How is your sense of direction?

[BlackCurtains]

Mine is kinda weird, I guess? I have a great homing instinct and if I'm familiar with point A and point B, I can get there... I just can't tell you how

I can't give directions or read maps very well and I really can't follow verbal directions either, but if I know where I am I know where I am and can find my way somewhere else - if that makes any sense at all, lol. Even if I don't know where I am my homing instinct will bring me to somewhere familiar eventually.

[Kiwi]

I'm not sure if I'd call myself a GPS, but I'd say above average. I like knowing alternate routes in case of unexpected detours/bad traffic. Once I got somewhere once (or maybe twice), it's pretty ingrained in my brain. And gradually with other travel I'll get a picture of the larger area and how things connect together.

[Sky_Rocket_Sammie]

I can do pretty well, and I trust a paper map over an electronic one. When I have to use the later I go with my gut if the directions seem dodgy. That said when it comes to giving directions because I take public transit. My familiarity is based on landmarks instead of streets So I'm not always the most accurate for the fastest route or one that might be closer to the person asking (usually in a vehicle).

[Aadra310]

This is making me feel better with so many of you not being good at directions!  I'm TERRIBLE!  Been living in the same area for 25 years and I still can't remember the street names (although, I have got the cardinal direction down!).  Everyone knows not to ask me for directions because I can just give landmarks and not the actual intersection.  It's really kind of embarrassing to be an adult and not be able to read a map on the spot- I need time to study it beforehand- or have to have detailed instructions on how to get somewhere.  But, my brain just does not process that stuff.  I have a hard time translating an overhead view of a map to the streets I'm driving.  I HATE highways with lots of signs and exits.  I get so stressed and confused!   

[Taffeta]

@Aadra - my navigational soulmate!

[KarentheUnicorn]

I have southern navigation skills. (Drive past the big tree, go to the stop sign, turn left, drive till you see the blue house with the cows and then take the right at the fork).

I do okay getting around, I'm fairly good with maps but weirdly I need them turned in the direction we're going if I'm designated navigator...so If I'm using a map at some point it might be upside down.

I still can get turned around though but I do okay even if I get lost I will find a way out, but at this point I've come to depend a lot on GPS. And sometimes I like to be a jerk to the GPS and take a different path.

Before GPS existed, myself and my mom would end up on adventures and her saying was We don't get lost, we get misplaced. And our thing was, even when we didn't know where we were we would always find something new.

I also don't mind driving. Since I live in a town with practically no shopping, If I want to do something I have to be willing to get in a car and drive. So i actually like driving, except in places like Washington DC, which is the devil to drive in. I'll do it, but I don't like it that much because city folks drive craycray.

[flutterscotch]

It's absolutely garbage.

[PoserBeachball]

My sense of direction is very good and I have always been able to read maps even as a small child (would actually prefer a map to a set of instructions).

Interestingly, as I live in a very rural area, I can find my way round strange cities/towns almost better than in the country. It's very odd.

[mlp4me]

I generally have a good sense of direction. I look at maps all day at work.

[Baby Sugarberry]

I have a hard time getting lost.
It's weird, but I have spatial maps/memories of places I've only been once, many of them decades ago.  Not every place, but a lot of them.  Still rubbish at giving directions because I don't navigate by street names, I just ... go where I need to be?  GPS's annoy me, I'd rather have a paper map and a compass.

[Mewtwofan1]

     I can find my way to somewhere and back. It’s just remembering the exact route. I’ll get ya back to the beginning, it just might take a detour or two.

[SnorkMaiden]

I'm pretty good. I mostly navigate by landmarks, rather than by road name, which sometimes makes it hard to give directions to others. On the plus side, friends I'm with can usually rely on me to get us where we want to go.

[Artemesia's Garden]

I can get around averagely well using a map and visible landmarks etc but if I'm trying to find something down a small side road it can be tricky, i usually need to Here We Go it first. I don't have a Sat. Nav or app on my phone I just snap a picture of the map from my computer screen. When I did have a sat. Nav. It was very handy but boring :-) I have a poor sense of direction so try to navigate by the sun and time of day as a last resort if no land marks. I fund buildings really tricky. Service stations etc I find horrible!

[tikibirds]

Im back in China again. Its not so much that I can't find things, Its more that people don;t give me good directions in English.
I need directions that say go straight 4 blocks then turn right NOT go east on Mishui Lu for 3 KM, then turn left and go south on Linqun diaje.

[Taffeta]

I don't understand why people use north, south, east and west when giving directions. I'm not a compass...

When I was in Japan in particular, I encountered that a lot too ><