In the beginning was Mapquest....

No excuses but I really was just to busy to do my post yesterday, I had a good one planned too; I'll save it for Monday. In the meantime, I stumbled on this thing and couldn't help but post it:

Back in the day there was mapquest. You needed directions? just type it in mapquest, many people still believe in it and use it exclusively. Me, I got turned on to yahoo maps. It was a phase where I could say "I yahoo": mail, news, chat, weather, music, maps. BUT THEN! then came Google maps, ok I'll try it. What I loved was the uncomplicated layout of the directions and the map alongside, and moreover, the ability to simply drag and zoom the map instead of having to click the desired function and wait for the page to refresh. So I started using google all the time since I'm good with maps and liked being able to browse it in this way.

Now with the advent of google earth, I'm wondering if they got ahead of themselves. Next weekend I may have a clash between playing and coaching. Being in denial that I may not be able to play, I proceed to look at how far it is between the two locations. First I enter Danbury ct (playing) and then drag it around to see for myself how far I might have to go. DAMN it's a long haul.... but still let me see just how long it would take. Search terms now amended to Danbury ct to Colshester. Results are below:

Drive: 3,920 mi (about 29 days 10 hours)

1. Head west on West St toward Deer Hill Ave
2. Continue on Lake Ave 0.6 mi
3. Turn right onto the I-84 E/US-7 N ramp to Waterbury/New Milford 0.4 mi
4. Merge onto I-84 E
Partial toll road
Entering Massachusetts
5. Take the exit onto I-90 E/Mass Pike/Massachusetts Turnpike toward N.H.-Maine/Boston
Partial toll road
6. Take exit 24 A-B-C on the left toward I-93 N/Concord NH/S Station/I-93 S/Quincy
7. Merge onto Atlantic Ave
8. Turn right at Central St
9. Turn right at Long Wharf
10. Swim across the Atlantic Ocean 3,462 mi
29 days 0 hours
11. Slight right at E05
12. At the traffic circle, take the 2nd exit onto E05/Pont Vauban 0.1 mi
13. Turn right at E05
14. Take the exit onto A29/E44 toward Amiens
15. Take the exit toward Dieppe/Amiens/Calais/A151/Rouen
Toll road
---abridged directions---

How intuitive is google?!?! WOW!! just freakin amazing!! Colchester in England. SWIM across the Atlantic and then continue on my merry way taking a slight right onto the E05. THe whole thing shows I'm taking a lil detour through France too! Oh and by the way, I start swimming from New England Aquarium in Boston. How do you like that?

I HAD to go see what happened if I entered the same on Mapquest. Unlike google it gave me a choice of possible Colchesters, all within the U.S. because it simply doesn't have, i suppose, any other directions.

Should I be going back to using Mapquest?