As a meticulous planner, Google Maps is a game-changer. While organizing a weekend road trip to Ottawa, I used blogs, magazines, tourism websites, and relied heavily on Google Maps to craft the perfect trip. The drive was 5 and a half hours each way so we sought to make the best of our two day weekend.
We began our drive at 10PM, aiming to avoid traffic and arrive in Ottawa early enough to sleep for 5 hours before embarking on our adventure. As soon as we walked through the doors of our Airbnb, three rattled and tired guests greeted us at the door. There was a miscommunication. The Airbnb was booked the night before by a family visiting from Lebanon and when I asked for early check-in, the host thought that we would be arriving the next day. Without a place to stay and rest, we pulled out our phones to to find a place that was open at 5 in the morning on a Saturday. Luckily, we quickly found solace in a nearby Tim Hortons and watched the sun rise.
At the strike of 8AM, businesses opened their doors and we began our Ottawa trip.
Our first stop was SuzyQ donuts.
SuzyQ was a Local Guide favourite and highly recommended by many of the food columnists and forums I came across and with more than 1,500 reviews on Google Maps and an average of 4.7. It did not disappoint. Naturally, we wanted to share our discovery of this already famous place so we posted our photos and reviews on Google Maps to give back to the community. We carbed up on their chocolate mint, carrot cake, oreo, and maple bacon donuts. With a sugary fuel, we trucked on to Parliament Hill — the federal capital of Canada. The free tour was informative and engaging. We got to see countless chambers in the building and take the stairs up to the Peace Tower for a beautiful aerial view of the city.
After Parliament Hill, we walked through the pews of the magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral Basilisca. Then we pretend to be cultured and looked all the various types of art from abstract, impressionist painting to pottery and statues. We wandered around Byward Market for a bit and took refuge in a McDonalds. As chance would have it, Ottawa was holding the world championships for downhill ice skating the same weekend. Naturally, we fought the crowds to take a peek at the show. Finally deciding the frost-bite isn’t worth watching people slip and slide down a man-made track, we used Google Maps again to find a place that is opened late the Saturday to warm up our feet
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The urge to get the most out of the city in the short time that we have trumped our exhaustion so we looked up the best place for rock-climbing and checked out the highly rated Vertical Reality. We ended our night with karaoke and a Chinese restaurant in Ottawa’s Chinatown.
Although I had chalked out the major destinations of our trip weeks in advance, it was the in-the-moment let’s-check-this-out places that took the trip to the next level. We relied on Google Maps for directions and looked to the Local Guide community of reviews and recommendations for the Ottawa local experience. Without their insight, we wouldn’t have found the most popular climbing gym in the city, the best breakfast we’ve ever had, and getting up and personal with goats in a maple syrup farm.
I am passionate about contributing to Google Maps as a Local Guide because I know and personally experience how important these ratings, reviews, and photos of places on Google Maps is when planning and getting lost in a city. Google Local Guides reliably share the most hidden gems in a town, help get the word out for the most unique businesses or warn others of a potential bad experience. I share photos of the places I’ve been to in hopes that it helps others like me find a way to cram 20 destinations in 24 hours in a new city.
