Get Lost!

Left, right, north, south – seriously don’t play with my head. For someone who is relatively intelligent, my sense of direction and my knowledge of my left from my right is non- existent.

True Story Number 1

I went for my driver’s licence many moons ago. I was told to turn left, and I went right. Lucky that I did because if I didn’t have this affliction then I would have generic cialis dose been in a tiny lane having to do a 3 point turn. I would not have got my license if I had known my directions.

My friends and family know about this and they must point to the direction if they want to get to the destination. I drive Gordon mad with my lack of knowledge and he still attempts to lecture tell me how it all works to the point that he brings out compasses, shows me stars and the sun and shadows. He really is wasting his time – my eyes glaze over as I have no interest or indeed the desire to remedy this affliction.

True story Number 2

I went skiing with Gordon and my brother in law. We were flying down a mountain, and one yelled to me – ‘we’re going left’. Yes, I went right. I was so lost that I ended up in the terrain park, then going over moguls and then ended up in a grove of trees. I felt certain that the boys would be waiting for me somewhere, but the further I went, the more lost I got. I did what all resourceful people do – I sat in the middle of the snow, totally by myself, and I cried.

I finished this, started swearing and seeking revenge on those who had left me stranded. I then got to a spot where I had phone coverage, and called Gordon. All I could hear was them laughing and telling me to turn left at the bottom of the hill near the creek and take a right turn to get to a lift. Were they serious?

Of course, I got lost but I was found by a Canadian man, who must have heard some type of bad language and he skied me back to where ‘those’ people were waiting. We ended spending the next few days with him skiing and socializing. Out of bad comes good and revenge also.

True Story – Number 3

Gordon must have got the same affliction as me once, and we ended up getting very lost outside of Ubud, Bali as we were trekking through the fields, woods and yes, jungles. We met a man who also obviously has this affliction and again we made a new friend and eventually after a few hours, the three of us came in from the woods to enjoy many a Bintang.

Planning to Get Lost

I don’t take a GPS when I wander around. I don’t want to. I do have an idea of where I have been and where I have come from and roughly how to get back. Anyhow that GPS lady does not point. Why does she persist in saying – turn left, turn left, turn left – I swear I hear the frustration in her voice, as I go right.

I have a mouth and multilingual hands, and people are very kind in assisting with my plight. This is a great way to talk to local people even if they might say in whatever language – ‘stupido’. They don’t actually, I have been amazed that many people actually go out of their way to not only point but to walk with you to make sure that you are are on the righteous path. People are ultimately very kind.

You get a little cannier when you have this affliction. You work on points of reference – a café, a statue, a nice dress shop, a river. It is also a handy affliction if you are traveling with others, and they head one way and I head another.

Getting lost often makes for the best memories and stories.

Even if you don’t have this affliction, it is a great way to discover a place by wandering around in an aimless way.

This is where you see where real people live and work and play.

This is why we like walking. We clock up a lot of kilometers in our planned getting lost and sometimes argue because we are really lost. But we see things. Great things that are not in guide books as they happen spontaneously.

We were in Ankara and had gone up the hill. We stopped to talk to a man gardening. While he didn’t speak English particularly, and we really didn’t speak Turkish at all, we ended up discovering that his daughter had lived in our hometown of Wollongong, Australia. Go figure. Cups of tea later and we part company, richer for the experience.

Get lost is exactly that. Be prepared just to wander. Yes, have your details of your lodgings written down somewhere. Have a map as a backup, or a GPS lady who ‘points’, and soak up the atmosphere of the back streets of the places you visit.

Get Lost Hints

Get up early and watch the city wake up.

People are nice and pleasant, and watching businesses set up and people start to go about their lives is fun. We got to know the baker in Florence when he saw as wandering early daily and he would bring us out some hot bread.

Be sensible. Know where you need to return to. Have some cash on you, should a tuk-tuk go past, and you could get a ride back and only use the GPS if you need to go somewhere and be there by a definite time.

Take your time and get lost. Remember it is all about serendipity – you just don’t know what is around the corner.