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!!!!

I dont understand th trauma of letting them down wtf

when i was 8 my dad missed our turning and we ended up in exeter or near it-it was hilarious and he was mucking about joking so we didnt worry we still talk about it now

dont put your anxiety on to you r kids-and always have a back up charger

You don’t even need any sort of in car charger, most petrol stations I’ve been in lately have one use charger battery packs for sbout £4.

We’re you making a big deal of it and got your kids thinking it was a disaster? Tbh it sounds like something that regularly happens to me WITH satnav as my direction is awful, it’s just a shrug and get on thing or have abit of a laugh and make it an adventure . Stop making a big deal of it and your kids will too.

Why do your kids think you’ve let them down? How old are they?
Are they old enough to understand things go wrong at no ones fault and you just have to make the best of a bad situation which you did?

I use the m4 every so often and in the way home always come off the wrong exit! My kids don’t think any less of me for doing so!!!

I do use sat nav, but if I am going somewhere unfamiliar I look the route up on AA route finder first. I don't have a printer so jot down junction numbers and exit roads on post it notes in big letters, then I stack the post it notes in order. I don't usually refer to them , but it is handy to have some idea of where you are headed in case my sat nav friend throws a wobbly. I prefer to use sat nav rather than my phone , but I suppose it is there as a back up, I also have an in car charger for the phone. I think it cost less than a fiver, I would be more worried about not being able to call an emergency service if my phone battery died than getting lost to be honest.

But we have all driven round lost and confused OP, usually when the petrol indicator is on zero and you realise that in many parts of the countryside the garage closes on a Sunday evening and nothing else is open either....... Oh and you need a wee.

Id check the route first and write the directions down, but Im an old fashioned codger

Likewise. I have a road atlas in the car. Yes, you might need to pull over somewhere safe to consult it, but it's still far more useful than a phone with a flat battery. The lowest tech solutions are always the ones least likely to go wrong, so I use them or at the very least have them as a back up. Plus the brilliant thing about a road atlas is you get a sense of the lie of the land so it's much easy to navigate e.g. if there are closures and diversions.

I’m surprised that you struggled to know the way home from just 10 miles away.

Keep a map on the car.

I guess this is the problem with relying on technology all the time now.

Always have a map in the car, and a phone charger cable.

Always study the motorway junctions that you need and familiarise yourself with a large area near home.

Write down directions and your own basic map.

I'm old enough to remember driving without satnavs and mobile phones, we managed to get to our destinations.

Letting the kids down wtf you should have turned it into a game.

I can't believe you couldn't charge your phone in MacDonalds!

Twice driving from London to Glasgow (via Manchester) he ended up in Hull

A bit like my daughter driving from Cambridge to the NW via Stratford upon Avon, she phoned to say that they were 'east of London', first time we realised there was another Stratford!
There was the story of someone many years ago drivng up to West Berlin, through the corridor, it was foggy so he decided to follow another car with a Forces number plate, he must be going to Berlin too. After a much longer drive than expected the other car stopped and flagged the following car down, it transpired that he wasn't going to Berlin, he was going into Poland and Berlin was a long way back. A real problem in those days.

It's just one of those things - I think the vast majority of us have either done the same, or know someone who is perfectly capable that has done it too.

I voted YABU, not because you needed a physical map, but because you started a journey to a location with a dying phone, when you knew your battery was dying.

Just buy a couple of charging cables and keep a rechargeable power bank in your bag for next time :)

Also we should remember actually people are different with directions. I did say I found ops lack of direction odd. But that's probably unfair. I have a good friend with no sense of direction. I'd find that quite scary tbh! Also my partner will definitely not get his bearings as quickly in a place on holiday as I do. We recently went somewhere we'd been 7 years ago I could remember the layout and he'd just let it drop out of his head!

I've had similar! A road atlas is always in the car, but of course you can't read it while you are driving so that can be tricky on complicated routes!

It's not possible to guarantee tech will work, roads get closed, road signs can be wrong- we all get the occasional disaster.
I've done similar twice- was given an incorrect postcode and drove round and round Bristol city centre as my phone battery ran out and my need for the loo increased. There was nowhere to stop, double yellows and one ways and hatched areas on all sides. I ended up driving to the Severn bridge because I knew there were services there, used the loo, then went home.

Another time I had the address in a text, my charger cable turned out to be broken but I didn't realise. I drove village by village to the area she lived, then started asking dog walkers if they knew her. I'd seen the house on rightmove, so found it, pulled up outside, peered in windows to see if the clutter looked like that of a child free dog loving woman, then stood near the back gardens calling her name.

Stuff happens, you made it in one piece, result!

Yes to having an in-car charger.

