Comments on: Weekend recap: No sense of direction

By: Tracey (in Australia)

Tracey (in Australia) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:23:47 +0000

Hey there, I was just googling to see if lack of a sense of direction could be linked to a learning disorder of some sort and found your link.

I sooo understand the ‘grid’ system you mentioned – i don’t know how i came up with it either (as a kid) but is the only way i can get around.. yes, with a point of reference – no point of reference… no hope!!
I’m wondering if you get lost in large buildings? or coming out of them??
I was in the defence force and would regularly get lost on the base until i could sort out a point of reference! they were all too unfamiliar for too long to be any use to me LOL!!
I find repetition is the only way i can retain something – a basic trip done SEVERAL times i’ll retain, but then lose if i stop doing the trip!!
In a building i am the same, no point of reference.. no direction!!! even large houses have an element of this – it’s rediculous!! I have only ever met (in my 41years) ONE person the same as me..
i also appear to have the same issue with names… i’ve tried ALL the tricks, saying the name right away, associating the person with something, making a rhyming word, writing the name down, etc etc.. the problem is, they say their name and i forget it before i can repeat it half the time (with surrounding distractions) and when i do remember it to repeat it, its gone almost as soon as i’ve said it… I rarely get a chance to write it down LOL!! it turns out to be far too hard and time consuming.. so I call people ‘mate’.

doh! talking too long – better sign off ;op
have a great day!!

By: Chelsy

Chelsy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:46:12 +0000

I would be lost without my iPhone map app. No seriously, I would be lost.

I do okay in Minneapolis because 1) it’s not that big, and 2) it is also on a grid and I recognize street names.

Boston, on the other hand….if I didn’t have my iPhone I would have been lost before I even got to the hotel.

By: Lil' Woman

Lil' Woman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:03:34 +0000

I’m pretty airheaded at times but i am suprisingly good with directions

By: barbetti

barbetti — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:36:59 +0000

Not to brag, but I am quite excellent with directions! And if I’ve none, I have a great sense of direction and photographic memory, so I’m pretty handy in the car.

Steve, on the other hand, gets lost going to our grocery store. Which is a STRAIGHT SHOOT DOWN THE ROAD.

By: Megkathleen

Megkathleen — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:17:30 +0000

I got lost picking up pizza the other night only a few blocks from my house. So, yeah, I have an AWFUL sense of direction. It’s amazing I find my way to work every day.

By: katelin

katelin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:15:05 +0000

i am so awful at directions, my iphone and separate gps have saved my life. just last week i walked two blocks on the wrong street in the wrong direction trying to find where i parked my car, now that was embarrassing.

By: thatShortChick

thatShortChick — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:53:07 +0000

Personally, I believe that I have kept MapQuest in business. Street names are of NO interest to me unless I’m reading them off of directions.

I’m thinking maybe this Christmas, I’ll get a GPS under the tree.

Glad you and Jamie made it home safely!!

By: Shannalee

Shannalee — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:30:32 +0000

Oh, gosh, it was like you were describing me. I get lost everywhere! I hate driving at night! I don’t like the Metra! Big difference is that I do live in the suburbs, so I drive all the freaking time. Those poor people around me. And also, being in the city tends to make me nervous, like on Saturdays at Trader Joe’s when the place is WALL-TO-WALL PEOPLE and I think, why is everyone here right now? where is the space?

By: Bing

Bing — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:32:02 +0000

I have a pretty good sense of direction. For the most part, once I’ve been there once, I can usually get back there with little problem. I never remember road names, so I’m terrible about giving directions to people.

By: Wonderful

Wonderful — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:31:37 +0000

I can’t read a map to save my life. I need landmark directions. I was lucky enough to get a GPS from Santa Claus last year, and let’s just say, it’s been my lifesaver many times.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:34:37 +0000

First of all? That weather was phenomenal. Seriously.
Second? I’m the EXACT opposite. I live in the Chicago ‘burbs (Brookfield) and I can find my way anywhere throughout them. Throw me in the city though? And I’m like a lost puppy. I depend heavily on my phone’s GPS.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:20:18 +0000

Oh the suburbs. They are cute but scary.

By: kilax

kilax — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:48:47 +0000

I actually have a wonderful sense of direction, BUT google maps has screwed my husband over a few times, and some of the suburbs are VERY confusing. So work on it if you want to. Or don’t! :)

By: Jenn

Jenn — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:26:06 +0000

I love with city-dwellers try to venture out to the suburbs. It always makes for great blog fodder!

I depended heavily on my GPS for my drive from Chicago to LA. I’m happy to report that I didn’t get lost once. She (my GPS is female) has continued to guide me through LA for the last week and I think I would seriously die without it. Seriously. Die.

By: Kyla Roma

Kyla Roma — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:19:03 +0000

This summer, google maps led me in the TOTAL OPPOSITE direction of a wedding I was the second shooter on! The photog was already lost & I used my google maps to “help” and w ended up almost missing the wedding party!!

Technology fail. Talk about a way to start the day.

I’m all about visual landmarks and more accurate GPS!

By: Easily Manipulated

Easily Manipulated — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:09:24 +0000

Ha ha! I think it’s so funny that you would have a rough time in the suburbs. And your fear of the suburban trains – I have the same thing with the city trains! lol I’m SO much more functional in the burbs. It’s too funny that we probably reside less than an hour away from one another, but it’s such a vast difference! Going downtown is scary to me!!!

In answer to your question, I, thankfully, have a very good sense of direction. In general, I know whether I’m headed north or south. However, I agree, Google Maps is a LIAR! Especially when it comes to the burbs.

I also don’t freak out when it comes to taking a wrong turn. As opposed to my husband who acts like it’s the end of the world! We recently went on a trip to Columbus, Ohio (I know…we’re badass…) and I (the navigator) instructed him to turn too early. Looking at the map, I recognized that we could just go around the block and end up where we started. Hubby, on the other hand, could have let that one wrong turn ruin his whole day.

By: Kara

Kara — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:47:40 +0000

My sister has a GREAT sense of direction. Me not so much. In fact, I’ve been heard numerous times saying “No. Don’t talk to me in North and South. Talk to me in rights and lefts.”

I don’t even try to navigate unless I’m the only person avaialbe and it’s not because I’m lazy (although that makes it easier). It’s because I feel it is better for all invovled if someone who can actually remember the way we came in, navigate us back out.

By: Kate

Kate — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:43:51 +0000

I was lucky enough to be blessed with a pretty decent sense of direction, a love of maps and a husband who can tell which direction we’re going by where the sun is in the sky. I must have inherited my sense of direction from my dad because my mom and brother get lost on the regular. Seriously, we just took a family trip to Disney and, with my mother driving, got lost a minimum of three times. We won’t discuss the fact that she brought her GPS and declined to use it.

By: phampants

phampants — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:21:51 +0000

I can never get lost in the city. If I lose my way, I find it again w/ no help in less than 5 minutes. Stick me in the country, dear God help me!

By: jenn

jenn — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:58:34 +0000

i get lost SO easily and turned around within seconds. not in chicago, though. :)

also – do not be afraid to take the metra out to the suburbs. it’s not scary at all & it’s EASY!!!