Summer is approaching, which has led young dreamers to fantasize about road-trips to anywhere. It's fine to just drive cross-country and land where you land, but having a destination in general is good, and you need the right tools to get there.
I recently took a mini road trip to see a friend's drama production at Villa Julie College. Living in southern Delaware, where the highways have basic U-turns at every quarter-mile, I'm not terribly comfortable or familiar with Maryland's (or any state's) complex system of "highways-with-exits-that-might-lead-anywhere- including-places-with-tolls." A map was necessary.
I consulted long and hard with Expedia.com, and devised a battle plan to attack "the exits," if only there were someone, a co-pilot, to read the directions aloud. So I cleverly tricked a suitemate into coming.
Me: Hey, do you want to see "Cabaret" with me?
Suitemate/ Potential Co-pilot: Okay.
Mission accomplished. We drove to Villa Julie without getting lost, and had a lovely time at the show. However, when it was time to leave, there was trouble. The directions for the return trip were confusing from the moment we left the school. We drove back and forth down several streets, while debating the too-similar road names and seemingly reversed mileages. Twice we passed a very familiar side-lane.
Me: Hey-didn't we use that road when we drove here?
Co-pilot: Yeah.
Me: So it leads right back to the highway. But the directions don't say to turn there now...
Co-pilot: Why doesn't Expedia want us to take the same road back?
Me: I don't know. Maybe it thinks that the other way is better. Let's just take this route, anyway. We'll be right back on the highway and will know where we're going, which will result in our successful return to Washington College.
Thus we took the road down which we originally came, despite Expedia's dissent, which resulted in our successful return to Washington College.
All of our confusion could have been solved with a GPS navigator in the car. In your choice of a soothing male or female voice, it'll tell you where you are, where you want to go, and easily guide you to your destination. I don't, however, travel enough to own a GPS. (Or perhaps I don't travel enough because I don't own a GPS?) They are exciting and handy, but I'm still fairly convinced that they'll send me to Wisconsin (instead of Wilmington) or the most dangerous part of Baltimore city instead of the Hard Rock.
Recently, I was on the phone with a friend who was driving and excitedly demanded:
Friend: Guess what I'm talking to you on?
Me: Um, a speakerphone?
Friend: No!
Me: Bluetooth headset?
Friend: No! A Garmin!
(Clearly, I was supposed to know what this meant.)
Me: Well, that sounds great... What does that mean?
Apparently a Garmin is a premium type of GPS that can be used as a speakerphone; read text messages aloud; navigate all over the world; and probably roll over, beg, or play dead. Even if you make a wrong turn, it will verbally tell you, in a polite/ disgruntled tone, how to find an alternate route.
Certainly, most people would appreciate having one. If I had a navigator, I would use it to drive anywhere, including to McDonald's and the next-door neighbors' house. It could lead anyone away to the greatest of summertime adventures. Across the country or across the continent, the possibilities are endless. Now I just need to find somewhere to go.
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