Tell about the time you were totally desperately lost.

[undeterred]

Before there was GPS. When you didn't have a map or a map did you no good...

I was 4 or 5, in the back seat of the car on a family vacation. We were driving somewhere in Oklahoma and it was dark everywhere. We had gotten off the main highway looking for a place to eat, but now we were getting low on fuel. Except, we were driving through oil fields, ironically. We kept driving. Mom was worried. Dad was calm. I pretended to sleep but I was very aware that we were lost and for what seemed like hours. Finally we saw lights. Food. Motel. Gas. Just in the nick of time.

[hedgehog]

1. We had a road atlas - each state had it's own page for maps.

We drove out of NYC through the Holland Tunnel on I think I-80, came out in New Jersey on a different road. We drove around Newark and back and forth across the Hudson a couple times before I turned the page to the jersey map and discovered that the last 3 miles of road connecting the tunnel to I-80 had yet to be built!

[becca da bakkah]

2. Hell! I Can Get Lost In My Own Backyard!!

[Denninmi]

3. Well, mine was just a couple of weeks ago, and pretty undramatic.

Last edited Fri Sep 28, 2012, 08:19 PM - Edit history (1)

A couple of weeks ago, I was biking. About 10 at night. Went into an enormous subdivision, and got lost in there at night, kept going around in circles. I finally spotted a landmark, the airplane warning light on top of a distant tower, and kept going towards it until I found my way back to the main road.

Lesson learned. Been taking my iPad with me in my backpack now so I can get maps if I need them.

[MiddleFingerMom]

4. I was visiting a friend in Philadelphia and took her two children 6 &8) to the zoo.

.
.
.
Left the zoo and the three of us got on a bus. After a while, nothing looked familiar... I had gotten
on the bus heading in the wrong direction.
.
Bundled up the kids, got off the bus and crossed the street to the other bus stop.
.
Realized...
.
.
.
.
... realized... oh, FUCK... I've taken these kids right into the heart of a crack neighborhood. Nothing
but glaring looks, we were REALLY out-of-place there. I still think to this day that those kids protected
ME.
.
The bus EVENTUALLY came and we made it home.
.
To make things worse, the daughter had to go to the bathroom and couldn't understand WHY we couldn't
walk around looking for a gas station.
.
.
.

[RebelOne]

5. About 3 weeks ago.

My daughter was visiting from Florida. We went to visit my sister who lives in the North Georgia mountains in Ellijay. On the trip back we missed a turn and ended up driving through miles and miles of nothing in the dark. We stopped at the few houses we saw and I banged on the doors, but I think people were afraid to answer in the wilderness. Finally, we came to a gas station. We asked a man there who was gassing up where the highway was. He was nice enough to guide us to the highway where we found our way home. That was a good Samaritan.

[undeterred]

6. Whats really awful is being in the middle of nowhere and realizing you don't know where

the next gas station is and you might use your fuel up looking for it. Pretty far apart in rural areas.

[RebelOne]

12. Yes, we got lucky. n/t

[TorchTheWitch]

7. Years ago when I went to pick up Boo as a pup

I got to the breeder's just fine but got hopelessly lost on the way home. They lived in the middle of absolute nowhere on the top of a mountain. Gorgeous place to live, but holy cow, I drove all over that mountain trying to figure out how to get off of it, and was thrilled beyond belief to finally see the lights of some town even though I couldn't exactly figure out how to get to it... just seeing some sign of civilization again was a relief.

I finally did manage to find my way back to the highway and home. Boo snoozed the whole trip. Even when I carried him in his travel carrier into the house that was to be his new home he didn't wake up. I opened the carrier door and excitedly told him he'd reached his new forever home, and he just opened one eye at me and went back to sleep. It wasn't until I started poking about the kitchen that he ventured out.

I'd never been so hopelessly lost in my life, and thought I'd never ever ever get off that mountain nor see another human being or any sign of civilization ever again.

[undeterred]

8. Yeah I got kinda lost when I picked up my pooch in Mountain Grove Missouri at night.

I found him on a farm in the middle of nowhere and then I had a hard time finding my way out the way I came in. So I just decided hell with it, and found a place to stay. Figured it out in the morning while new pup was tearing up the motel room.

[momto3]

9. This happened just a couple of weeks ago.

I want to start by saying that I can get lost even if my destination is 1 mile down the street I am already on. I don't know why I am so geographically challenged, but there it is.

I was in Vienna a couple of weeks ago for a work convention. the public transport system in Vienna is very nice and simple to use (if you are not me). Anyways, I needed to get to the Hofburg palace, asked the concierge at my hotel, he said all i had to do was take the number 2 tram, which I could catch right in front of my hotel, and get off 4 stops later. Well, I got there okay, but coming back, for some reason I decided I needed to get on the number 1 tram. Of course, it is now 11pm, dark and the streets were close to deserted. By the time I realized I did not recognize any landmarks, I was in a fairly "seedy" part of Vienna. Although, "seedy" may have just come from my increasing terror when I realized I had no idea where I was. I thought that if i stayed on the tram, I would eventually get to a U-bahn station, which would eventually get me back to familiar territory. Nope. I rode the tram all the way to the end of the line as the only passenger, at which the driver said (this is paraphrased as I don't speak German), "This is the end of the line. Lady, get off and find your way home". I panicked. Vienna is a very safe city, as are most of the big tourist cities in Europe. But, as a woman traveler alone, at a dark Tram stop in the middle of the night, with no German speaking skills other than "Danke", I was terrified.

