Walk This Way

Being in a new place can be disorienting: Where can you grab coffee? Take a yoga class? Find a good book? To learn what’s around, check out walkscore.com. Simply type in your address to get a list of grocery stores, coffee shops, libraries, parks, restaurants, bars, gyms, and more within two miles of where you are. Then dress for the elements and head outdoors — you’ll fit in some exercise and do the planet good by not burning gasoline. Walkscore.com also ranks the “walkability” of over 2,500 neighborhoods in the largest U.S. cities.

And though you may have a specific destination in mind, walking can help you uncover stuff you might not have otherwise found. In my own wanderings,I’ve unexpectedly stumbled upon community gardens, sidewalk art drawn in chalk, and — I kid you not — an old highschool friend. That’s why my favorite way to explore a city will always be on foot.

Holly is one of three of “The Lost Girls.” The trio, collectively at a quarter-life crisis during a Manhattan winter, decided to abandon their careers and embark on a journey around the globe.