But also, stop relying on google maps. Learn the route and develop a sense of direction. We do have a satnav but I was driving at least 15 years before they were a thing. Obviously I don;t know every road in the UK, but if I were in Plymouth and wanting to go to York, I'd have the sense to start heading north, then looking for signs for Birmingham, then know I had to head east a bit towards where I live.

I have a big, old fashioned, UK A to Z flung in the back if my car. Don't think I've ever used it but I like knowing it's there.
Dont worry about it OP, you just got lost. Not the end of the world at all.

Get one of those chargers that plug into the cigarette lighter.

I think you need to start doing a few journeys without your sat nav on. Do a few easy routes where you can look up where you're going and then follow the signs. Even though you haven't lived in the area long it's pretty straightforward on a motorway, just get off when you get the the junction you got on at but I'm assuming you're so reliant on your sat nav you're not paying attention to signs and where you are.

Do you really never drive around at all locally op? I just find this story bizarre.

The cigarette lighter point in dps car which I drive occasionally has stopped working.
But if I have gone somewhere and am on main roads/motorways then usually just signage gives you a general direction of which way to go till you get in more familiar territory.

Or you need to have some idea of the motorway network

If you got to a petrol station you should have bought a recharger

Not much help now but you can plug your phone in to charge in the cigar lighter socket. My car has usb Jack on the dash. I can plug my satnav directly into the dash too, I’d be equally lost without my satnav.

We always have maps in the car. One basic road one, a local A-Z and if I'm going somewhere I'll always print off instructions. I often write shortened instructions on the back of my hand:
eg. M3 j4, A368, A 32, Marle lane

I'd never rely totally on technology because there's too much possibilities to go wrong-including you entering the wrong postcode. The difference between PR4 5TZ and PR5 4TZ can be huge.
I had a potentially awkward situation a number of years ago when I'd taken ds to an airshow. There was an accident on the exit road, which meant we didn't leave the park until around 10pm, rather than the 6/7pm I'd expected.
So it was dark rather than light, Sunday night, so not too many people around. And the car was on it's last legs. We knew at some point it was likely to give up and refuse to move. Then I saw a road closure announced on the main road we were going on. So I thought we'd follow the sat nav.
It said turn right. So I did, a 2 lane country lane, with white lines down the middle and lights all fine... until you turned the first corner. From there on it got narrower, and narrower. I can't swear there was grass growing up the middle of the road, but I wouldn't have been surprised. The car started doing it's "I hate you" noise and then the sat nav decided to reset itself and pretend we were in Spain.
I realised if the car broke down, I was in problems, because I had no way of directing someone to us because I had no idea where we were.
I just had to hope that the lane I was on would eventually come out somewhere where I recognised, and the car didn't break down in the meanwhile.
We got home. Ds though it was great fun and refers to it still (a number of years later) as a great adventure. I expect your dc feel similar.

I have a very poor sense of direction, and am not especially good on knowing where places are. Dh is brilliant. He can look at a map and be able to navigate, or if he's been somewhere once he won't need to look at a map.
That does mean he's hopeless on giving directions. "Go past the park and left at the roundabout and it's just on the right hand side" was one instruction he gave me when I'd just learnt to drive.
Actually it was past the park, right at the first roundabout, left at the second. Take the third left turn, follow the road to the left where it forked and it was just on the right hand side.
Or, just follow the signs to Worcester. Then when he's woken up an hour later "why are we still on this road? We should have turned off at junction 8."
So I always have a paper copy even if I'm following a sat nav.

If you have a sat nav in the car you surely have a USB entry? Or the cigarette lighter - they sell phone plugs at every petrol station.
I’m crap with directions too so always have the charger cable in my car. If it broke, I’d buy a replacement again at a petrol station.

I would have bought a car charger For the phone.

I’m totally reliant on sat nav or written instructions, I’m terrible at navigating and never remember the junctions unless it’s a very regular journey which this one wasn’t.

We have had that before and now have a car charger .

Hope you are ok xx

I have a terrible sense of direction but even I could follow general road signs somewhere. Eg I know if driving from Cornwall to Portsmouth I would need to follow signs generally towards Devon, make sure I was heading east, maybe to tiverton, then maybe Salisbury. Then from there Southampton would be sign posted and then I'm nearly home and would know the way. Might take a few hours longer but not 7. Surely you knew some towns nearby your home that you saw on signs and could head towards?!

You can get up to Four USB port cigar lighter adaptors got on in the Justa rolls not unknown for up to three devices being on charge at a time!.

Whats the idea with a Solar charger a few months time and it'll be no use at all..

And yes they do UK road atlas's get the children intrested in maps and map reading! My uncle gave me an old Ordnancne survey map when i was a nipper found it facisnating been that way ever since:)

They are on this site scroll down to ord survey

www.bing.com/maps

Sometimes usefull tip..

If you have any idea of North, south, east and west then all sky satellite dishes point to 28 degrees east of south, can give you a bearing if you know what direction you need to head!