I have negative sense of direction. I can get lost *here* and I've lived here 9 years. Street grids make it easier, but numbered street names don't stick in my head. "Was it 26 W 24th or 24 W 26th?"

I'm too anxious to drive in Manhattan. It's not the traffic, it's the people. I'm terrified of hitting someone.

I can't read maps. Discovering that Google Maps will give you text directions and a helpful voice reading those directions has made a huge difference.

Seattle was laid out by rival drunks, and subsequent city & street planning hasn't been any clearer. I am one of those horrible people that give directions by landmark, which means that my directions have become less and less useful over the years.

Seattle was laid out by rival drunks, and subsequent city & street planning hasn't been any clearer. I am one of those horrible people that give directions by landmark, which means that my directions have become less and less useful over the years

"Go past where the purple jello mold building was..."

Seattle was laid out by rival drunks, and subsequent city & street planning hasn't been any clearer. I am one of those horrible people that give directions by landmark, which means that my directions have become less and less useful over the years

I once gave the direction "turn left at the grey cat that will be sleeping at the porch" and my friend Alison thought I was joking. But that cat was indeed sleeping on the porch when she arrived and guided her properly to my apartment.

(Gad I just realized this was in pre-internet days so I must have planned far enough out to write her a letter with directions. That's what we had to do!)

"Go past where the purple jello mold building was..."

"It's just down from Orpheum Records, but not as far down as Broadway Market."

I've done some rural driving that I relied on certain landmarks for. I was always nervous those would be torn down when I only followed that path once a year or so.

The "use landmarks that no longer exist" thing is one that I have encountered pretty much every time I move. "You know where the tire store used to be?" No, no I do not.

I was *very* confused when I first moved to Greensboro--after living in DE, Boston, and SF-- and couldn't figure out how to navigate without a landmark body of water (or 2). Until I started thinking of the traintracks as a river.

The "use landmarks that no longer exist" thing

I keep wanting a Jerusalem Waze version of it (for fun and history tours, not for simple and clear directions, of course). I may already have few ideas in mind.

I have a pretty great sense of direction and navigation though, and I love maps. If I travel to a place only once or twice, I can usually remember how to get there. (I've never tested this out in the woods or anything, but in a city, I can get by. The only city that has ever really confounded me was Toronto. "Head toward the water," they say. You can't see the frickin water for all the tall buildings. Everyone else in my family are terrible. It confounds me that I still have to give them directions to my house after I've lived here 11 years.

When I have the time, I sometimes follow the Dirk Gently adage that if you don't know where you are going you should follow someone who looks like they know where they're going, I've had surprisingly great results.