Due to a glitch, John Vanderaart’s column can be read later than usual on pcactive.nl. Now read how John starts walking with Google Maps and this was last weekend’s column.
It didn’t stop for a while, because we had to quickly take the ferry from IJmuiden to Newcastle upon Tyne. After all, that’s where the daughter lives and works. Nothing but good things about that ferry, where Jansje – our smallest dog – was able to serve as a lightning rod: (1) directly at the exit and therefore off board very quickly, (2) free passage through customs because of ‘puddle danger’. In the meantime, the mobile phone was able to find the internet again and we walked to the Airbnb using Google Maps. After which the same Google Maps – in combination with the associated search engine – would determine the rest of our weekend. We were guided to breakfast places, to pubs with tapas-style dishes, to the center, to the coast, even to a Thai takeaway restaurant. And that’s when things went completely wrong: “No Thais in sight!” Smart (…) as I am, I tried the Thai’s telephone number. A device started to ring loudly on the counter, but whatever happened: “The Thai didn’t appear.” Fortunately, Google had the answer in the form of a 5-star rating Fish & Chips-tent. Sneak by crawl, Google Maps managed to get me to the right location. Who describes my surprise: “A Thai!” For suspiciously little money I received two huge containers of food. When we arrived at the Airbnb, my wife had already set the table. Yes, we had a good time. That is, after two bites we threw everything into the garbage can: “Bah!” Google still knew something. A pizzeria. And Google Maps knew that pizzeria was only 50 meters from the Airbnb. You always see that, just on the Airbnb side where we had not yet been… It all makes you think, because what do you do without a mobile phone in a foreign country these days?
HThe open water is chosen: with the ferry from IJmuiden to Newcastle upon Tyne.