I use Google Maps all the time. Not only do I use it when I want to look at satellite photos of the roof of my house, I also use it when I need directions. If I don’t know where I’m going, Google does. I can just type in the destination address, and presto. A map appears with detailed directions from my front door to wherever it is that I am going.
I only use Google Maps when I am driving, and that usually means that I am driving somewhere in the U.S. But have you ever wondered what would happen if you got Google directions from your house to an overseas address? Well, that is what I did this evening.
I made a Google map with a starting address in Dallas, Texas and a destination address in Paris, France. According to Google, the journey is 5,347 miles. That is a long way, but if you drive an average of 60mph you would expect to arrive in Paris in about 4 days time. Yet according to Google, the trip takes “about 30 days 6 hours”!
Why does Google estimate such a long period of time for this trip? You have to read through Google’s detailed directions in order to find the answer. I have a hunch that the real slow part of the trip appears in direction #22 which reads as follows: “Swim across the Atlantic Ocean 3,462 mi.”
Well, yes. I guess I can see how that swimming-across-the-ocean part would make the trip last a little longer than one otherwise would have expected.
4 Comments
Trace
That is the funniest thing I have seen in a awhile. You crack me up. Needed something funny after watching the Mavs!!
JB
Do you know why there are so many trees in Paris?
The Germans like to march in the shade.
Barry
So can the average swimmer actually comfortably swim 100+ miles a day? That’s better than 4-5 miles an hour, never stopping for sleep or rest. I for one, question the time estimate…….. Ha ha.
Mark
hilarious.
There is an email joke that has been making the rounds about the same thing.
Google has a great sense of humor. Check out there new wireless braodband service, an exclusive from Google: http://www.google.com/tisp/