Back in March 2007, Google Maps had an easter egg that allowed people to search for directions from places like New York to London, and it would tell you to swim across the Atlantic Ocean. It was a little geek joke that caused a lot of buzz.

You can see many pictures of the various examples in Google Images.

But at some point, Google disabled those directions. I am not sure when, but a Google Maps Help thread asks what happened to the neat gag? The Maps user said:

I am not sure when it stopped working, but it was something cool that Google did.

Forum discussion at Google Maps Help .