I can only extrapolate from my own terror one lovely New Year's Eve when I decided to drive to the Trader Joe's that I had gone to with my aunt a few times before, less than two weeks after having moved to San Francisco. I took a wrong turn in the fog, and while I knew where I was, and I have a very good sense of direction under most circumstances, I was completely lost. I had a map, and I had a friend who bailed me out with the cellphone and Google Maps, but I was entirely freaked out. LOST, and I couldn't find myself.

It was that very evening that I ordered a GPS.

I scoff at the concept that the GPS is likely to make it harder for people to learn where they are going. On the contrary -- it makes it easier for me, because I then rehearse driving to that place on exactly a workable route, and I don't waste time getting lost, and I don't waste brainpower learning the wrong route. Granted, there's less forced exploration of the territory surrounding, but still.

I have a strong kinesthetic sense (like ranunculus, I tend to be able to find something I've been to before) and I used to never be able to tell the compass directions until I lived in an apartment where they were posted on the walls and I got in the habit of daily morning, noon, evening, (and midnight, if I was still up) prayers, pointed in the direction of the sun.

But the directions still mean very little to me without the map. If I don't have a map, I can't feel the directions on it. One day when my internet crapped out, before the smartphone, I didn't have the grid drawn out for the place I was going, and I called up a friend to ask them to relay stuff off Google Maps. And they started giving me directions. And I had to tell them to stop, and give me the information that I *actually* needed.


I'm very, very, very glad you've found this. It must be amazing. So much freedom!