disaster journey home w w u have done...

[Sarah510]

So, coming back from campsite yesterday, the battery in my phone was low-ish but I wasn't too worried as I had bought a solar charger, which worked perfectly on the drive down, and I was able to charge my phone as I was driving. 2 kids and a dog in the back (just FYI!)

Couldn't get solar charger to work :( Battery getting lower and lower. I tried to get the directions into my memory, but the last bit of the journey is all motorways and junctions, and always rely on google maps to get me home - only lived in the area a few months. Soooo, phone dies about an hour from home. Tried to find the way on the motorway but came off at wrong exit, ended up so lost, miles away from home. Thougth could I charge my phone in mcdonalds - found one, but they said it wasn't allowed (understandably). Went to a petrol station to buy a map - didn't have any. Asked lots of people, nobody knew. Finally found a sign to a town that I've visited a few times, so went there, Its about 10 miles from home. It was pitch dark by now and we'd been travelling for more than 6 hours, so very fraught in the car. I thought I recognised the 'road home', but went wrong somewhere. Finally stopped at another petrol station, no maps again, but asked the lady, and thank god she knew my town. If it wasn't for her I think I'd still be driving round. I learned my lesson anyway. Never ever go out without a map, or backup written directions. I felt so guilty for my poor kids, I feel like I let them down. (and they think that too, rightly so as it was idiotic). I do have a sat nav in the car but it just stopped working one day, for no reason, so I always just use my phone now. Anyway, I dont' think I'm even going to tell my friends/family as I'm so embarrassed at putting us all at risk like that, and putting us through it. A 3.5 hour journey took more than 7 hours :( Voting: UANBU - ok to rely on technology. UABU - always have a map in the car!!!!

You feel guilty for your kids? Are you nuts?! You're setting them up for a life of unnecessary drama (or being overly harsh on themselves) if you all think like that.

A few things here. Firstly I have a car charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket. Secondly I'm not sure why it was so difficult to find your way home when you were so close, have you not lived there for very long? I've never used sat nav on my way home from anywhere, although I do usually check up on the best and second best route the night before if it's a long journey. But generally if I get lost I start by going South/East/West/North, then head for an area/city that I know is in the right direction, then head for an area that I know is fairly nearby or that I have been to from home before is I know the way. I did have a few problems when I moved back to my home city after living abroad for a couple of decades because new roads had been built so I would suddenly be unfamiliar with where I was, but the above system generally worked until I got used to the roads. Even if you don't know your home area very well there must surely be a town/village that you regularly travel to to go shopping or to the supermarket that is big enough to appear on street signs. It might be a longer route to go there and then go home, but at least you wouldn't get lost.

As others have said it is one of those things. I have lost my way in the past and now use the built in satnav and my garmin. I need to update both.
I would like to think that I check my exact route in advance but often I dont.

The only advice I would give is for you to check out and get your satnav working, the issue might be very small.

This happened to me, I stopped at the nearest petrol pump and bought a phone charger which I know keep in the car.

Another time I’d already driven for an hour and a half before realising I had no phone with me.

I just read the road signs. They are usually pretty clear.

I always like to have a map. My DH thinks I am mad. I hate not knowing where I am relative to places/destinations and if there is a traffic jam/road works then a map can be better than satnav (as long as you are not driving). We drive round France with a map which was sufficiently large scale it had the whole country on it. I just picked the next town on the route we were heading then followed signposts (though did do a tour of some dodgy parts of Le Havre).

Just buy a road atlas and bung it in the car. I use it to check any route that waze might decide is ideal ( goat tracks often)

You could have taken a screenshot of the map pages you needed and gone into airplane mode to save charge.

Why didn't you buy a car charger at the first petrol station you stopped at? Your phone would have been turned on and working within a couple of minutes.

Also, you really should know your route home from the motorways around you. You should know which exit to take and which roads to follow. Go and learn that.

I have a sat nav on a brand new car and google maps on my phone, both let me down regularly (it must be me). I always print off the directions from AA route finder and throw them in my car. I don't need to stop to read them, it's usually Mxx to Junc XX, then Axx etc. I often write down just the road numbers sequentially on a large piece of paper and stick it on the passenger seat. Works far better for me than damn technology and my phone doesn't die if I need to call someone.

Or just read the road signs. Surely you knew the nearest A and B roads to your home, and could have just followed those signs. Maybe you just got into such a panic that you didnt think properly.

Go over them all again now. When you get a chance without the kids and dog, go for a drive. Learn the names of neighbouring towns, learn the roads home.

I always have a road atlas. They are hard to find in a pinch, but I need context and the big picture.

