The holidays are upon us and that means it’s time to get ready for travel, shopping, cooking and all the fun festivities. But with everything going on, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Fortunately, Google Technology Expert Marley McAliley is here to help us navigate through the holiday season so we can enjoy every minute of it.
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Mason Paine: This holiday season, Americans are preparing to travel, shop, cook, or just go out for the entertainment. And with all the hustle and bustle, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Google technology expert, Marley Mcil joins me to break down how to navigate through this holiday season so you can enjoy every minute of it. Thanks for joining me, Marley.
Marley McAiley: Thanks so much for having.
Mason Paine: So it’s gonna be kind of nice. I mean, the holidays are coming up, but one of the things a lot of times we don’t think about is the time to get to our family. How is Google gonna help us out through the, that time.
Marley McAiley: Google’s able to help in a numerous amount of ways, both by letting you know when the best and worst times are to hit the road or fly to see family members around the holiday seasons. There’s also some great Google tools that can help you save gas money, save prices on flight, and make sure you’re choosing the route that works best for you.
Mason Paine: Now, in your opinion, what are the top three things you think people should do to prepare for holiday?
Marley McAiley: I think one great thing you can do to prepare for holiday season, if you’re planning on flying anywhere, is tracking flight prices. This is a great tool that Google Flights provides, and what you can do is if you know the destination you’re planning to fly to is. Put in those specific dates that you’re hoping to fly, the destination you’re hoping to fly to, and then you’re able to opt in to track those flight prices. So then Google will email you if there’s any significant price drop for the dates that you’re hoping to fly.
Mason Paine: Now, what do you think is the most challenging part about navigating this holiday season?
Marley McAiley: One thing that’s really challenging about navigating the holiday season is the increase in prices that a lot of people are feeling both when it comes to flights and gas. I know that right now it’s top of mind for many people trying to figure out how they can find the cheapest way to fuel up their tank, but luckily with Google Maps, we’re able to compare gas prices very easily using the Google Maps app, for example, you can use, you can go click on the gas button, which is at the top of the app, or you can just do a click. General search on Google Maps, which is, for example, gas prices nearby. And then you’ll be able to see all of the gas stations in your area along with the price per gallon. And that’s updated daily. So this is a really great tool. If you’re planning on driving to see loved ones, you’ll be able to find the keeper gas nearby and of course, how to get to those gas stations and the hours that they’re operat. Another great tool we have in terms of, you know, saving fuel and saving money on gas is eco-friendly routing. Whether you’re going to visit family for the holidays, or even just, you know, going to work or going to the shopping mall. Once you put in a destination on Google Maps, it’ll show you the most eco-friendly route, which is both sustainable and also fuel efficient. They’re able to compare different routes based on epa, based on fuel efficiency and choose what’s best for.
Mason Paine: Okay, so I’m not sure where I heard this from, if it’s even a thing, but I’ve heard that Google Maps changes its, directions that it gives based on how heavy the traffic is. Is that true?
Marley McAiley: Yes, that is true. And another great tool in addition to Google Maps is wave. If you’ve ever used Waves before, it’s also a Google navigation product, and what they can actually help you with in during the winter time in particular, is navigating during extreme winter weather. So wave actually adds road closures, accidents, un plowed roads in real time to the map. So you’ll be able to see not only traffic, but any, you know, unexpected changes to your. To your, route based on winter weather and then able, you’ll be able to either select an alternate route or soon to leave later, whatever works best for you. So that’s another great tool. But yeah, Google Map does change your route based on traffic, or at least will be able to update you along the way if there is some unexpected traffic and give you some other options.
Mason Paine: And that leads me to my next thing I wanted to talk about is that, Google was able to tell you when it’s the best time to leave your house. How did you guys figure that out?
Marley McAiley: We’re able to use Google Map traffic data across major cities, so a lot of that just live data that’s being reported and then we’re able to then, based on that data from previous years, Estimate what the worst and best times would be around the holiday season. So for example, you know, around Thanksgiving there’s a lot of people hitting the road, and traffic will peak and we’re able to estimate the best time to beat that traffic, which for this year is Monday at 8:00 PM local time and the time to avoid that traffic, which is often times Tuesdays and Wednesday around 4:00 PM.
Mason Paine: I’m not gonna lie, I hope nobody uses Google because then it won’t change any patterns. Cause if everybody’s using it, we’re all gonna be leaving at eight o’clock.
Marley McAiley: Exactly, Exactly. So yeah, you can take in mind what these tips are and especially when you’re looking at the most busy times, maybe that means like either leaving early for you or leaving later in the evening and try to work that around your schedule.
Mason Paine: Now are there any Christmas activities that, you can do in general?
Marley McAiley: Yeah, so there’s been a lot of search interest around different Christmas activities this season, or holiday activities in general and in Illinois, for example, the most search holiday activity is ice skating rink. So it’s nice to see a lot of people are trying to get out, be a little active around the holiday season. Celebrate in a festive way by ice skating. We’ve seen a lot of interest in that across the country as well. And then a lot of people looking at Christmas tree farms too. So lots of different interest and activities this holiday season.
Mason Paine: You know, I try to ice skate a few times and I just can’t do it. Mind you, I can roller blade, but ice skating, it’s its own breed, man. Can you ice skate?
Marley McAiley: I personally can’t, so I can relate with you there. I’m not very good. Sports that involve like wheels or skates, things like that. I usually like to have my feet on the ground, but you know, maybe it’s something that I should try this holiday season since so many people are, you know, taking up this new or maybe not new activity, but for me it’ll be a new activity. So looking forward to that.
Mason Paine: So you’re a little bit like me, you just go Christmas tree, shopping. I mean, that’s such a nice thing to do, right? ,
Marley McAiley: It really is nice. It’s really festive. It’s casual. So that, yeah, that’s definitely one of my favorite activities or visiting Christmas markets, things like that.
Mason Paine: Well, Marley, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate you being here. For those listening, where can they find all of this data at?
Mason Paine: You can find this data at google.com/trends.
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