GPS

I hear stories about people that buy GPS units for their cars and how it saves them a world of hurt. The theory goes that pre-GPS, there are poor directions, miscommunication, angst, even the occasional disagreement or suggestion of inability to read maps.

It sounded like a good idea to me, especially for those times that one wants to do something crazy like drive around LA (we had one for that trip and it was indeed a saving grace) and so I thought I’d get me some of that ‘eliminating directionally challenged discussions action’. We bought a GPS.

Now I should, in fairness mention that Caroline was never a bad navigator, nor directionally challenged and together we’ve managed to find our way all over Europe without the assistance of the new fandangled technology. However, it couldn’t hurt to have something that you just program and follow without having to resort to the map every time you get somewhere new right?

Well it turns out that I apparently have ‘better than GPS’ because whenever it gets turned on, Caroline pulls out the maps anyway and decides that where ever it is going to take us (and it doesn’t matter if it’s in fastest or shortest route mode) it simply isn’t as good as the route that she is going to take us on. So we don’t have discussions about being lost, we just drive along ignoring the instructions and watching the thing re-route itself to suit the whims of the more determined!

Apparently the technology takes information from thousands of users and massive data banks to determine which route you’re going to follow. Well I’m tending to think of them as ‘could have been’ routes. It could have been quicker, or it could have been shorter, but there’s no way I’m ever going to know! After all, we’ve got a map. Surely that’s better than some fancy shmancy satellite gizmo.

At least if I’m ever left to drive somewhere on my own, I can just set and forget and live with the consequences.