If you have not planned a MPD trip with Google yet, I hope this post will help you get started.  I’ll just walk you through what I did this past summer.

I knew the route we would take and used Google to find the mileage between destinations so I knew where we would need to find a place for each night.  Just google a city and you should see a map as part of the first links.  If not, click on “maps” at the top of the Google search page.  Click on the map of the city.

You will see a balloon with all kinds of great information.  You can click in the balloon to find nearby attractions, motels, and restaurants.  Once you find your hotel, you can go to the website for the hotel (if they have one).  You can often read reviews from others who have stayed at the motel.

It does not matter whether you do the starting or ending city first.  In the above image, I had decided on the Crooked River Lodge (which I highly recommend).  Click on “get directions” in the balloon.

I put in the address for the motel we would be leaving from that morning.  On the left hand side, Google puts a direct route (but you can drag the route to different roads if you want).  Click the curved arrows to the right of the “A” and “B” destinations to reverse the direction of the route if you need to.  You can add more destinations if you are making stops during your trip also.  I make screenshots of the map and directions and print them to put  in a travel notebook to take along.

Since I had never been to either place before, I clicked on the little orange man at the top of the zoom bar on the left.  I dragged him to the spot on the map for the Honor Motel (a small, but nice little motel on the way in to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore).

This action opens the street view where I saw a photo of the motel (see right).  You can even “travel” down the street using the arrows on the road, < and >, so you can see ahead of time any landmarks to help you find your room for the night.

Google maps also has support if you click on “help” in the upper right corner.

Related Posts:

The Road Less Traveled about the “Traffic” feature on Google Maps

Bing Is Not Google explains how to find the best hotel rates and airfares using Bing.com

Map Your Donor Team make an online map of your destination with locations for your motel, rental car, appointments, and more.

Happy MPD trip!