Getting Lost

Which way?

The directions we had gotten from the tour company were terrible. They were incomplete, were overly complicated, and with the abundance of pre-marked trails in this area, completely unnecessary. Maybe it was because they were transferred from German. As such, we had the pleasant experience oPublish Postf getting lost on the first day of our trip. After a wrong turn, about a half hour of confusion and a visit to the wrong town, my mom and I finally found our way back. Who would have thought that we were supposed to make a left on a “no left turn” crossing?

From that moment on we were pretty skeptical of the directions. In fact, my mom didn’t even follow them. Instead of putting instructions on the little placards we had on our bikes, she just stuck a map there, and followed her gut, as well as the signposts for various trails. And you know what? That worked out better than following directions. Not only was she able to actually look around more (as opposed to reading the instructions), but she also had a sense of where we were on the map, which is often more valuable than even the best directions.

So, what did I learn? Don’t book a tour and hope others will do stuff for you. Instead, get a map and do it yourself. It is much better to be well-oriented than to have a good guide.