Things I Can't Say

Tips and Tales from an Introverted Mom

Lost with a GPS

garmin

Road trippin’

I remember the first long road trip I made. My parents bought me a map and highlighted my route.  It was a little tricky sometimes because the map didn’t show every little turn or where exactly an exit would be, but I figured it out.

Then came sites like mapquest which gave great directions I could print out and take with me. Of course, it was a little hard to try to read the directions while driving and they weren’t a help if I needed to take a detour or if I got lost.

Then those sites got fancier and made sure to say you weren’t just taking exit 240, but exit 240 on the left, so there was no more trying to get across six lanes of traffic at the last minute because you assumed that the exit would be on the right. And they added notes like “if you reach Park St, you’ve gone .2 miles too far.”

But then along came GPS systems like the Garmin plus directions apps on smart phones. Type in where you want to go and it guides you right through. Easy to decide to take a detour, help for when I’d get lost, and easy to find places along a route: like my obsession with stopping at Panera for lunch on a roadtrip since we don’t have one here in my little town.

I never really worry about getting lost.

But what if the wrong location is in your GPS and you don’t realize it?

On Thursday night, I was driving across the state to Charlotte so I’d be there for #DisneyontheRoad on Friday morning.  Hubs programmed in both the hotel I’d be staying at and the hotel where the event was taking place, so I’d be all set.

Garmin told me to make a turn that I usually do not make. But I looked at the arrival time and thought ooooh, I like that time! Maybe this is a shortcut. And I followed Garmin’s directions.

But as I continued driving, I started second-guessing my route. I was on roads seemingly in the middle of nowhere. I saw a few signs that seemed to indicate I was heading in the total wrong direction.

And then I remembered that when I started Hubs’s car, the windshield wipers were going crazy, the radio was way up, and the heater was on: the boys had been inside it, playing around. What if they messed with the GPS and somehow set the directions to take me to somewhere Hubs had been for work? What if I end up in SC or something?

But, driving in the middle of nowhere, on teeny little roads meant there was nowhere to pull off to recheck my destination.

So, I kept driving, hoping that I could trust technology to get me where I needed to go.

But just as I was about to stop in the middle of nowhere(since there weren’t any other cars around anyway), I saw a sign for Charlotte and breathed a huge sign of relief.

Do you rely on GPS for directions or do you use another method to help you on your way?


Disclosure: I was selected for participation in the TWIN community through a program with Clever Girls Collective. I did not receive any compensation for writing this post, or payment in exchange for participating. The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the views of Toyota.

Comments

  2. I totally rely on GPS, even when going somewhere local that I could probably figure out on my own. 🙂

  3. I hate getting lost!  It is one of the panic-inducing things for me (and there really aren’t that many).

    I use my GPS, but I always have a back up method available (google maps, phone, etc.).

  5. I rely on my GPS but sometimes she (she’s a she) is completely wrong or maybe I just misunderstand her. Either way she spends a lot of time “recalculating routes” on my behalf. 😉

  6. We always use our GPS on vacations and when driving unfamiliar roads, but I still take the time to print all the maps just in case. I’m not sure why I don’t trust the GPS except that it is an older one and some of the maps are outdated.
    Sandy

  7. My husband is a huge GPS fan and never hesitates to whip it out when he’s going somewhere new. We always have it when we’re travelling abroad and driving, and it’s rarely failed us. I’ve not used one driving by myself (because I’m the kind of person who doesn’t go anywhere I don’t know how to get to, not anymore!), but I will if I have to! I hate getting lost!

    Glad you made it to Charlotte 🙂

    • My husband travels a lot for work so he’s the one who uses it most. But I like the reassurance when I’m driving somewhere. 

  8. While I like the technology and convenience of GPS – if I’m driving someplace I’ve never been before I always look at a good old map and try to see the route I’m taking so I’m somewhat familiar with it. I’ve relied on the GPS too much before and wound up way out of my way in getting places.

    • I was telling my husband that if you had handed me a map of NC and told me you’d give me a million dollars if I could point to where I was within a 50 mile radius during that drive, I couldn’t do it!

  9. I hate the GPS…. I’m always afraid that I’m going to get lost using it! LOL… I use Google Maps and either print or write out the directions.

    • That’s what the roads looked like where I was. And I was too afraid to stop to check where I was because I figured that’s when the zombies would get me.

