A Free Road Trip on Google Map

I bet this would be the most affordable and fun trip you can ever imagine.

I graduated from design school last summer. Just like all recent graduates, I was busy with my work, I couldn't afford an expensive trip, but I still have a bunch of travel plans in my mind. Is waiting for the only choice for me?

No! Definitely I'm not going to wait forever. As a designer and maker, Let's hack it!

Material List:

A computer (with a browser on it)

Some snack (optional)

Just as the title says, open the Google Map webpage in a browser. You should see something like the picture above (that's my location haha!).

Type in the location that you are going to explore. I'm using Santa Fe as an example. It's a small city near by Route 66. I was so impressed by the architectures there.

Zoom in, till you can see the road on the map.

Click the Satellite Mode button. I like to use the 3D mode to feel more real, but it also works if you don't do that. Keep zooming in, and suddenly you are in this city!

Now you can choose any direction that you want to explore. Have fun with your trip!

It was easy!

I'd also like to share this moment with you. When I zoomed out and see the earth, I was shocked by the image I saw. It reminds me the poetry from Jacques Prévert:

The Garden

Thousands and thousands of years

Would not be enough

To tell of

That small second of eternity

When you held me

When I held you

One morning

In winter's light

In Montsouris Park

In Paris

On earth

This earth

That is a star

I was also amazed by the Google's Geoguessr game. You will show up in a random place on Google Map. The aim of the game is to point out your location by exploring around a make a guess.

I tried for several rounds. From my experience, most likely you will appear on a road, with so many trees and nothing else. Probably you can find a street sign after several minutes "driving" and get some clue by the language on it (Well, that's not always helpful. Once I met a street sign with mosaic on it lol). Sometimes the game can be easy, I was in India as the picture shows.

Here's the link: https://geoguessr.com/

Have fun!