Tools for traveling gastronomically

[robert brown]

Not since the appearance of the first Guide Michelin in 1900 has there been as useful a friend to the gastronomic traveler as one of these portable GPS devices. Mine is the Tom-Tom GO 910 which my wife bought shortly before we arrived in Nice. We had done all the prerequisite work of plugging it into a computer to download the latest maps and positions before giving it a test around Nice. The real test, however, came on a trip we made from Nice to Forte dei Marmi. We marveled how it found the shortest route from the autoroute exit to our hotel. The next day it amazed us even more by guiding us effortlessly from the Tangenziale exit Viale Certosa to our hotel in central Milan, avoiding the one-way streets, dead ends and, best of all, keeping my wife and me from bickering over mistakes that used to get us screamingly lost and made us late in this city most unforgiving to drivers. Only once did we mistakenly override the Tom-Tom with a wrong turn, but as soon as we did, it recalculated the route in two seconds.

There’s no end to the bells and whistles embedded in Tom-Tom ( or“Tum-Tum” as we like to call it). Among the many are its constantly recalculating your time of arrival as your speed varies, you encounter construction delays or stop to fill the tank. Whenever you approach a radar or speed camera, the device makes a loud noise a few hundred kilometers before reaching it; and it seems to have almost every restaurant in it from fancy to snack and pizza restaurants.

The other day I put the Tom-Tom to a major test by having it plan a route from my house to several restaurants in the “Osterie d’Italia” guide that are in little Italian villages. It had them all in its database. The little computer isn’t without some shortcomings. The maps are crude and hard to get any perspective on such that I would still travel with a fold-out map or road atlas. In places like Nice where I know the shortest or most unencumbered route, Tom-Tom didn’t always send me that way. From time to time he gets confused or changes directions on me. I’m still orienting myself, so perhaps some of the glitches may have to do with me. Regardless, it’s like being on-line. You can’t possibly imagine how you survived without it. I wouldn’t give it back for all the road maps in China.

In the interest of starting a broad-based discussion, feel free to chime in about how you plan and navigate your eating trips, be it with a built-in GPS, mapping software, or good old-fashion paper maps, what is positive and/or negative about them and personal anecdotes

[russ parsons]

i've got a garmin nuvi that does much the same thing. i do believe there's an option for a fodor's update. the nuvi is about the size of a deck of cards; has about 8 hours battery time so it can be used away from the car; has all of north america already loaded on it; and has memory cards available for Europe and most of Asia. It maps by address (like mapquest), or wherever you are you can push a button for nearby gas stations, restaurants, stores, museums, etc. totally cool.

this is one of the more revolutionary bits of technology i've come across. i'm sure for some people it won't be that big a deal, but the closest times my wife and i have come to divorce has usually been about her trying to read a map and give me directions while i'm driving (her faultless reasoning: it's my fault because after 25 years of marriage i still insist on believing that she'll learn how to do it). by my calculation, this $600 gadget (I think they're now under $500) has already saved four major fights in a little more than three months.

I was so impressed with it that i immediately bought stock in Garmin, which probably ensures that the company will collapse shortly.

[robert brown]

Russ, I have had some similar dustups. It goes with the territory. Does your wife try to override your Garmin? There's still that frontier between the old days and total harmony.

[russ parsons]

Russ, I have had some similar dustups. It goes with the territory. Does your wife try to override your Garmin? There's still that frontier between the old days and total harmony.

←

that is so funny! sometimes, convinced of her own unerring sense of direction, she will dispute the Garmin at every turn, only to be greatly disappointed when we actually arrive at exactly the right spot. sometimes i think she wishes we'd get really good and lost just to validate her own directional problems.

[purplewiz]

My laptop.

Illustrative example: during my trip to LA last September I decided that I really didn't want to eat where I'd planned, and wanted something more "interesting". In a matter of 15 minutes I had:

- pulled up eGullet and gone to the California forum

- searched the post for the town where I was

- found 3-4 reasonable candidates

- checked out their websites, menus, and hours online

- picked one

- plugged the address into Google maps and got driving directions

And then proceeded to have a fantastic meal about 2 hours later.

I've started to consider it an essential tool for discovering new places to eat and how to find them when I'm on the road. (I'm quite good when it comes to maps, so I haven't gone to GPS yet.)

Marcia.

[Carrot Top]

The one problem I have with the GPS devices is that when they talk to you in some places in cities where there are overhanging things that get in the way of the signal, there is a hesitation with what they tell you, and if you are driving fast which anyone with any sense does in a city (while swearing, naturally, with some vigor at the others who are trying to cut you off) you can drive right past the turn unless you slow to a stupid crawl while, instead of arguing with your spouse or companion, instead you yell at the GPS which does not respond in any sort of interesting way at all. All it does is give you a dull monotone of a ridiculous-sounding voice saying "Recalculating directions. Recalulating directions." If I am going to have a fit over getting correct and prompt directions, I would rather have a fit with a human being whom I can smile at later. I have no desire to smile at at GPS. But of course guys are different. They just might.

[ahr]

Radar? Speed camera?

Do you sense that these databases are comprehensive? Are they built in, or added-cost downloads? How frequently are they updated? Have you tried this yet in NYC?

How complete is Tum's database of domestic restaurants? For example, will it locate -- accurately -- obscure little land's-end New England lobster pounds?