  14. I’m constantly using my GPS. I do keep an atlas in the car, and a state map, because occasionally the GPS can’t find our intended location. Last month we had to pull out the maps because the GPS couldn’t find a state campground where we had reservations. It looked funny on the screen, like we were off roading in the woods.

  15. Ironically, I did a post today on my GPS experiences – LOL!  I seem to get more lost with a GPS than without one, so I still reply on the old fashioned methods of Mapquest or asking someone. Glad you found your way – and hopefully. I will find mine! 

  16. I just started using the Maps app on my phone and so far so good. It has saved me a few times on my way to baseball games. I do laugh when I miss a turn. It sometimes feels like the woman is yelling at me. I usually do the same thing. Panic and then breathe a sigh of relief.

  17. I am sooo bad with directions. I used to always get lost when I first began driving. I used to rely on directions from mapquest but those got me lost a lot. I LOVE the GPS on my phone. I use it whenever I go anywhere that I’m not familiar with… it definitely eases my mind to know that it’s there to tell me where to go, haha

  18. I have the Garmin app on my phone and I LOVE it. It is so awesome. It cost like $50, but so worth every penny. I am amazed at how many people still use maps.

    Even before GPS I didn’t use maps. I am more of a landmark type of girl, you know turn right at the third light with the taco place on the corner. I honestly can’t even read a map. I do have a lot of insecurity with my GPS though. Not that the GPS is going to send me the wrong way, but that i entered the wrong address. If it is longer trip I will double check every 1/2 hour or so!

    • I got the month-long version this summer- usually, I just take the one from Hubs’s car but we both needed it, so I got the app. Sort of tempted to pay for it long term.

  19. Sometimes I miss AAA TripTics… do you remember those? That is what I always used to use before GPS – which I have a love/hate relationship with. 🙂 Paper maps are almost like payphones…

  21. Just the other day we pull in and as I got out the car I said to my wife, “GPS Gwen did it again”.
    “What’s that?”
    “She got us into another argument while trying to figure out our route.”
    GPS Gwen messes with our directions all the time.

  22. I move to NC only 2.5 months ago so I use my GPS all the time until I become familiar with a certain route. I am horrible with directions as it is. I do notice sometimes it seems to take me the long way which sucks when you are in a hurry but without my GPS I’d be totally lost.

  23. I’m old school in that I check google and then write down directions on a piece of paper. Then I can filter what I really need. If I get hopelessly lost, I’m not above asking for directions! Works for me. 🙂

  25. Hello, my friend. I’ve been away on a nine day vacation to Napa. I’m up to my ears in laundry, but I thought I’d pop in between loads to say hi. 

    I do the very same thing with my nav! I’m always second guessing her, mainly because I’m terrible with directions and phobic about getting lost. But that bitch is always right. I need to stop doubting her or she’s going to get pissed enough to really get me lost. 

    Once though, my hubs did put in the wrong address. We were on vacation in Williamsburg and spur of the moment we decided to drive up to New York City. My hubs typed in the address of the hotel where we’d secured a last minute reservation and off we went. When we arrived in the city, all of a sudden, it seemed like we were driving further and further away from the skyscrapers and the next thing we knew, we were in the Bronx. When we arrived at some really scary housing projects, I knew something was wrong. I was a little ticked when I saw he hadn’t bothered with the Avenue and we ended up on a street with the same name except it was a Street. There was a lot of yelling on that car ride. 

  26. I don’t have a GPS, but I do use the Map app on my phone. Usually not while I’m actually doing the driving, because I get distracted by watching my little dot move along the screen.

  27. Totally rely on the GPS so much so that it takes me about 4 times of going some place now before I could get there without it.  Growing up, after I went some place once I could get there again, now I just drive and obey and don’t really pay attention. 

  28. I’m not ashamed to admit that I have, quite possibly, the worst sense of direction despite the fact that my father was a NYC cab driver for several years and memorizes directions after driving to a new place once. I didn’t inherit that gene. Without GPS I likely may have been injured, or left in an abandoned town, or worse. I never leave home without it (when I’m fortunate enough to steal a car for a roadtrip!). 

    Thank god you made it there safely! 

  29. You know, my GPS has been wrong more and more often lately. Especially when I drive in the city (Boston). My GPS just can’t seem to keep up.

  30. We once missed a wedding because there is a Long Branch and a Long Beach New Jersey and thumbs on GPS screens are not always accurate. But for the most part, I love my GPS. I am very directionally challenged.

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