Frustration Rant !

[Marita40]

No, no frustration at all. I'm single and no one tells me how to get from point A to point B.
Although it is Valentine's Day I have to admit that sometimes (actually, often) it feels nice that NO one tells me what to do or makes me feel guilty for not doing it right. I create my own successes and learn from my own failures.

 

[MRG]

DH and I both have (well, he had) a terrible sense of direction but at least DH could determine North, South, East, West. I could NOT process directions like "Drive East on Main Street". Do I turn left or right? We both read maps well except that I needed to turn the map so it was oriented the same way as our position and DH had to turn it so the print was right side up.

GPS saved us both although he made me stop changing the language to French or German.

For me the default direction for turning West is to turn right. Doesn't matter what direction I'm going, West is always to the right.

Then a dear friend's brain works differently from mine. If you give her right/left directions she holds her hands up to see which one makes an "L". That habit is difficult to watch while she was driving.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

In the old days when we used maps and AAA Triptiks, my wife and I used to refer to her role as "nagrivator." She doesn't drive. We always had a good laugh over that and it kept arguments over directions mostly near the civil level.

 

[Meadbh]

No, no frustration at all. I'm single and no one tells me how to get from point A to point B.
Although it is Valentine's Day I have to admit that sometimes (actually, often) it feels nice that NO one tells me what to do or makes me feel guilty for not doing it right. I create my own successes and learn from my own failures.

+1000

 

[W2R]

No, no frustration at all. I'm single and no one tells me how to get from point A to point B.
Although it is Valentine's Day I have to admit that sometimes (actually, often) it feels nice that NO one tells me what to do or makes me feel guilty for not doing it right. I create my own successes and learn from my own failures.

+2000

Besides, I don't need directions around here. I don't have any desire or need to go that far from home.

 

[Car-Guy]

You can change it to a man's voice if you prefer.

I'd almost swear that the "women's GPS voice" in one of my vehicles sounds like it's getting PO'd if I don't turn when it says to turn. "RECALCULATING"

Of course, "with the GPS", I can just say "cancel the route" or hit a button and it shuts up.

 

[mystang52]

EVERY time DW has to go somewhere without me, in advance of that time I MUST drive her there so she can get acclimated. Yes, her car has GPS.

 

[Yarnstormer]

I suppose the real question is did she ask for your help? If not I think I see your problem!!

 

[braumeister]

This thread is quite surprising to me.
DW and I both have excellent directional sense and just about never get lost. We both have a GPS in the car and use it when we want to, problem free.

Just lucky, I guess.

 

[eytonxav]

DW drives most places locally without a problem, but she will not or certainly does not like driving on highways, so directions are rarely a problem in our household.

 

[MRG]

EVERY time DW has to go somewhere without me, in advance of that time I MUST drive her there so she can get acclimated. Yes, her car has GPS.

+1

 

[easysurfer]

I have a terrible sense of direction (so terrible, I can pull off the freeway to a gas station, then forget how to get back on the freeway bad) and was one of the early adopters of using a GPS. My first GPS was one of those brick sized Garmin Street Pilots that required loading Maps off a CD disc, not storing the entire country and costed about $1000. Still, worth every penny considered how lost I would've been without a GPS.

 

[HadEnuff]

Years ago, after my Mom died, I went to Italy with my Dad. Once upon a time they had courted there, married there while Dad was still in the Army, immediately post WWII.

Fast Forward to 2002, and I'm driving, to Dad's directions. I told him up front "Dad, my job is to not wreck the car. I don't care how many times we go around and around until I figure out your directions, just remember, my job is to not wreck the car."
He tried not to get frustrated with me, and then finally exclaimed, "Jeez, now how I know how your mom felt!"

 

[Souschef]

My DW does the driving, as it is quieter that way. We recently took a trip from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and Taos. The extra money I spent for Hertz "Never Lost" was one of the best investments. I discovered I could load all our stops onto a flash drive and plug it in. Presto!

 

[travelover]

I'd almost swear that the "women's GPS voice" in one of my vehicles sounds like it's getting PO'd if I don't turn when it says to turn. "RECALCULATING"...........

Oh, you are not imaging it. I hear it, too.

