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 will have a cigarette socket and you can buy a unit which has usb ports on then. I got mine on amazon.

My mum always said you are never lost yoy are just not in the place you intended.

My mum always said you are never lost yoy are just not in the place you intended.

I'm not sure how helpful that would have been to the OP. 😂

There are usually road signs everywhere if you look for them. They will say the place that you want to go to and how many miles. But, just try and do a few local trips without using a satnav to build up your confidence and take it from there.

That's why I always have one of those British road atlases in the boot! I've either had a sat-nav or a phone for about the past 10 years, and I think I've only had to get the map out once... But of course, the one time you don't have it, will be the day the tech fails!

Did you not think of stopping at a supermarket and getting a USB/cig-lighter charger though?! I see them all the time in the supermarkets, and I'm sure most people could accurately direct anyone to the nearest reasonable-sized supermarket!

Oh well, lesson learned!

I'd have stopped at a pub or restaurant got them to charge my phone and - well have a portable charger banks and an in car cig lighter charger.

Plus there is only the M6 Toll and M6 if that's the road you're talking about

I have NO sense of direction. And I mean, NONE. If friends ask me for directions and I tell them something is one way they know that means it's almost always the opposite direction. There was even a BBC piece I recall reading that pointed out that some people just don't have that bit of the brain active, literally. My bother-in-law, who drives for a living, doesn't understand it, but then he'll sit and read an atlas for fun, so hey, it takes all types.

I resisted getting a satnav for YEARS. When I did it changed my life, even though its idea of 3rd exit at mini roundabouts near industrial estates invariably differed from mine.

Even with the satnav though (or Google maps these days), I usually check the route first on Google maps or the AA or the RAC, print off the journey, and then put the main roads on post-its that I can stick on the dashboard, whipping them off as we pass that particular junction. And the printout comes with us as well. And if it's somewhere I don't know too well, I'll print the return journey too.

We also have numerous plug-in car chargers for the cigarette lighter (one of them has usb connections), it's one of my absolute fears of not having charge on a phone. But if we ever go anywhere remote (Scotland or many parts of Wales), we also always have various maps in the car just in case - my favourite is the big scale one of the UK which most petrol stations sell. Though the Scottish tourist one of the Hebrides that had lots of things marked on it that weren't tourist attractions but just "places where there might once have been a nunnery" comes a very close second.

People wondering how it's possible to not know directions from 10 miles away must never have driven either a) in Birmingham/the Midlands in general b) remote little roads on Exmoor/Dartmoor or c) Scotland or the south of Ireland, I would suggest!! And then there's been that little Lockdown thing which means many people who might have travelled have essentially been confined to barracks...unless their initials are DC, of course.

In time your kids will just find it a funny story, a bit like my sister's kids; just after she passed her test she took them on a little trip out and got lost. (The sense of direction runs in the family.) "Are we lost, mum?" they asked after she'd been driving round for a bit. "Nope," was her cheerful response, "we're just taking the scenic route".

We were on holiday in the Netherlands a couple of years ago and hire car had a satnav (our car doesn't). We relied so heavily on it for the first few days we actually had no idea where we were, where we were travelling to, what direction anything was in. It was a bit disconcerting so we switched off the satnav and reverted to the map.

Can absolutely see the point of satnav for finding specific addresses - must be an absolute boon to delivery drivers and the like, but also think everyone should know how to use a map (love an Ordnance Survey map, hours of fun ).

Personally, I don’t really rate having a map. If you are on your own in the car, it can be impossible to follow. If it’s dark - stop the car - put on the interior light - change your glasses to ready readers (if you are in that age bracket)! - and then, of course, you need to know where you are in the first place!! I have to use sat nav/google maps/whatever, or I would never get anywhere, other than my local area.........
However, I second having a good charger for my phone, just in case the sat nav malfunctions.

Ah OP sorry your journey was so stressful! Maybe buy an in car charger and a map for future journeys.

I don't have a good sense of direction and when I was a student, I went to uni in west wales which meant driving to near Greater Manchester in the hols. I didn't have a sat nav and would never have remembered all the junctions/road numbers so I used to write it down, in order on a piece of paper and sellotape it to my dashboard where I could easily have a quick glance. Worked very well

@Floralnomad

Sorry posted too soon , if you’re homing skills are really that poor I doubt you’ve got the capability to read a map so I’d buy a car charger for the phone or a new satnav .

😂 god, some people are so pleased with themselves that they can read a map

Sorry to hear of your mishap original poster. You are not the only one and probably will not be the last as at least you got there safely eventually.

Obviously hindsight is wonderful but yes I personally always have contingency measures in my car especially when traveling with young children. Obvious stuff, hard copy paper map atlas, extra mobile tech power packs and charging leads, extra food and drinks and fuel (spare portable fuel holder) and clothing etc just in case. This is for long road trips but it's in the boot just in case which I take it out for local short car journeys.

