Rob BellingerI'm going to #philadelphia for work next week, as long as the city survives Sunday.
Last time I was there, I brought my #bike, searched for great #sandwiches, and wrote a piece about it.
Might try #bikeshare this time. Where should I eat?
Has anyone on here used #indego in #Philly? I use #citibike a lot but haven't tried any of the systems affiliated with #trek.
$20 for a 30-day pass seems better than paying #amtrak $40 to haul my bike, then having to worry about it being stolen. #bikeshare #BikeTooter
Fave #photo from my last #Philly trip, October 2020: Woman at John's Roast Pork.
Quickly grabbed this shot with my #Pixel3 and not the SLR I was also carrying. Her bus came a few seconds later, and she was gone.
#StreetPhotography #photography #urban #philadelphia #JohnsRoastPork
First #indego trip in the books. Honestly the best pedal assist #bikeshare bike I've tried. Midmount #Bosch motor and 3-speed #Shimano hub are huge advantages when riding in unpredictable traffic or in #bikelanes that switch sides or disappear altogether.
Back in NYC but missing Sarcone's #TomatoPie already. Don't know how I slept on this for so long!
Kevin
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez@rbellinger Poking around your website, jealous about the BBQ trips, now I need your Hudson Valley BBQ recommendations.
For reference, Holy Smoke in Mahopac is a fave, while Billy Joe's in Newburgh is decent on a warm day.
@glecharles Ha, thanks for looking! My partner and I have been discussing taking it offline and replacing with a PDF archive, but we are probably going to do some maintenance this weekend. Glad to have a visitor!
I have not had much bbq in the Hudson Valley. I usually make my own, but haven’t done that all year. Hickory BBQ in the Town of Kingston has good stuff. It is a motorcyclist bar vibe.
@rbellinger I'm pretty sure we ate there last time we visited, and it was pretty good.
We actually considered a BBQ road trip years ago, centering on Memphis, but couldn't narrow down our options. It's still on the wish list, though.
@glecharles Memphis is totally worth it — I am planning my 6th trip there! A crossroads of North America in every possible sense of the word, and IMO extremely overlooked to this day. I’m in the process of updating my Memphis map and will share it here.
@rbellinger We were torn between doing Memphis to NOLA or St. Louis to Memphis to NOLA, because I can't be in the south and not end up in NOLA! We also didn't have specific places in mind, so it never solidified into a real travel plan. Looking forward to that map!
@glecharles from #Memphis you can take #Amtrak to #Nola for dirt cheap. I had planned to do this for my "bachelor party" in spring 2020 but that was destroyed by covid.
@rbellinger We were thinking of it as a road trip, but that's an interesting combo. Fly to St Louis or Kansas City, drive to Memphis, train to NOLA, fly back home. 🤔
@rbellinger I always default to bringing my bike with me...maybe next time I'm there I'll give it a go. I've definitely been curious about the difference between those and the Lyft operated systems
Emily@rbellinger I use Indego all the time! It's great imo (I haven't used citibike but I imagine it's similar). I noticed in the last few months a lot of the bikes have been replaced with electric ones, which is awesome. They do cost an extra 15 cents/minute on top of the purchase of the pass, whereas the regular bikes don't cost any extra, but I think it's worth it!
@boda Thanks for the endorsement! Definitely going to bring my helmet and GoPro for this trip 😀
Returning to #Philly this evening for a long weekend of exploration by foot, #bike, and #transit.
We've made a map of the (#hoagie) places we've been to and plan to visit.
Feel free to send suggestions for any places not on the map!
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1FU0p0KtcNli5CvDrhPKYUBJeHdhFUVIf&usp=sharing
Sze Hui@rbellinger in case you need a change of pace from sandwiches, I will take every opportunity I can to talk up Sang Kee Peking Duck House at 9th and Vine. A Chinatown institution, I go every time I'm in Philly. 1-900-ICE CREAM's scoop shop also worth a visit.
@szeis4cookie I owe you an apology for not adding it to the map sooner! Thanks for the reminder.
