Jake’s Journal du jour: Merci beaucoup, nüvi and cityXplorer!

Look at any map of Paris, and it’s easy to see why the glossy eyes of visitors bounce rapidly from the amazing landmarks to the cryptic pages of their guidebooks. With angled streets, six-way intersections, spacious boulevards, streets that change names without warning – and a river running through the heart of it all – this breathtaking city that attracts so many visitors sure doesn’t make it easy on any of them. Until now.

The last time I was in Paris was for a weekend 10 years ago while studying abroad. I remember carrying two paper maps, cross-referencing them while dodging scooters and trying to take in the sights the whole time. For this trip, though, all I needed was nüvi 1370T and cityXplorer for Paris. Recently announced as a low-cost way to provide enhanced pedestrian mode, cityXplorer was perfect for this trip. If you’re not familiar with cityXplorer, it’s a download that offers a city’s most valuable information – turn-by-turn directions, preloaded points of interest, mass transit schedules and locations – all for less than $20 for compatible nüvis. And if your nüvi doesn’t have European maps, you can get coverage for select cities for much less than the cost of regional mapping. My wife and I still did a little homework before we left – using library books and travel sites to find can’t-miss eateries, then finding them on nüvi or using the send-to function from Google Maps. It all paid off once we landed in Paris. By tapping “Where to” and “Favorites” on nüvi, we were able to see which of our saved hot spots were closest at any given time, set up efficient routes around town and get around without any frustration. As cityXplorer calculates the best routes based on mass transit and pedestrian options, our choices always included times, distances and directions for the fastest route, the route with least walking and a route with all walking. In order to justify the many visits to the patisseries, cremeries, boulangeries and chocolateries, we usually walked. If we saw on nüvi’s map that another hot spot was nearby – which was often the case – we could veer off course, navigate to a new destination, recalculate our original route and be back on track without getting flustered. Because even though paper maps may have all of the landmarks and museums, there’s no “You are here” marker following you around. And because nüvi is small enough to fit in your purse or pocket – even the widescreen 1370T fits easily in jeans – you don’t have to bury your nose in a guidebook. So there’s no “You are a tourist” marker following you around.

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