are a few pre-trip steps you can tackle in 10-minute bursts that'll pay off big when you get there.
Plot your points with My Maps: Google Maps is an easy-peasy way of finding any business or address inside pretty much any town or city. If you're signed into a Google account, the little-mentioned My Maps section is also an easy way of setting up waypoints around a town and making them quick to pull up later. Click the "My Maps" link in the upper-left corner of your Google Maps page, while you're signed in. If you haven't created any maps yet, click "Get Started." In my case, I'm naming it "SXSW," and switching it from a Public map to a private one.
Next, I'll search out a place like, say, Casino El Camino, click the "Save to My Maps" link, and select my SXSW map. Do the same for anywhere and everywhere else you're thinking about visiting or shopping in your destination.
When you've got your My Map sketched out, email yourself a copy of it or print it, both from the links in the upper-right corner of the map window. When you get to your destination, you can easily pull up your My Map on your laptop in a hotel room, or on a smartphone, by visiting Google Maps. Because you've pre-pinned your destinations, getting walking, driving, or public transit directions is much quicker and easier, especially if Maps knows where you are by GPS location.
Load up on Wi-Fi-finding apps and tools: This one's fairly easy to explain, because Gina already covered it. Free highlights for the casual traveler include JiWire for iPhones, WeFi for Windows laptops and Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian smartphones, iStumbler for Macs, and phone-friendly web sites like WiFinder, Hotspot Haven, and HotSpotr, along with JiWire's web site.
Crowd-source your plans: You may not have thousands of Twitter followers, but between your Facebook friends, the friendly co-workers who don't mind an occasional personal query, and your email contacts, you can probably find someone who'd love to give a recommendation or two.
Better still? If you know you're a micro-brew person, a steak lover, or a record store type, now's the time to join and dig through some relevant web forums. Hit up BeerAdvocate's forums, get familiar with Chowhound's boards, and any other pastime you find yourself acting on in new cities.
Prepare for work: If you know you'll really, really need to crank on work and keep a net connection while you're traveling, dig into our previous coverage of tethering solutions—hooking up your smartphone with net service to your laptop. Gina just rounded up all the Android solutions, and we've previously covered Palm Pre, and the semi-sometimes-free PdaNet works on Windows Mobile, (jailbroken) iPhones, and many other platforms.
As for staying productive, we've covered that in our 10 downloads for road warrior laptops. Bit of hyperbole, we know, but they're great tools for never having to call the office and explain to your co-worker how to email a file to you.
When you're there
You can only plan so much in advance. A craving for authentic Mexican, or museum showing you heard about from a friendly local, and many other surprises can send you into the field. Here's how to look like, or at least feel like, a local:
Google's Near Me Now link: Make Google.com your iPhone or Android phone's start page. Whenever you want to know if a bar is worth checking out, or what kind of shop has those crazy T-shirts, Google will likely be able to tell you, assuming you've got GPS turned on.
Use SMS for reliable search and look-ups: Yes, you may end up in places without Wi-Fi, or even bare-minimum data service. If you have basic cellular service, though, you can always search and pin down need-to-know data with some helpful SMS addresses. Here's the shortlist:
GOOGLE (466453): Useful for nearly everything. Text it whatever you'd normally search for on the web, and you'll get web results. Text
directions 123 Spooner St., Boston, MA to 321 Fork Ave., Quincy, MAand you'll get driving directions. Sendweather,flight, and many other keywords, usually followed by a ZIP code or city name, and you'll get other special powers. Before you go offline, test out your searches on Google's SMS simulator. One you might want to try out ahead of time istaxi, followed by the city you're in.4INFO (44636): Great for checking flight status and delays, as Gina previously demonstrated. Send the airline and flight number, and you'll get back detailed information on what's going on with that flight. If you ever get stuck, send "help" and you'll get back some explainer texts.
Google Calendar (48368): Even if you're not a Google Calendar user, it might make sense to synchronize any calendar to Google before you depart, then use
dayandndaywhen necessary.
Local-minded apps and sites: Want to find a point of interest nearby, but just searching for "good micro-brews Austin TX" won't work? Here are the sites and mobile apps that make finding good stuff locally much easier:
Urbanspoon: (Web, iPhone) Great at finding restaurants in the category (sushi, Tex-Mex, steak) and price range ($-$$$$) near wherever you are.
Yelp: (Web, iPhone, Android, Pre) The gold standard for community-based reviews of all kinds of places. There's a lot of opinions, some overly positive and some needlessly snarky. Your best bet is to pin down the data to within a block or two of you and find a stand-out review of a great local dish or unique local store.
Dig into the local blogs/weeklies: A while back, Rick Broida asked about exploring new cities, and our commenters came through with great suggestions. Among them was searching out the alternative weekly for that destination, then using a little Google juice to find its "Best Of" issue—site:austinchronicle.com "best of" did the trick for me.
Local blogs and travel blogs can be a great resource as well, if you know how to navigate them. Gridskipper, a former Gawker Media property, tags its travel pieces in the style of gridskipper.com/tags/austin, and its mission to not be like the Fodor's and Lonely Planets franchises make it refreshing to browse through.
Technorati's blog directory is, if a bit clinical and sometimes tech-minded, still a great place to stumble across local voices and characters—which you can then run your site:blogname.com scavenger hunt on. Nextstop has some great guides written and lovingly photographed by locals, if your city is lucky enough to be graced with them.
Flickr's Places:
People who love photography, and their city, will take the time to geo-tag their shots on Flickr. These people also tend to know the coolest spots in town. Do what I've done when I've visited a town recently and head to Flickr's Places directory, and type in the name of your destination. From inside that Places page, you can then search for whatever you're looking for, and you're bound to find some great local inside info and recommendations. Think about it—if you live in Austin, or just happen to be visiting, you're shooting your barbecue mostly to brag and remember, which helps those of us looking for brag-worthy food quite a lot.
Got your own favorite methods for finding your way around a new terrain with aplomb? Tell us about it in the comments.