When at home, a person does not think much about finding restaurants, usually people have a few favorite places they like to go and keep going to these places. Occasionally when a person is in the mood for something different, he or she probably pulls out a phone book and looks for other restaurants in the area. These methods work great for people who are in their hometown, but for people who are traveling and looking for a restaurant, these same methods will not work. Unless the traveler has been to the same location several times and knows which restaurants to stay at, the person will have know way of knowing which restaurants are his or her favorite, let alone where they are and if they are any good.
The second idea of a phone book generally does not work for travelers since most likely they do not have available a phone book for the location they are at. Of course, this is not always the case. Many hotel rooms have phone books available, which is one good source to find a restaurant while traveling. If the person is just driving through and does not have a hotel room, or if the hotel room does not provide a phone book, a person can stop at a gas station, or any other place that has a pay phone and look through the phone book there. This may work sometimes, but other times it is a lot of extra trouble, besides that, telephone books are not going to tell a person how to get there, only the address. For people who are in an unfamiliar town and has trouble finding addresses, this information may not be too helpful.
Another method some people use when looking for a restaurant to eat at is to drive until they see a familiar name. There are several restaurant chains that can be found throughout the country, but if no familiar restaurant is found, how does a person know which one to stop at?
Word of mouth is good. Ask local people what they would suggest. Another way is to prepare in advance and by using travel maps, find out where certain restaurants are located in relation to where you will be traveling. There are several maps available that will show where different restaurants are in a particular city or town. These can be obtained at most hotels in the area, through the travel and tourism office and even on the internet. Most internet sites that provide maps also will show where some of the more popular restaurants are located, which helps a person decide in advance where they will stop to eat.
For those that like to wait until they are at the location, and want to use the phone book, the use of maps will be helpful once the person does find the address of the restaurant he or she wants go. Instead of trying to find the address on his or her own, using a map will make the task much easier and less stressful.
When people are hungry or tired from a long trip, finding a good restaurant will make the difference in the travel experience. It is worth the time to find the restaurants ahead of time, using travel maps will certainly be of value in these times.