When Hubby gave me a GPS for Christmas last year, I was a bit.......surprised. After all, I work for AAA. Giving people directions is our business. And I work in the Auto Travel department, so I make our famous "Trip Tiks" every day.
The GPS he gave me is a Tom-Tom, and since she has a female voice, we call her Tammi. Tammi is fairly patient with us, although when we don't follow her directions, she can get kind of insistent. "In 500 yards, go left. Left! I SAID left! Dammit. Now turn the damn car around and go where I told you!"
I've found out that there is a time and place for both Trip Tiks and GPS's. I like having the Trip Tik, with all the directions mapped out, the time it will take to get there, etc. But there are certain instances when a GPS comes in handy.
Case in point: Today we drove down to Boston to visit my stepson. We've been there before and, each time, we've gotten lost. I carefully made out a map, checked it, examined it, and printed out a large map of the "problem area" where we've taken a wrong turn before.
And we got there no problem. However, I made the rookie mistake of assuming we could get back out of Boston the same way we'd gotten in. I should have dredged up the memory of taking Son #2 into Boston for his college orientation. We followed the directions in the college hand-book on how to get in. There were no directions on how to get out, and we ASSumed we could just follow the directions in reverse.
No, no, NO! Boston is a maze of one-way streets, alleys, 5 or 6-way intersections, and multiple lane roads. Without precise instructions, you are guaranteed to get lost. And on that college trip, it took us 3 HOURS to find our way back to the highway for home.
Once again today, we tried to return the way we'd come in, and we quickly realized we weren't going the way we wanted. Turns out the street we were on became a one-way street halfway through, and dumped us onto another street.
We immediatley pulled over, fired up Tammi, and she directed us quickly back onto the road we belonged on. It was fast, simple and accurate.
A belated thanks to Hubby for the wonderful Christmas gift. It's come in handy more than once.
5 comments:
I love GPS..but I do remember how I used to love my Trip Tiks..I alwsya was excited and the trip we were taking seems so real! I used to think I could jsut reverse directions and get back, but sometimes by the time I was going back it would be night and things look soooo much different! (Or atleast..darker!) LOL Good hubby! He knows..he knows..
glad you guys made it back ok with the help of Tammi!
i just like to have TWO females telling me where to go!
That's exactly why I got my first GPS...downtown Boston...getting in and out of the airport during the Big Dig was a nightmare without GPS...
As soon as you think you know Boston, they change the one way streets or do some other damn thing. Not a fun place to drive in, that's for sure.
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