When I was small kid I was always curious about geography. At one point I remembered names of every country and it's capital city on this earth. I was very interested in looking at earth maps. Looking back it's amazing to see how much has changed over the years. Now people take their gadgets and type the address and bam it gives you the directions. In the old days it was just maps on paper. I still think maps on paper are cool compared to all these electronic maps. If you know how to use these paper maps you know how to locate directions on your own even in the new places or in the places where there is no signal for your cell phone.
Anyway, I want to write how I figured out certain things when it came to finding which direction I'm heading. All these things might sound simple to you. But I'm sure given the situation all these things never come across one's mind.
One day I was walking through the Glendale city and suddenly I had no clue which direction I was heading towards. The good thing about walking is you can simply look at the street names and immediately you know the direction. For example, you are walking on Brand Street and if you look at the street signs, you see either N. Brand St. or S. Brand St. Which means you are either walking south or north.
Then the second thing is to find south or north. The way streets are divided into two halves is by doing it from the center of the city. For example, in Glendale city the intersection of Brand and Broadway is considered to be the center of the city. So, Brand is divided into South Brand and North Brand from the Broadway Street. For example you are walking on south part of Brand street. There could be many cross streets before you see the Broadway street. Which means even if you are heading towards north, you could be on the S. Brand St. for long time. Which means until you don't cross Broadway you don't see N. Brand St. even though you are walking towards north on Brand Street, to be precise towards north on S. Brand St.
So how do you figure out the direction? Simple. Look at the numbers on the street signs. Generally, you see something like 400 S. Brand St., 300 S. Brand St. etc on the street sign boards at the cross sections of the streets (here streets crossing through S. Brand St.). I've already told you that they divide the street from the center of the city. Which means, on S. Brand St. the numbering starts from number 1 in the increasing manner towards direction south. Similarly, numbers increase towards north direction on N. Brand St. Which means if you are walking towards North on S. Brand St. the numbers on the sign boards keep decreasing as long as you walk towards the center of the city. Finally it goes to the number 1 and immediately N. Brand St. starts and the number again starts from 1 but this time increases if you are still walking north.
Otherwise, i.e., if the numbers are increasing on S. Brand St. then you are walking towards south. Same with N. Brand St. I mean, if you are waling on N. Brand St and the numbers keep increasing on sign boards then you are walking north. Otherwise, you are walking towards south. As simple as that.
Same rules apply for the streets aligned in the east and west directions. Which means, even when you don't have maps or cell phone or gps gadget with you, you still should be fine as long as you know which direction you should head to go to your place. If you really don't know in which direction your place is located, then you are definitely screwed. Even then it's no big deal as long as you are not nervous or tense. Just go to gas station and buy one map. Then you can figure out where your place is located and which routes you should take to reach home.
I strongly believe that if you look at paper maps you never forget the entire layout and you get the big picture of city directions printed on your mind. Otherwise, at least try to spend some time looking at google maps and get yourself well acquainted with city layout.
Before I figure it out, one day I went to airport to leave my friend. When he asked whether I'd be fine to go back home from LA airport, I gave him very confident answer even though I didn't have my cell with me to look for directions. The reason for my swagger was that I knew the directions by then. Funnily, when I went there to take the highway, the entrance was closed and I was screwed big time. I had no clue which way I should go from there and I was simply driving in some direction.
Still I was not tense or worried though. The best thing one could do to himself or herself is not to panic in situations like this. More over I didn't have any cash on me or credit cards. The only thing I had with me was my driving license. Of course, just to look for directions I don't have to buy maps but just have a mere look at them. Still, I didn't want to do that as I was not sure how store assistant would feel if he caught me doing that. Anyway, the point is I didn't panic since I knew some what about these highway numbering system and which highways would take me home.
So, I kept on driving for a while in some direction. The one thing I knew for sure was the airport was next to ocean in the west. So if I kept driving and if it was west direction, then I should see the ocean. But I never saw it, so I took right turn and kept on going. Finally, I saw the ocean and I was like ok now I'm driving towards west. Then I went in the opposite direction until I saw some highway. From there some how I figured out.
Even then I had to have known the highways earlier. Otherwise, it would have been tough. Ok now what's the lesson I learned from that trip? Simple. Always carry some cash on you or at least credit cards. Make sure that you have your cell phone, that too fully charged. The other thing you should do is to have paper maps in the car. They would come very handy. Other simple thing that would come very handy is car compass. You could just put it there on the windshield and you know the directions all the time.
In the end, no matter what gadgets and stuff you have with you, it really doesn't matter as long as you don't use your brains. The more you depend on gadgets the more numb your brain becomes. There are even ways to figure out directions by looking at your own shadow.
I'm sure you must be thinking I must be having tonnes of free time to figure out these things. Yes, sadly I do. Still I take pride in myself in figuring out things like this. I'm very confident that I could come out of any situation like getting suck some where in forests.
In the end we should never forget the fact that we are all given brains. So let's put them to use at least now and then. Now, once I figured out how to know the directions by looking at the street signs and by having the city layout, I feel like I don't need directions to go some where. I look at them one time and I'm good to go as long as I can afford to figure out the directions when something goes wrong. Key is start early.
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