 

[John Galt III]

The GF is actually much better than I am with directions (we don't have a gps, don't want one ) , and in remembering and visualizing what roads connect with other roads. I think she has a much bigger visual screen in her head than I do. She likes me to drive while she navigates. The problem is that instead of just saying "turn right at the next light" she'll give me a range of options : "You can turn right here, or you can go down to the Blue Route and then.... or, you can...." etc, etc, and I'm saying "Oh for G*d's sake, just pick one!"

 

[Hermit]

Google sends people on some interesting routes out here.

It sends you over a 5 mile forest trail for off-road vehicles only. You end up at a back gate that is always locked. I have also had a large delivery truck end up at a different locked gate about 3 miles away. The GPS maps don't seem to know about our main road that was upgraded and moved a bit about 50 years ago. I just tell everyone to not use GPS up here and give them detailed turn-by-turn directions.

 

[CardsFan]

Google sends people on some interesting routes out here.

It sends you over a 5 mile forest trail for off-road vehicles only. You end up at a back gate that is always locked. I have also had a large delivery truck end up at a different locked gate about 3 miles away. The GPS maps don't seem to know about our main road that was upgraded and moved a bit about 50 years ago. I just tell everyone to not use GPS up here and give them detailed turn-by-turn directions.

Good point! If i am going somewhere remote, I always get on Google maps (on the computer) and look at all the possible routes. Then pick one that makes sense (I might even be old school and print it out) I have had the experience of getting the car, calling up maps on the cell, and realizing the route they are taking me makes no sense.

 

[Souschef]

Good point! If i am going somewhere remote, I always get on Google maps (on the computer) and look at all the possible routes. Then pick one that makes sense (I might even be old school and print it out) I have had the experience of getting the car, calling up maps on the cell, and realizing the route they are taking me makes no sense.

Amen! the Hertz Never Lost took us to the loading dock of the hotel that we were staying at. Also, when I wanted to go from the hotel to the Santa Fe Airport, it took me on some strange devious route

 

[ugeauxgirl]

Goodness- just tell her you don't know where it is if you are tired of arguing with her. Let her figure it out!

 

[mystang52]

This is a great thread. (BTW, in the days before GPS, if I was lost my strategy was to just drive faster).

 

[panacea]

Sometimes I'll get a call where DW is traveling. She'll say something like "Do I turn left or right on such and such a road" and I'll say "well it sort of depends on which direction you're coming from." Silence. "Are you driving east or west?" Silence. "Where's the sun? Ok, just pick right or left and tell me what you see... you may just have to turn around." And that's pretty much how it goes. She knows she's terrible with directions. It used to frustrate me and now we both laugh about it.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

Sometimes I'll get a call where DW is traveling. She'll say something like "Do I turn left or right on such and such a road" and I'll say "well it sort of depends on which direction you're coming from." Silence. "Are you driving east or west?" Silence. "Where's the sun? Ok, just pick right or left and tell me what you see... you may just have to turn around." And that's pretty much how it goes. She knows she's terrible with directions. It used to frustrate me and now we both laugh about it.

I have a terrible sense of direction and once even the position of the sun didn't help. Many years ago while in university I drove my GF and her mother to JFK for an international flight. It was early morning and when I left JFK I wanted to go back towards NYC. So, upon leaving the airport (and thinking I'm too smart for maps) I looked at the sun and thought, if I drive towards it then I'll be heading west towards Manhattan. Winging it usually worked. Right. Did I mention that it was early morning? After a really long drive, I realized my mistake as I entered Montauk, on the far eastern tip of Long Island! So, had breakfast, bought a map, and started over.

 

[rodi]

This thread is quite surprising to me.
DW and I both have excellent directional sense and just about never get lost. We both have a GPS in the car and use it when we want to, problem free.

Just lucky, I guess.

Same with DH and me. We both are confident map readers with good senses of direction. The only time we had difficulties was in rural Sicily. The paper maps were less detailed than we needed and the GPS was confused. Even still, the GPS and our marriage because we were lost and frustrated.

 

[street]

My wife does really good when finding and navigating cities. I hate it and not good at it but put me in the rural setting driving or hiking I like that and do pretty good getting to where I want to go. I do have a GPS (hand held) that goes with in the back country. It has saved me a few times. Lol