Big cities—Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc—are great places to live and fun places to visit. However, whether you’re just visiting or planning to ditch your quaint country cottage for a chic urban flat, you’ve got to know how to maneuver the city. Of course, public transportation systems are different depending on where you are. Comparing the MBTA (Boston) to the New York MTA will yield a striking number of dissimilarities. Follow this advice, though, and soon you'll be a pro no matter which metro system you're using.

• Plan your subway trip before you leave — Long before you duck into the subway station, use maps and online resources to plan out your subway trip. A number of Web sites will help, if not do most of the work, when it comes to choosing a train line, figuring out transfers, directions, and more. Consider using “Hop Stop” as it's a great resource for subway trip planning.
• Figure out how much you’ll be using the subway — Will you be in NYC for a weekend? Chicago for a week? San Francisco for 2 hours? Just be conscious of how long you’ll be in the city. More so, how many times do you expect to use the subway? This will help you decide on which subway card or ticket to buy. For instance, Boston’s Charlie Card will save you 30 cents every time you use the metro system, but it might not be worth the effort to acquire the Charlie Card if you’re only using the subway once to get to the airport. Be prepared, look into the subway ticket options for whatever city you're in.
• Pay attention to service alerts and delays — Subway systems are great for getting from here to there, but none of them are flawless. Work has to be done, and this often causes train delays or temporary line closures. Major notifications will be posted near subway entrances and communicated over loudspeaker systems within the subway tunnels, so take off your iPod while you’re waiting.
• Be extra wary of the train directions — It might be simple to select the train line you need, but the work doesn’t stop there. Make sure you’re going the right way—either go uptown or downtown, inbound or outbound, etc. Listen, if you don't know which direction you need, just ask someone for help! You won’t look foolish. It’s better than going in the wrong direction and ending up confused and lost in a foreign area of the city.
• Practice using the subway system — If you’re visiting for a while or moving to a new city, take some time to learn the system. Choose various lines and just hop on and off at various stops. Not only will this help you get acquainted with the subway, it’ll help you learn how to navigate the city in general!

And realize, subway systems aren’t just for the main metropolitan areas. If you’re visiting or relocating to a suburb just outside a major city, it’s still likely you’ll be connected to the major metro system in some way. For example, if you’re moving into one of the many condos in Jamaica Plain (a neighborhood right outside the Boston metropolitan area), you’ll still have great access to the MBTA. So keep these tips in mind, too!