Get a power bank - and make sure it's fully charged!
You can use it anywhere then.

I do think you need a back up so voted YABU. Before I started using Google Maps on my phone I would always check directions online and print them off, like some others here. I would usually also try to learn the route beforehand (as you in fact did), including checking out key junctions on streetview. I get anxious about unfamiliar journeys so like to prepare as much as possible.

Just get a map book for the car and you'll be grand. Sorry your kids felt 'let down' - hopefully they're old enough to understand that something things go wrong with the best intentions, that's just life. We've been lost a few times too, usually in rental cars abroad where we can't understand how the sat nav works.

We're all probably too reliant on technology these days, 9 times out of 10 it's not a problem - you were unlucky as much as ill prepared.

You can’t find your way to your own hometown?

Honestly that’s really quite bizarre.
Order a UK atlas and charger off Amazon today then but seriously- spend a bit of time at least orientatinf yourself in terms of the major towns in your area.

Honestly OP don't stress. Funnily enough we are going next week to a campsite that I have a disaster story from my childhood. My df who knew nothing about camping managed to land us in a campsite with no facilities , get us lost on sand dunes that he knew (still no idea how he did that ...resulted on a 3 hour walk rather than a 30 minute walk) , hadn't checked the weather so in the middle of the night an almighty thunderstorm arrived which promptly flooded the tent to which df refused to admit defeat at first and sent an hour him and dm randomly digging holes around the tent to direct the rain into . Eventually about 1 am my dm put her foot down and we decamped to my dgm who lived nearby, turning up as sodden rats , hungry dirty and tired. Dgm tried hard not to laugh wrapped us all up put us in front of a roaring fire with piles of sandwiches. It's now one of my favourite memories in a very difficult childhood. My df got a lot of things wrong in my childhood but that one is just a funny memory.

I was telling my DC about it with fondness (and before anyone says yes I know thunderstorms are predicted we will not be going ....I'm not solly enough to make the same mistake )

Chill out it will be an entertaining fun memory. Trust me if my df can still elicit any form of positive memory like that you can turn it around to a good thing as well.

I'm amazed that garages don't stock maps these days. Sign of the times I guess.

I've done something similar - ended up in an industrial estate in the middle of fuck knows where. It's funny in hindsight :) Tell your kids to get a grip - you've given then a great adventure story!

I was very late getting a smartphone and sat nav, so relied on maps and printed pages from AA route planner for years. Now I’m fully teched up, but I still check my route in route planner before setting off, and I always have road maps in the boot, just in case. I’m a total technophobe so my default setting is always to assume it’ll let me down!

Nobody you encountered had a working phone or computer to look directions up for you??

pre sat navs dh was a nightmare with directions if he was driving alone and no one was there to read a map. He would "recognise" a motorway number and go for it. Twice driving from London to Glasgow (via Manchester) he ended up in Hull 🤣. Thankfully I wasn't with him!!!!

We have a sat nav in the car, with a phone as backup (with power cables to charge). Haven't had a map in the car for years.

I would make sure if you are reliant on your phone alone for your sat nav you have another power source.

How on earth can you not drive without sat nav or maps surely you just follow Road signs. Not sure how you can't find your way home from 10 miles away either.

Anyway, I dont' think I'm even going to tell my friends/family as I'm so embarrassed at putting us all at risk like that, and putting us through it. A 3.5 hour journey took more than 7 hours :
I don't think you need worry about telling people, OP. I bet your kids (and possibly the dog) will! 😁

Glad you all got home safely. 🌹

This has happened to me and it was horrible. I am terrible at remembering directions!
Phone died halfway somewhere. I think my car charger stopped working. I stopped at a services and bought a coffee, and charged it a bit with my wall charger (which fortunately j had packed). Didn't even ask - just did it. Then wrote out the rest of the directions on napkins!

Get thee down to a cheap bookshop and invest a couple of pounds in a UK road atlas, I never rely on satnav, they send you the way they want, not necessarily the best way for you! I also have a couple of OS maps, very handy for backroads in the countryside.

I never have a map in the car. But probably would if driving out of the UK. I do always have a phone charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter. (I'm not even sure why they are called that anymore my 2012 car doesn't actually have a lighter!) it seems odd to just rely on a solar charger when you have a much more reliable source.

You don't sound like a mega confident driver either. As within a few months of living somewhere I'd expect a bit more awarness of the roads nearby. But we're all different. Buy a cheap a3 atlas of the UK to keep under the seat to keep your mind at rest in future. I'm sure yiu haven't done lasting damage to the kids either!