Use Your GPS When Driving Abroad

Friends love to rent a car and drive around, often off the more-beaten paths, when they go to Europe.  Now they take their portable Garmin GPS with them!  Yes, it needs a new chip for Europe - North America and Europe have different requirements.

They get their directions in English, in the same familiar "voice" they hear in the US.  With European chip inserted, this equipment works exactly the same as in US and Canada.  They put the "US chip" back in when they return to US and Canada, and save the Euro-chip for their next trip.

The only problem they have encountered?  The system uses a phonetic pronunciation, and that does not always square with the alphabet/spelling system.  Slavic languages, for example, when they drove in Poland and Czech Republic, "took some getting used to," they tell me.  But they encountered no problem with street signs in Italy, Germany, France.

I imagine Greek and Cyrillic alphabets might be a bit more complicated than the Slavic language family!  If driving in Greece or Russia, etc, get a good map and study it.  Familiarize yourself with their orthography (spelling symbols!) beforehand to improve the system's utility.  Back it up by studying your map first, use the GPS to help you remember your path and stay on it.

Using your GPS in multiple countries is a great idea!  Especially for the Road Warrioress.  It's hard to read your map while you are driving.  You're multi-tasking as driver, navigator, trip planner, spotter simultaneously - and in unfamiliar territory.

These friends say the Garmin is much better for international/multi-national use than other brands, and with their extensive travel experience, I'll take their word for it and stick with Garmin versus other GPS brands myself.  Having reliable, practical, multi-purpose, easy-to-tote equipment makes life on the road so much simpler!  Here's to less-stress travel.

May your road rise to meet you,
Ann

Road-Warrioress Life Not for Wimps

I was talking recently with an acquaintance about her 20-something daughter, a young woman who needs minders.  We’ll call her Mel: Phi Beta Kappa, jobhunting MBA grad, deemed exceptionally “bright” and “promising.”  Except she cannot make her way through Grand Central Terminal even when Mom puts her on the right Metro North train to Manhattan.

Granted, GCT is a bit of a zoo, but signs are clearly posted everywhere.  But to someone who mastered the maze of Moscow underground armed only with a map printed in Cyrillic, knowing not a symbol of it, it’s inexplicable that a brilliant woman cannot make it a mere 25 miles from home to get to a job interview on time!

Mel will never survive if she has to travel for a job.  She cannot drive herself to a doctor’s office in the small exurban town where she grew up without getting lost.

What does it take to wander the world on your own?  A good sense of direction certainly helps!  Spatial Intelligence, the ability to orient oneself in space, to read a map, is an underrated skill.  But it has proven vital countless times and places.  I've never met a Perpetual Traveler who could remain on-the-road without this skill - without it, they give up and go home.

What other attributes make a difference between disaster and survival, even enjoyment, of long-haul travel?  Independence, self-reliance, curiosity, a sense of adventure: these I regard highly.  Flexibility and adaptability help you surmount cultural differences and difficulties, and a sometimes weird array of challenges.

Fearlessness is irrelevant, even counterproductive.  Fear is a useful signal of danger, and alertness, even wariness, can protect you from various dangers.  Courage – the ability to go out and “get it done” despite fear – matters.

The Road Warrioress life is too challenging for the hopelessly helpless Mels in this world.  There’s no room for wimps on the road. 

What traits do you find essential to success as a Road Warrioress?  Share, share!

May your road rise to meet you!

Ann