@rbellinger oh, and of course the first La Colombe location at 19th and Walnut!
@rbellinger if you haven't done Chinatown, you should. My favorite is Sang Kee Peking Duck House at 9th and Vine. Very important to go to the actual restaurant and not to their outpost in Reading Terminal Market. Also, there are a couple of bagel places inside Reading Terminal Market that are very good
@szeis4cookie Great tip, thanks! On previous #philly Chinatown visits, I have actually sought out Vietnamese food, because it's so unusually rare throughout NYC.
Matt Hiller@rbellinger Monk's Cafe near Rittenhouse Square or gtfo
@hillernyc looks awesome
Chris@rbellinger I can recommend Barcelona on Passyunk Ave and Mike’s BBQ on 11th in South Philly
@scrummy Thanks. I hear and see great things about Mike's. Got to have sangria at Barcelona once and would love to try the food.
CF@rbellinger I'm visiting #philadelphia for the first time next week (vacation from Europe) and these food ideas are really helpful 😀 I assume it's possible to get around via public transport rather than bike? Not sure bikes and jetlag would be a good combination 😉
Travis Southard@Buxton_Vienna @rbellinger We have a great bus system that will get you most places in the city easily (and cheaply) enough!
I do recommend getting a SEPTAkey rather than quick trip tickets or cash (20% off, refill online), but I especially recommend planning ahead. Our busses are good but don’t run quite often enough and planning ahead is key to getting anywhere without waiting too long at a stop
@Buxton_Vienna Thanks! Transit (or even walking) would be wise choices, and you will find tons in walking distance. You definitely want your full cognitive abilities available when biking there 😂
@tsouthard I wish SEPTA had a tap-to-pay option. I just ran a meeting in NYC with 3 guests from out-of-town. They were amazed that they could just tap card or phone when taking subway to dinner.
Can you get SEPTAkey at any station? I've used subway and trolley, but I've never taken the bus!
@rbellinger @Buxton_Vienna _Supposedly_ septa is looking to add tap-to-pay, though I’ll believe it when I see it.
Either way, I believe you can get a septa key at any subway station and transportation center, but definitely not every bus stop (most stops are a 10”x6” sign).
When we had tokens, only certain stations had machines, but I believe that was part of the key upgrade was adding machines at every subway/trolley station.
@tsouthard @rbellinger Thank you both for the info, we will probably walk most of the time but it's good to know how the buses work.
@rbellinger We will be in NYC too, so it's interesting to hear that they also have a contactless card system. We're used to that from London (been in place for 10yrs or so). Also good to know that contactless cards are a thing in the US, here in Europe we're often told that our chip&pin cards don't always work there!
@rbellinger We will be in NYC too, so it's interesting to hear that they also have a contactless card system. We're used to that from London (been in place for 10yrs or so). Also good to know that contactless cards are a thing in the US, here in Europe we're often told that our chip&pin cards don't always work there!
@Buxton_Vienna
I'm not sure if any other US cities have implemented tap-to-pay for transit. I'm still shocked New York's MTA managed to install the system (called OMNY) during the 2020 ridership trough.
Contactless cards really exploded here in the last ~5 years.
I Thought I Saw A 2 
@Buxton_Vienna @rbellinger You can easily get around downtown #philly using SEPTA https://www5.septa.org/ You can bike, but remember, it's the middle of February and the weather can be very erratic. It looks to be in the 50-60 F range, but it changes very quickly. If you are going to be traveling outside of downtown, then both SEPTA and biking are much less useful.
@ithoughtisawa2 @Buxton_Vienna
Do you mean that bikeshare is less useful outside of center city? I only have the 3-day trip described above as evidence, but I found that having my own bike was incredibly fast for getting to places farther afield.
@rbellinger @Buxton_Vienna I'm not that familiar with the bikeshare program. I'm not sure if they will let you ride out into the suburbs and then return the bike 1-2 days later. I'm sure the actual riding can be done, but I wouldn't describe Philly as a very bike friendly area. The practicality of this idea is going to depend very heavily on exactly where you want to go.