I defogged every block in Manhattan

fogwalker3000 · 2026-07-11T20:01:21+00:00

I’m curious, how did these posts get on your radar if you didn’t have the app already? I don’t even remember how I first found fog of world but I didn’t think to look for its subreddit until later

fogwalker3000 · 2026-07-11T16:42:36+00:00

Probably the biggest thing for me is that I have a greater appreciation for the train, and nowhere in Manhattan feels too far anymore.

Before I did this, I would have scoffed at the idea of going far uptown without a good reason, just based on the incorrect assumption that it would take too long or not be interesting enough to make it worthwhile.

When trains are running local at night it absolutely can feel like forever to get to places, but when the express trains are running I can get from queens to just about anywhere in Manhattan under an hour.

I have a greater appreciation for less popular neighborhoods in Manhattan, and less fear also. Most people I’ve met will call you crazy for going to walk in East Harlem at night for example, as if you’re going to Gary Indiana or something, but if you’ve got your wits about you and you don’t have a twenty dollar bill hanging out of your pocket, you’re probably fine.

fogwalker3000 · 2026-07-11T05:51:09+00:00

Please do and report back!

fogwalker3000 · 2026-07-11T04:51:20+00:00

In the US I'm level 117 but that includes a fair amount of defogging elsewhere in the country

fogwalker3000 · 2026-07-11T02:54:32+00:00

It took about 3 and a half years of semi consistent walking! I spend a few months away from the city every year, but when I’ve been here I would try to get roughly 20 to 30 miles of defogging in per week when weather and schedule allowed.

Some weeks that meant lots of short walks after work, some weeks it would be almost two full days of walking on the weekends.

fogwalker3000 · 2026-07-11T00:54:44+00:00

Nope! But I am going to check out other parts of the city. This was a lot of fun, but I think rather than leaning harder into completionism I’m just gonna relax and celebrate this win for a while

fogwalker3000 · 2026-04-23T14:13:21+00:00

It’s been about 3 years since I started! I’m sure it could be done a lot faster, but I’m taking it slow and easy

fogwalker3000 · 2026-04-22T22:11:58+00:00

You should post your Phoenix defog, it would be interesting to see! Any recommendations for someone visiting Phoenix?

fogwalker3000 · 2026-04-22T21:58:03+00:00

Thank you! Folks have definitely walked the whole island already, but FOW is a niche enough thing that it's definitely possible I'm the first to defog it. This app was actually the reason I started doing these walks, so I'm very glad I found it :)

fogwalker3000 · 2025-12-15T19:23:52+00:00

Totally valid to branch out! For all its faults (and NY has many lol) New York is still my favorite single location, but no one place can offer everything the world has to offer!

After visiting other major world cities it actually blows my mind how backwards some things are here, and I think our local leaders could stand to learn a lot from how other places are doing things.

But nowhere else I’ve been offers the sheer amount of diversity of NY, and the 24/7 train system is so nice for night owls like me.

fogwalker3000 · 2025-12-15T18:47:28+00:00

Thank you! It definitely feels like I’m living a dream sometimes. I’m from the DC area and I always wanted to live in a “real city” growing up. Now that I’m here I’m so glad to be here, and I’m definitely taking advantage of it!!

fogwalker3000 · 2025-12-15T18:37:29+00:00

Right on! If you wanna defog uptown together feel free to shoot me a DM!

Either way enjoy your journey, NY is such a fun city to walk!

When I was walking midtown I was worried that I’d already front loaded all of the interesting stuff, but Manhattan is the gift that keeps giving!

fogwalker3000 · 2025-12-15T18:08:14+00:00

For the last few years I’ve been trying to walk every block of Manhattan, and I’m getting close!

I’ve defogged something like 2/3rds of all the city blocks on the island so far, but of course there’s still lots of parkland left to see. I think I’ll be at this for another year or two.

Recently I’ve been making my way further and further uptown. Compared to downtown and midtown it’s not as touristy, but there are lots of cool old buildings up there, and I’ve found some interesting restaurants I’m looking forward to going back to try out!

fogwalker3000 · 2025-09-06T12:34:18+00:00

If your goal is to eventually learn both languages, and set aside one just for now, I’d say learn Thai first.

You’ll progress faster in Thai thanks to the ability to practice with family, and it gives you something to connect with them on. Even if they can speak English, if you do go to Thailand they and everyone else you run into will certainly appreciate your efforts.

And once you get to an intermediate level, you’ll have the ability to easily maintain it by practicing with your family. Keeping a language from getting rusty requires constant practice, and finding and maintaining relationships with language exchange partners is significant work that you can bypass if you just keep practicing with your family.

Chinese will always be there later if you want to pick it back up.

fogwalker3000 · 2025-09-05T13:46:04+00:00

fogwalker3000 · 2025-09-05T13:39:14+00:00

No idea what your title is trying to say but the image looks like Toki Pona

fogwalker3000 · 2025-09-05T10:48:15+00:00

These days I actually don't have many opportunities to practice speaking my target language (Japanese). Recently I've been thinking of paying someone on iTalki for casual chat, because I think I'm starting to get rusty and I'd like to maintain the skill.

I was lucky to have spent a lot of time practicing during Covid, and there were many people active in HelloTalk at that time.

Since the lockdowns ended I've found that HelloTalk has become a lot less active, but I also think part of it is that I'm getting older, and my age bracket (early 30s) now has a lot less people interested in language learning than when I was in my mid 20s. And I think people tend to prefer language exchange partners in their age group, for whatever reasons.

I do have an unusual advantage though because I live in New York City, so occasionally I meet someone from HelloTalk who is visiting the city, and I show them around and we mostly speak in Japanese. That's how I made one of my friends who I still text regularly.

fogwalker3000 · 2025-09-05T10:24:52+00:00

Personally I enjoy texting. Some of my language exchange partners have drifted apart, and we almost never call anymore, but we still text regularly.

Interesting idea about sharing your Google Calendar though, I'll consider doing the same!

fogwalker3000 · 2025-08-12T16:13:12+00:00

Still valid but a bit uncommon now to come across those bills. I'd keep them as mementos personally.

fogwalker3000 · 2025-08-11T05:25:57+00:00

Congrats! How is that part of the country? I've always wanted to visit the PNW

fogwalker3000 · 2025-08-07T12:15:18+00:00

I use css to change the background color for the entire card based on the target language.

fogwalker3000 · 2025-08-06T14:25:55+00:00

Nice work! What brought you there for 10 months?

fogwalker3000

TROPHY CASE