I’ve done it all over Europe. I did a month long trip years ago with mostly paper maps. I’ve had a hard time a few times in Europe where either they don’t put up road signs or they are hard to read. Got really badly lost in Amsterdam at like 1am trying to find my hotel as I didn’t know what road I was on.
So long as I was given all the maps I needed, as in a good large scale map of the city I was going to, it would be no problem. Otherwise it might be harder to find the streets in the destination.
As a guy though, I have zero problems asking for directions. I don’t like being lost and if I feel I’m going the wrong way I’ll stop and ask. Ask me again in a couple of months as I’m going to the Dominican Republic, my GPS doesn’t have maps for the area, I’ll not have cell reception so I’ll have to rely on maps.
I have NO sense of direction. It’s genetic; nobody in my family has any sense of direction.
You could give me a Google Earth map with all the streets clearly photographed and everything clearly labeled. I’ll get lost
I’ve lived in my current town for over 30 years. I still get lost.
I’m hopeless.
I blame it on my Howard family roots. I’m a direct descendant of Anne Lucy Howard, one of the earliest Massachusetts settlers. A branch of the family went to the midwest and gave us a bunch of politicos, including a President. I think they were just looking for a nice picnic spot they’d heard of, just outside Boston and finally gave up.
I don’t know where this concept of guys not asking directions comes from. I won’t hesitate to ask if I don’t know. I did it about 2 months ago looking for an address based on a street name that is no longer in common use (in this neck of the woods street names frequently change as you cross town lines, or even the borders of unincorporated villages). No one was able to help anyway, I just had to deduce that the big sign with the same street number and different name was the right place.
The only place I’ve been where maps are useless was Venice. My first day, I tried following my map from my hotel to St. Mark’s Square, and I wound up going in a totally different direction. But part of the fun of being in Venice is getting lost in the streets. I discovered more wonderful things than if I had gone from point A to point B. I certainly wouldn’t want to be just staring at my GPS there.
Probably. It most likely depends on how clearly the addresses are marked on-site, and if the map includes such details as which series of addresses are on which blocks (as I’ve seen at least some street signs do in bigger cities).
If all else fails, I can navigate to one end of the street in question and just troll my way down until I find the right address (again, assuming the addresses are posted where they can be easily found). This is the least ideal option, particularly in cities with multiple streets of similar names, sometimes broken up by other features (like if Teeming Millions Avenue runs north to south, but breaks in the middle for the city center, surrounded by IMHO Loop, before resuming again on the far side as if nothing happened.) Depending on how many addresses I have to stop and check (and if I’m able to ask for directions on the way), this might burn up much of my time.
Assuming that schedule, construction, and road closures allow it, not a problem. But over much of the country right now, for example, 14 hours might not be enough to get to someplace 500 miles away, having nothing whatsoever to do with maps and one’s ability to read them.
Oh, and to add onto my previous thought: If the city is like Dallas, where the streets are all one-way and change directions at random in a clearly concerted effort to befuddle invaders and drivers from out of town, then I might end up in Turkfuckistan, located not far from Duncanville.
Not only can I do it, it’s how I’ve done it my whole life. I used my cell phone navigation system for the first time only a couple of months ago. I still rely on paper maps.
I own a Garmin and still use paper maps for 90% of the navigation needs I have from interstate to city streets in strange towns. I’m also more likely to print out the map from Google (for example) than I am the directions they give me. I’ve been caught too many times with electronic things not passing a reality check that I never built a habit for using them.
Last trip to Kokomo this caused a rather interesting exchange at the motel. I asked the young man at the desk if he had a paper map of the area and he said he thought so. He checked the drawers and pulled out several different maps and said “You’ll have to figure out if one of these work – I have no idea how to read one”. Once I picked out the county regional map I wanted he had no idea how to find Kokomo on it. He was like 21-25 and just clueless on how to “operate” a paper map.
I use my phone’s GPS these days but I’ve used enough paper maps in the past (including traveling to new cities) that I have no reason to doubt my ability. I just got a new car the other week and pulled my trusty – and now dated – Chicago five county atlas out of the old one’s back seat pocket.
I was in a Barnes & Noble over Christmas and they still have a small map section with maps for the larger US cities and some map books.
There could be a particular difficult case where I’d get lost. And if as some people interpret the question, it’s in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language, and perhaps it’s not customary to have many street signs, and/or say a remote area where few people speak English, then obviously it could turn into an ordeal.
But in the case I’d assume of somewher in the US with street signs and numbers and gas stations to ask directions, then I know I could do it, since I used to do it before there was GPS or even computerized directions to print out.
I love GPS in cars though, don’t see any downside to it (‘less human contact’, don’t care , ‘you’d follow it over a cliff’, no I wouldn’t). We bring the atlas along though in case. Also on road trips I sometimes plan via the atlas to take non-Interstates, quicker than trying to figure out how to make the GPS do that.
I have never tried it any other way, so I guess I could.
When traveling in third world countries, I’ve tried using the mapping features on my tablet, but they were pretty useless. And non-existent as soon as I walked away from my wi-fi hotel.
Yeah, sure - I don’t have a smartphone and I don’t have a GPS. Paper maps is how I’ve done it for nearly 40 years. OK, these day’s I’ll use Google Maps or Map Quest as part of trip planning but when actually driving it’s all paper reference because, as I said, I still have a stupid phone.
Over the past three years 3 trips to Wisconsin (including a somewhat spontaneous detour to visit the Mercotan TARDIS) and a two-day expedition to New Hampshire, all done with paper maps.
You know those “tourist welcome centers” advertised on the Interstates whenever you cross a state border? Those. Often the maps are still free.
Truck stops.
Tollway stops often have maps of the tollway and a little bit to each side, and sometimes also state maps for sale.
For more local reference materials the local Chamber of Commerce (downside is that you have to hit them during business hours, usually).
Also, my employer stocks maps so I’m going to say some big box stores but if you’re looking for some ask someone over 40 where they are, the young’uns are usually clueless (a what?)
My Garmin is helpful, but has a lot of errors and is sometimes confusing. Paper maps as a backup are a must. I’ve used them all my life, so that’s no problem.
I, of course, have heard of those GPS systems and have seen ads for them, but I do not own one and have never seen one in use. I don’t know, because I haven’t used one, but they seem to me like they would be incredibly annoying.
If I am going somewhere I have never been before I will usually get driving instructions from Google Maps and have the route on a paper map. I’m not sure why you would need anything more.
Before Google I would just use a paper map and, maybe, put on mark at my destination.
Up until the last few years, that’s how I’ve always done it. But I’m old. I dig maps and I have a large collection, though very few are valuable to anyone but me.
I love and embrace these electronic advances, though.
Love the convenience of GPS on the cell. I have no problem using paper maps, but wouldn’t want to go back, especially in the various countries around the world.
I haven’t since high school, but have no doubt that I could pick it up again.
Really? I don’t remember having any problems.LSLGuy, my cousin used to make maps(?) that fighter pilots would use back in the long-ago days. Ones that would be attached to the thigh(?) and would be flipped to the next page after a particular landmark would be passed. I’ve clearly forgotten the details, but is this something you worked with?