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I was at a very nice hotel recently in the countryside where car sharing apps don't work and the trains in that country are notorious for not arriving. I needed
by telesilla 3y ago
I was at a very nice hotel recently in the countryside where car sharing apps don't work and the trains in that country are notorious for not arriving. I needed to get a train to a near town, a very very well known place and it was at least a 3-connection trip. The young person at the desk said, oh I don't take public transport (I guess they cycle everywhere and never leaves the area without their Mum?), and proceeded to start looking at Google Maps. Horrified, I said please find me someone here who knows how the transport works in the area. They didn't understand what I was asking so I walked away and figured it out myself (got a taxi to the nearest station with the busiest lines). I'm still surprised given how I can imagine how anyone lives in that area without taking a bus or train to get further afield.
- irrational 3y agoMaybe they had never been afield? I was once having dinner at a small restaurant in a village in northern Iceland. The server had impeccable English with an American accent. I got to talking to him and learned that he had never in his life (he was probably in his mid 20s) left his village. He had never even travelled to the nearest town/city.
- telesilla 3y agoI was more concerned with the lack of training by the hotel, everyone arrives either by private car or taxi via the local train system and in a hotel of that calibre I simply expected better awareness from the front desk. I have nothing against that particular person. So regarding this french village, I hope they give residents decent directions training to help the lost travelers if they expect them to go without their phones.
- touisteur 3y agoI... use Google Maps a lot for day to day public transportation, in France. Most of the transport systems are integrated it works wherever I go, in Ile de France but also plenty of other cities, including smaller cities like e.g. Chartres. YMMV Went to Porto too recently, same experience. Very cool, especially as a first approach when you don't know the city enough to plan and orient, or if you are like me and spend hours wandering randomly deep in cities...
- dotnet00 3y agoI'll typically use Google Maps even if it's a route I travel often. Even if you know the area, if you're going to be assisting a guest in getting directions, it's worth checking in case there are some changes you missed (eg delays, maintenance notices). So it's pretty ridiculous to be offended because someone figured they'd check online before giving you information. Especially if the trains are notorious for not arriving. Why wouldn't you want to be checking for the latest information in that situation? They can't telepathically obtain information that the train is going to arrive.
- telesilla 3y agoIn this case the person was missing crucial local knowledge about the train system that Google doesn't have and did not have awareness of the problem they potentially were sending me into - it wasn't about trains not arriving but which station was the best one to be stranded at if a train was missed. I knew enough of that area to be cautious, the hotel attendant knew less. Maps will often give public transport directions that simply are inconvenient because it doesn't know the human realities of a trip (changes require crossing a busy road, or waiting at an isolated bus stop or unmanned train station, or that walking one block over gets a better bus) and I'll always take a local's train and subway knowledge over Maps.
- dotnet00 3y agoGiven that context your reaction is more understandable.