Driving Lost
I’ve never chauffeured myself around in a strange city before, which is probably the source of my blithe assurance that it can’t be that difficult. I would probably have been just fine if I had not assumed that general directions would lead me where I wanted to go. Silly me. The 10 minute trip from hotel to convention center took nearly an hour and a phone call for help from our local friend.
Kiki was attempting to help me navigate and was reduced to a hyperventilating, huddling, bundle of pre-teen tears in short order. That was harder to deal with than being lost. Especially since we were never far lost. I had a very solid sense of where I needed to be, I just needed to find the right roads to get me there. Oh and those roads needed to not be One Way in the wrong direction or closed for construction.
We did not actually stay very long at the convention. We stopped by to say hello to Howard and the Blank Label crew. We also stopped at the Girl Genius booth long enough for Kiki to go gaga and get handed a fee copy of one of the books. Howard gave a Schlock book in exchange.
Then we were off to the aquarium. I found it with no trouble at all because I’d researched in advance. The trip from the aquarium to the hotel should not have been a problem, except that I was looking at the wrong hotel on the tourist map. I went straight to the location, but it wasn’t the right hotel. Once I actually located our hotel on the map, getting there wasn’t a problem.
The lost-while-driving experience is engrumpifying because getting lost isn’t something I do. I plan ahead. I use my good sense of direction and I get where I intended to go. Honestly I was only truly lost once. The rest of the time I wasn’t where I wanted to be, but Ihad an idea of what to do next. The one lost moment was sitting in the parking garage for not-my-hotel and having no idea where to find my hotel. I didn’t want to need help, but I called Dan once again to help me find my hotel. While he was looking it up, I rummaged through the van and finally located the map with our hotel circled on it. Instantly I could see a clear path to the hotel. I had Kiki call Dan to tell him “never mind” and we drove straight to the hotel.
The next time I lose my way in a city, I think I’ll try to do it without four bored and over-tired children in the car. That would make a we’re-having-an-adventure mindset easier to maintain. I can think of few things more annoying than a chorus of “can’t we just go to the hotel?” when that is exactly what I’ve been trying to do for 45 minutes.