Getting Around Seattle using Migo

This is my sixth year living in Seattle, which is crazy to me! Time really flies. One of the biggest changes was how I used transportation. Suddenly I had to learn the bus system or walk just about everywhere. As a suburbs kid, this was a huge lifestyle change. Going without my car was really weird at first but then I got used to it because I had little use for one. After graduating college, I tried having a car again due to several moves but it was honestly a huge hassle. I hated driving and parking in the city, as well as the traffic.

So here I am, without a car again. I’m fortunate now to live so close to the light rail which shortens my commute a ton. However there are still so many things I want to do around Seattle that require something better than public transit. The bus system in Seattle is fantastic but it’s not always an efficient mode of transportation. Then there’s walking…sure, it’s free, but I’m lazy – especially when it’s cold and rainy.

Like many of you, I have become a big fan of rideshares. It’s insanely convenient but the downside is it can get very pricey. I’m a frugal person so I’m always looking for the cheapest option when it comes to transportation. The type of car or even riding alone is not a priority to me. I’m usually just looking for the cheapest and quickest option to get me from A to B – especially when there’s surge pricing. Realistically, I just usually use Lyft line because I’m (again) too lazy to download and check other apps. Enter: Migo.

Migo is an app that combines bikes, car shares, rideshares, and taxi all in an easy-to-use map interface. Enter in your destination and Migo will tell you in real time what the price is and how long it’ll take you. Most of the car and ride shares can be booked all within the app too! The app is incredibly easy to use and has saved me time and money already. When it gets warmer, I’m definitely looking forward to using some of the bike options too! I used some test locations for privacy but as you can see, typing in your locations gives you time and price.

To illustrate how useful Migo is, I used it to get around Seattle on a typical weekend date with Jared. We didn’t even go out of our way to do stuff just to show you the app! These are some of our most frequently visited spots around the area :)

First we wanted to get sushi at our favorite spot in downtown. Although we only live a mile away from Japonessa, let’s be real…hanger + laziness + 40 degree weather…a recipe for disaster if you made me walk there. Using Migo, we got a Lyft in literally a minute and we were at the restaurant and seated in under 10 minutes. Insane. Even though Migo has a ton of options, it actually was very easy to narrow down what the cheapest/quickest option was. For two people going downtown, we knew bikes were out of the question. We also didn’t want to deal with parking. The fast filters are perfect for specifying these types of preferences! 

After sushi, we headed to Nordstrom because there were a bunch of fun pop-in shops that I wanted to visit. Occasionally, I work with the brands that are featured in some of these pop-in shops so it’s fun for me to see them in person. There are so many good shops right now at the Nordstrom flagship store! Two favorites to check out: the MoMa Design store and Molly Moon’s. I also loved the furniture at the Nordstrom x Nike boutique.

We’re also big fans of movies and had some tickets burning a hole in our wallets… so naturally we turned a movie date into a whole other adventure. Since the theater’s in Bellevue we used that as an excuse to shop a bit at Bellevue Square, go to our favorite ramen spot, and also get some dessert. (Yes there is a theme to our dates. We like food.)

A few days prior we had talked about trying Car2Go when we saw that it was consistently a cost-effective method on the app. I’ve seen Car2Go all over Seattle but have never been a fan of the tiny Smart Cars. Now they’ve added a whole fleet of Mercedes to Seattle so Jared and I both signed up for Car2Go because of Migo! We liked being able to drive ourselves since this was a longer trip than our past ride. PLUS Jared got to drive one of the Mercedes. I don’t think he hated that part. 

We saw Lady Bird (highly recommend – I definitely teared up at the end), got the yummiest ramen at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, then topped it off with froyo from Yogurtland. Then we headed back to Seattle in our car for the afternoon! It’s so nice to have an on-demand rental car for a few hours or a day. If you’re running a bunch of errands or making quite a few stops, this is a much more cost friendly way to “rent” a car for a bit. Plus, they don’t care if you’re not 25 yet. (We recently got hit with some fees when we rented a car on vacation.) 

Migo is available on the iTunes store for FREE and you can also use it in Portland as well as Washington DC! This is really exciting for me because I grew up right across the river from Portland. Whenever I go home I always, always go to Portland for shopping, food, or to see friends. The fact this is available in both of my homes is awesome. I can’t wait to see how fast Migo is going to spread to other locations! Please check it out next time you need to get somewhere – it is worth the few seconds it takes to download :) Don’t just take my word for it, King 5 News covered Migo as well. This is the perfect app to use for New Year’s Eve if you’re going out to celebrate!

Safe travels!

This post was written in collaboration with Migo. All opinions are 100% my own.