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If you live in New York City, you already know you don’t need a driver’s license to get around.

But there’s a difference between walking to the subway to get somewhere and going on *very* long walks around the five boroughs for the fun of it. I’m talking about 15-20 mile walks.

Content creator Isabella Carr has coined the term “psychotically long walks” to describe her hourslong strolls through the city, which have helped her gain over 111,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. She’s walked from North Brooklyn to the Rockaways, the Met and even to New Jersey.

“When you're walking, you're not only connecting with yourself, but you’re also forcing yourself to experience and embrace the city around you,” Carr told me.

“I think a large issue of major cities, and especially New York, is people come to these cities and they don't actually know the city that they're living in, and I think that's why you get a lot of resentment and angst from native New Yorkers,” she said.

I got into “psychotically long walks” this year after my friend Monet Takeda gathered a group to walk Manhattan’s 32-mile perimeter with her so she could win her job’s step challenge.

At first, it sounded intimidating. But a few miles in, I started noticing things I hadn’t before — like how a neighborhood’s vibe and architecture can shift in a span of a few blocks, how beautiful the old-growth forest in Inwood Hill Park is, and how easy it is to forget you’re on an island until you’re walking along its entire edge.

Soon after, I started looking for reasons to take some long walks of my own. I planned a top-to-bottom walk of Brooklyn with a friend, from Greenpoint to Coney Island. I spent an entire Sunday walking 15 miles through the Bronx and Upper Manhattan with a college friend who works in urban planning and narrated the entire route with facts about the city.

And it’s not just me who’s enthusiastic about this. There’s a growing appetite for long-distance walking in NYC as a shared, deliberate activity, not just a way to get somewhere.

There’s even a new app called WalkNYC that allows New Yorkers to track each block they’ve ever walked in the city.

“ I really did one-thousandth of a percent of the work. New York does the rest, right?” said Joe Puccio, who created WalkNYC. “You’re walking on a block that you've walked by a hundred times, but just didn't take that couple extra steps to go down a different one.”

“ The hope here is that people will walk more, explore more neighborhoods, and getting people who already love the city to fall a little deeper,” he said.

To Carr, one major appeal of her “psychotically long walks” is that they’re *free* at a time of increased living costs and seemingly endless commodification of everyday life.

Sofia Sulikowski, who hosts long-distance group walks in NYC and works in tech, said another appeal might be a desire to connect with others and be outside as technology appears to be taking an even bigger role in our day-to-day lives.

And walking in NYC is a rich experience that can’t be easily replicated in other American cities, Sulikowski said.

“ It's hard to run out of places to walk in New York,” she said. “Even within the same neighborhood, there are stores that are underground, things that are maybe tucked behind an alley or a little park that you missed because you were on the opposite side of the street, and then when you rewalk it, your view from the opposite side of the sidewalk is completely different.”

If you want to start taking your own long walks in NYC, here are some tips from the walking experts I talked with:

How do I plan a route?

Carr says she picks a destination that she either hasn’t been to before or hasn’t been to often, then loosely charts it out on Google Maps. But she chooses her own route, depending on specific places she wants to visit. And the most popular areas aren't necessarily where you’ll learn something new, she said.

If you get stuck on the highway or find yourself on a long stretch of industrial landscape, it might suck for a bit, but it’s all part of the journey. “You have to know that there's gonna be lows and highs, and to appreciate the highs, you need to accept the lows,” Carr said.

Sulikowski says she looks for streets with bike lanes and tree covers for a more pleasant walking route. And she prefers smaller streets over wide avenues, which typically have a lot of vehicle traffic.

How do I keep myself entertained?

Carr likes to walk in silence and solve her life problems on her long walks. She’ll also call loved ones and sometimes listen to music.

Sulikowski encourages walkers to avoid their headphones and put their “photographer glasses on” instead. “Walking moves you through at a speed where you're really able to notice, like, ‘Wow, that lamp post is in front of this really beautiful tree,’” she said.

Sulikowski said walking also helps her to think more creatively. (A Stanford University study found people are 60% more creative when they're walking than when they’re sitting.)

What essentials should I bring?

Carr suggests bringing lip balm, wired headphones, coconut water, sunscreen to reapply during the walk, a lip liner and perfume in case you have plans afterwards.

“ Others might say a portable charger and hand sanitizer. Not for me. My phone will die. It's OK, and my hands will get dirty,” she said.

Sulikowski also brings a hat, an emergency snack, bandages and a phone charger.

How do I deal with fatigue from walking that long?

First of all, not everyone needs to do a “psychotically long walk,” to get into walking for fun, Carr said.

You can start anywhere.  Go on a 20-minute walk, and add 5 minutes more everyday. Or instead of taking the train somewhere, walk halfway, because why not?

Increasing the time you spend on your feet will make long walks easier, like working at a standing desk, Sulikowski said. You can also plan more sitting breaks throughout your long walk and add fun drink or pastry stops to keep you going, Sofia said.

And don’t constantly check how many miles you’ve walked because that can really trip you up, said Pam Cress, the president of Shorewalkers, which organizes the annual 32-mile urban hike around Manhattan’s perimeter. Instead, she suggests just listening to your body.

And bring along a friend! It’s easier to take long walks with other people because conversation can keep the time moving, Cress said.

You can listen to the radio conversation here!