Don't stress as lesson learnt and experience gained as you will be better for it. Plus it's not embarrassing unless this happens again or often! Good luck and all the best.

It's a bit dramatic of your children and you to be saying you let them down. These things happen sometimes that's just life. Not telling your family and friends is a bit strange I would just think of that as a funny story. No one got hurt, nothing bad happened it's all a bit ott. Just keep a phone charger in the car from now on.

Sorry posted too soon , if you’re homing skills are really that poor I doubt you’ve got the capability to read a map so I’d buy a car charger for the phone or a new satnav .

Homing skills FFS. She's not a pigeon. What a stupid thing to say. Also everything looks different in the dark.

You weren’t lost, just on an adventure! That’s how I drive about, takes the panic out of it.

I'm pretty sure almost all cars have the port were cigarette lighters used to sit. You can buy a charging port in the petrol station which takes USB connections so you plug in your normal charging cable.

Your daughter is saying your car is too old for a USB port. But you dont need a USB port. You need an in car charger.

Pre sat-nav days I worked for the emergency services and had to direct crews to incidents using OS maps and map references. Probably because of this I always take note of motorway junction numbers. Even now with sat nav and google maps I still like to check a route before
Leaving home so I am sure that I'm heading in the right direction.

I think it's a bit unfair to slate someone for having a bad sense of direction. I don't drive but I could seriously get lost with my phone in my hand looking at google maps . It's very annoying but it's not through lack of trying to improve.

Right, listen up op. You are a bloody hero. The next time your ungrateful wretches dare to mention they feel let down, just remind them that you were the one driving for over six hours, you didn't have a collision, they didn't starve to death, you eventually found your way home to their nice cosy beds and everyone was A OK, except possibly you who would have been exhausted.

You didn't even have to pull over to have a cry, which I would have done in you position (possibly multiple times).

A hero is what you are and your dc need to respect and adore you for your services to returning them safely from a camping holiday.

A good hint if you get lost and no one can give you directions is to ask for the nearest police station. Just about everyone knows where the nearest police station is. And someone at the station will be able to give you directions.

Do not try this in rural areas of the UK. People may well know where the station is, but PC Smith will only be in on alternate Tuesdays and never on a full moon. Or perhaps only on a full moon.

I live in a city and have no idea where my closest police station is!

My old car was 21 years old when I got rid of it - if you have a cigarette lighter than you can get a charger.

When sat Navs were new my husband drove us from Kent to Yorkshire without using motorways, just to see what route it took , its lets just say it's never been repeated

I really want to know now! I was initially wondering where you'd cross the Thames, but DP told me that the Dartford tunnel isn't actually part of the M25, which means it's allowed.

I was on my way from south London to Bridlington and had got to near Luton when a huge queue of traffic was reported on the radio.

I hate being stuck in traffic, so we left the M1 and my friend got out the road atlas. We ended up going cross country, up through Lincolnshire and across the Humber bridge. It was a lovely drive, there was one road (A15?) that was dead straight for mile after mile, and it was so quiet I doubt if it took us much longer than going on the motorway.

I think the problem is that a lot of younger people have never really looked at a map so name no idea where places are in relation to each other

A colleague of mine once told a story about his ditzy neice, who'd bought a new satnav because hers had gone flat on a journey. He suggested she could have just bought a road atlas, and she replied that they're no use if you don't know where the place you're heading for is, as you can't find it in the atlas.

He tried to explain about the index in the back, but she couldn't grasp the principle at all. In the end, he got his out of the car and showed her how it worked. She was amazed, she thought it was the cleverest thing ever.

When he told her that the A-Z of London has every road in London in it, and fits in your handbag, she was utterly incredulous.

@diplodocusinermine, I love OS maps too.

We were taught map reading and stuff in geography at school. And we got sent off into the countryside in groups, and had to find our way through woods and fields back to school.

DP's school never did this, and he's still quite bemused by the fact that my directions often include things like "In a minute, we go up quite a steep hill, and a few hundred yards after the brow of the hill you need to turn left just after the post office and before the church".

He's shite at navigating, which is why it always falls to me.

For me I always have a car charger. It was the first thing I bought for my car I bring phone chargers and a power bank everywhere so I’d never be caught short like this.

With google maps etc you can save your journey so it can be accessed offline.

I have lived in cities my entire life and have never really driven anywhere where I’d feel lost if that makes sense? Eg driving to London to Birmingham is pretty straightforward and I’d be able to navigate to my destination from memory at either end.

If my phone was dead and I had no means to charge it, during daytime I’d try and get someone to let me use their phone (whether it’s a business or a passer by). I could alert anyone I know via social media or possibly call some a number off by heart (which is just my workplace admittedly).

If nighttime I think I’d just try and find a hotel and start again in the morning.

How on earth does a 16 year old a) have the cheek to express the opinion that you let them down and b) not have a phone?