Hi Everyone! Anyone heard of this? I've been doing a bit of research this week, as I am due to go off to Italy on my own in August and I've never done this before. I don't travel on my own, because I find it difficult and get lost easy. Even the thought of having to change trains or flights causes too much anxiety, unless I have done it 5 times before with someone else, I just don't do it. I never drive anywhere new unless I've researched it over and over again, and written full instructions to myself. I rarely drive anywhere new. I thought I would look on the internet and see if I can find out why and found that I am not the only one suffering from this and there is a name for it, although I don't totally fit into the dyslexia thing, but it does hit the nail on the head for my travel/getting lost /map reading anxieties! Does anyone else relate to this?
Hi Pixie well good for you for going to Italy I really admire you after reading your thread. I work in a very large office, it amazes me how many people wont leave the UK to go abroad I know off at least 8 that wont get on a plane, boat or Euro Tunnel even though they will travel on the train in the UK . I suppose they have created a "name" for most things now ? . Enjoy yourself Spruce
Yeah, you're right about the 'name for anything'. I think i was just excited that I now feel that I am not alone in this. I have a house in Italy which is difficult to get to and I will also have to drive, so the saga is getting bigger and bigger, but I really want to do it, so going for it! Well, as long as someone will water the tomatoes whilst i'm gone
hey Pixie You sound just like my daughter - had absolutly no sense of direction. When we would drive anywhere she would literally have to get to our road before recognising it as home turf! When we later gave her lifts to work in the city centre, we would drop her off wherever we could near her workplace. This was enough to confuse her completely! She would ask us to point her in the right direction to get to work. But then she left home to go to uni. - that was he making of her she now works in the midde east and happily negotiates travel all around the world! I think the trip will be a great adventure for you and any little detours enhance the experience! Good luck - enjoy yourself! It sounds like a lovely holiday!
Big hugs Pixie, you can do it Get yourself a compass, its something to concentrate on, even if it doesn't help much
I'd been working in the same office building for five years, and every week I'd been one of a group that had a meeting in one particular room in that building, every week. I usually just walked with the group when it was time for the meeting, but one day I hung back because I was waiting for a guest to arrive. It then took me nearly an hour to find the room I'd been attending meetings in every week for 5 years Being serious for a moment though, I don't mind finding my way about on trains and such, even if it requires multiple changes. I'll go anywhere on a whim and I don't care if I go wrong and get lost or end up 100 miles (or more) off course. All this is provided that I have two things. My bank cards and my phone. With these things I know I can sort myself out because worst case, even if I'm somewhere miles from home and have missed the last train, I can get a hotel room. Last year, after Shineyland, I took the family on a totally 'make it up as you go along' holiday, finding hotels at the last minute because we didn't know in advance where we were going to be next. It was great. My sisters (both of them) and my mother are the exact opposite though. They are as you describe. Terrified of travelling anywhere unless they know every stage of the journey and even then, they are really reluctant to go alone. I wonder if there is a genetic element to it. My dad is like me, he'll just go anywhere at the drop of a hat. In almost every way I'm more like my dad than I am like my mam, whereas my sisters are more like my mam than my dad.
I think you are right about the genetic element, my mam doesn't travel alone, so I think that is where it is coming from, got all my Dad's other genes though, just wish I had his travel gene! Thanks everyone, I'm feeling better already, still got 2 months to go though....
A little bit, not fluent, but can do directions, food, get petrol, understand the few road signs there are etc. Got my Italian for dummies book and dictionary. Hmm! I'll be okay once at the house, just getting there and back is the scary bit!
Sound practically a native ! Will make it much easier for you, I am impressed! I don't like driving, do it out of necessitity so empathise there! Just take your time and relax and you will be fine - you have done the hardest bit overcoming your fears and planning the trip! Proud of you- do it for the girls!
Hmm, perhaps a few weekends exploring before going out to Italy will lesson the impact! Thing is I know what I'll do, I'll explore locally where I know
This is how I explore new places. I like to be near water, so I look on the map for lakes within a radius that I can be bothered to drive. If there is a road leading to a lake I've seen on the map, then I go and have a look. That way I have a known destination, and I know there is a strong likelihood that I'll like what I find when I get there. If it is near any villages, so much the better, because then I'll go and see what's in those villages while I'm in the area. It takes most of the randomness out of it so you don't feel like you're wasting time, fuel and energy and no worries about seeing the fuel light come on when you're stuck on some unknown motorway. Using this technique, I find some amazing days out within an hour of Sheffield, when I lived there, despite not being from there, and in many cases, the places I'd found were largely unknown to people who'd lived in Sheffield all their lives. So, why not get the map out, have a look for whatever floats your boat (for me its lakes, for you it might be something else), pick a destination, and go and have a look. Do you have a satnav? That takes all the risk of getting lost out of it (I don't like getting lost, although some of my favourite spots were discovered while I was lost). If you don't specifically have a satnav, but have a modern(ish) phone, you can get satnav on your phone. For about a fiver you can get an in-car USB charger for your phone too, that plugs into the ciggy lighter socket. Get a full tank of fuel, a fully charged phone with satnav running, and a pre-planned destination chosen in a way I've just described, pack some sarnies and a bottle of juice, and away you go.
Thank you clueless, that is very useful. Good idea, I don't have a satnav, but may just borrow one. I will need one in Italy anyway. The other thing for me is swapping trains, actually working out where I should be to get on the right train. So, I am looking at having a go at that also. It all sounds so trivial, until you start panicking like me. I feel stupid, but actually it is a real fear, which I do think has impacted on my life in a small but meaningful way, it is only now that i am feeling it the most. My aim over the next year, is to combat this! I want to travel!
