The World is Flat

SRL just semi-drunk dialed me from London on his mobile (yet another tourist vicitm of the new and improved "Always Open Pubs" policy). After explaining to him that the call was likely costing him $8.00 a minute in super-double transatlantic roaming fees, he proceeded to let me know just how much the food over there sucks and how he was walking around the area outside of the Tottenham Court Road tube station looking for a decent pizza joint. Some lady at a hotel gave him some bad directions (he claims that he couldn't understand what she was saying because she spoke "English" and not "American") and he was completely lost.

Google Earth to the rescue. From my living room on the other side of the world, I was able to pull up a view of the general area he was in. We then took turns calling out landmarks until I found him next to some fountains by a bus station. After googling the pizza place he was looking for (The Italian Kitchen), I was able to give him directions to the front door just by calling out landmarks as he walked. There's a little bit of translation needed because things definitely look different from space than from on the ground, but it was cool nonetheless.

We are totally global ubergeeks.

-srl said...
Turns out that food sucked as well. I hate this country. No wonder we whipped their asses in two wars.

10:58 AM