I've been using Microsoft Streets & Trips (née Automap) and AutoRoute for years for itinerary planning, but hesitate to schlep my laptop along in the car, so I've never purchased a GPS puck for it.

Edit: Typo expunged.

Edited March 9, 2007 by ahr (log)

[Fat Guy]

I have a Garmin StreetPilot 2730, which has some interesting latest-generation features. For example, it has XM NavTraffic, which alerts you to road closings, construction, bottlenecks, etc., in real time in most major metro areas and offers you alternate routes. It also has XM Weather, so you can see if it's snowing at your destination, and there are all sorts of customization capabilities.

In terms of what is in the database, I've found it to be incredibly detailed at least in the US. When we were in North Carolina recently, it had some pretty out-of-the-way seafood shacks in the database. It also has a lot of retail stores. It's not perfect, but it's pretty amazing. For example, on Oak Island, or rather just before you cross over to Oak Island, there's a little seafood market that sells excellent lump crabmeat. I figured no way it would be in the GPS so I got the address online, but when I went to look it up on the GPS it was indeed in the database.

The GPS is mostly a convenience item if you use it that way, though. It saves you the trouble of creating maps and the like in advance. It just does what you could always do with a computer, but in a more efficient, portable manner. For me, the real revolution comes when I just drive somewhere and allow the GPS to tell me everything that's nearby. We stumbled on some really good fried chicken this way, and there's no way we could have found it without the GPS because if something isn't visible from the main road that you're on then how are you ever going to find it?

Right now I don't know of a GPS unit that integrates the points-of-interest database with any sort of good editorial reviews, but I imagine once the mobile internet becomes more mainstream you'll be able to Google any POI directly from the GPS unit, which will have a built-in browser. I assume that will be standard capability in three or so years.

Of course for all these advanced functions it's nice to have two people in the car, otherwise you tend to need to pull over to do any significant programming.

[russ parsons]

i do think the new garmins come with the option of adding fodors ... depending on what you mean by "good editorial". i agree that in three years all of this will be even more amazing. remember how you felt the first time you mapquested something? Also, it should be pointed out that those traffic features require a pretty spendy monthly subscription fee. If I was commuting a lot, i'm sure it would be worth it.

[Fat Guy]

Right, I'm not talking about Fodor's or Zagat. I'm talking about being able to pull up the relevant newspaper reviews, etc., about a given POI. It's something that will require a live internet connection -- no way to put that depth of info on a portable device.

If you're already an XM audio subscriber, it only costs $3.99 a month to add the NavTraffic service. If you're starting from scratch, it's $9.99 a month for traffic-only, or $16.94 per month if you get audio and traffic together. But I'm telling you, the first time you avoid a massive traffic delay on your way to a dinner reservation you've been waiting a month for, you feel like your entire three-year subscription (if you pay in advance you get a substantial discount) was worth it just for that one instance.

[tristar]

I may be something of a Luddite, but what is wrong with our inbuilt tools, our senses? If I cannot find good food in a new town by asking a local, seeing the restaurant with my own eyes and/or smelling the aromas of good food, it would be a very sad day for me!

Just drive around until you find a restaurant with a full carpark or lots of customers

[Carrot Top]

There was a commercial on TV last night that caught my attention. It was for On Star, and this guy was in the car, lost or something, looking for something to eat or something, and all he had to do was push a button to have a very *very* pleasant woman talk to him in soothing and accurate tones to tell him how to get where he needed to go to get un-lost. She was *so* nice. Her voice was melliflous, she somehow knew how to read a map to direct him, and when he thanked her, her laugh, along with a "Oh, that's okay, I love to help you" was such a light trilling giggle, subliminally sexual as if to say, "Hey guy. I *like* you. You're cute, you know that?" So charming.

Of course she was getting paid by the hour to be like that.

But what a novel and worthwhile service for those lost and hungry who need help.

[memesuze]

Just drive around until you find a restaurant with a full carpark or lots of customers

in many places this would put me at Applebee's or Red Lobster or the local homegrown version - and usually I'm looking for more than average/lowest common denominator food

[Fat Guy]

I may be something of a Luddite, but what is wrong with our inbuilt tools, our senses? If I cannot find good food in a new town by asking a local, seeing the restaurant with my own eyes and/or smelling the aromas of good food, it would be a very sad day for me!

Just drive around until you find a restaurant with a full carpark or lots of customers

←

I do think there's a danger, with this sort of technology, of getting into habits that let you forget about using your senses. Using the internet for restaurant research is that way too: people print out their Mapquest maps and slavishly follow itineraries that only include restaurants that come highly recommended.

However, you can also leverage the technology in exactly the opposite way. Especially when you consider that modern roads can be anti-senses -- interstates bypass small towns; some of the better independent restaurants aren't even located on the main drag -- it helps to have tools to enhance your senses. For example, with a GPS unit to guide me, I always feel confident getting off the main road and driving on local roads through smaller towns for awhile. I know the GPS can get me back to the interstate no matter what, so that gives me freedom to explore. You've really got to see a well-utilized GPS system in action to get a feel for the possibilities.

I also think, unfortunately, that advice from locals and full parking lots have come to be worth relatively little. Because, as memesuze says, the fullest parking lot is surely at the Olive Garden. It may be possible to ferret out the locals who possess a higher level of advice, but it's not a simple question of asking the first gas-station attendant you see.