I am one of sat nav’s biggest fans. It’s one of those gadgets that once you’ve started using it, it’s hard to imagine how you managed to cope for all those years without it. But while sat nav has saved me a great deal of stress and time, the slightest spelling mistake can take you on a long, hard drive in the wrong direction.
That’s what happened to a Swedish couple recently. According to the BBC, the couple set off on a holiday to the Capri, a beautiful isle in the Gulf of Naples. Unfortunately, instead of typing “Capri” into their sat nav, they typed “Carpi”, sending them 400 miles off course to the industrial town in northern Italy. Much to the bemusement of local officials, the couple only realised their mistake when they visited the town’s tourist office to find out the location of the famous Blue Grotto (the fact that they had not crossed a bridge to reach what was supposed to be an island had not given the game away).
So while sat nav can help take the stress out of your travels, the slightest mistake can ruin your holiday. So be careful what you type. And if you have any amusing sat nav stories of your own then please post them!
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Very funny… But if you really THINK about where you drive, one shouldn’t get into those trouble…
The other thing to watch for is multiple destinations with the same name. I’ve nearly been caught out by that one a couple of times. A general sense of direction will normally tell you that you are going the wrong way. The problem is that you may have already wasted 15-20 minutes going in the wrong direction!
There’s nothing like a little bit of knowledge as well as a GPS. Having a good quality hard back road atlas a sense of direction (And some fine leather driving gloves) will always make getting totally lost a pleasure! OK, maybe the driving gloves are a bit much.