I finally located the driver, who spoke as much English as I speak German, and through gestures and points at my tourist city map was able to communicate to me that he would be leaving again in 30 minutes. He pointed to where I needed to get off and what Ubahn train I should take to get back to my hotel.

I have never been so scared in my life. But, the kindness and generosity of the people in Europe never ceases to amaze me. After that, my friend in Vienna was very careful to walk me on to the appropriate tram every evening.

[hunter]

10. Some fucking bridge in Chicago.

My wife and I were lost but we had maps. We were in a hurry to drop off a rental car and catch a train and there was a road that seemed to be the quickest way to accomplish that. I was driving around, doing my best to listen to my wife's directions, which never goes well, no matter what we do, but we couldn't find the way to cross the damned river!

My wife was accusing me of not following her directions and I was arguing that I was following her directions precisely, and it was a scary neighborhood... We stopped a couple of times with me insisting, "NO! It should be right here!"

Little did we know, the bridge and the road were ALL GONE!

[fizzgig]

11. i was in glasgow

drunk as a skunk in the rain trying to get back to the hostel, lost a damn contact and damn near panicked. i could have found my way back from the pub, but decided to go hang out at some random woman's house to drink gin and talk harry potter. figured i could get back, but no. after wandering around in the rain (on a sprained ankle, too), i bought a pack of smokes to take a minute to think.

when i started walking again, i heard some footsteps behind me. turned out to be a man who at first bummed a smoke but then became very insistent that i go back to his apartment to have sex with him. after being asked three times, i yelled at him that i didn't like men, which shut him up.

i was pretty shaken up when i finally got back to the hostel.

[undeterred]

14. that reminds me of the time I was in Amsterdam with another person

who insisted on going to the van Gogh museum to see Starry nights despite the fact that we were carrying all our luggage and I had a broken sandal and we were on our way to the only hostel where people answered the phone in English. We had to walk through needle park to get there and as we were getting closer we noticed lots of sailors and women reading books in storefront windows in their underwear and... red lights. So our hostel was in the red light district and it was a christian hostel there to save everyone from their sins. So we were pretty damn lost.

But we did get to see Starry Nights and it was amazing.

[fizzgig]

18. i would have gotten completely lost in amsterdam had i been alone

the city confused the crap out of me. london, too.

[undeterred]

20. we had a map but we really didn't believe it

and there were lots of scary things and scary people - we also went to london for a week which was less scary because they speak the same language (sort of!) but there we had the nerve to go off separately because we didn't want to see the same things. I got lost in a deer forest up at Oxford and I remember thinking Oh God I'm lost on a different continent, but eventually I found my way out and back to the train, back to the hostel in chelsea. Everyone knows where london is and everyone knows where chelsea is.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. This was recent...

I was on my way to jury duty in downtown LA...

And I had decided to drive.

I took a very wrong turn off the freeway, and proceeded to be very lost.


I did get there, but I was late.

The rest of the time, I took the light rail, and walked to the court. MUCH better.

I didn't panic, but I could have.

[femmocrat]

15. Patterson, NJ, in a rough looking neighborhood, maybe early 1980s.

I think there was a scene like it in some silly movie where the locals take the tires off a tourist's car?

We were looking for a gas station, I think.

[bluedigger]

16. I don't get lost. I "go exploring".

When I went over the Imogene Pass the beginning of last month I made a few unplanned detours, like this:



This was clearly not the right way.

[pipi_k]

17. Never had that problem...

From a very young age I learned to pay attention to my surroundings, landmarks, etc., plus I used to love to look at maps...still do, actually.

So a couple of times a year the family would take a trip almost cross state to see my mom's family.

My grandfather and my dad would get drunk.

My mom would have to drive home. My dad would be passed out in the front seat, my two sisters would be sleeping in the back, and the only ones awake would be me and mom.

I was maybe 9 or so the first time I helped my mom with directions. She was always terrible with them.

We always got home. Even driving around the city, she was never very good at it, and still cannot read a map or follow directions to this day.

I don't know what it is...I just have this inner compass or something...

[benld74]

18. Not so much lost,but could have been very easily,,,

traveled to China to complete our daughters adoption process over Xmas in 2002. We went out as a family on Xmas Eve, in a cab, into the largest throng of people we had EVER seen in our lives. Couldnt read any of the signs, understand any of the people.
We ate dinner in a 4 story McDonalds of all places! We understood that sign! Found another cab, showed a picture of our hotel, and we made it back. I kept thinking, "Man I hope we make it back this is nuts"
And now I can write about it!

[undeterred]

21. Hey!

A couple from my city went to China to adopt their daughter about a year ago for 2 weeks. They made it back too!

[benld74]

31. Oh yes, we all make it back with expanded visions of the world around us,

and with a small package of joy as well

[nolabear]

22. I used to live near a very large lake. I got on the system of roads around it and couldn't get off.

I must have circled that lake three times, probably 25 miles around. It was night and I had no familiarity with the road except that the lake was on the right. And it never wasn't on the right. Eventually I managed to find a road that led to somewhere other than itself.

[Xyzse]

23. Few times.

1 - I was very young getting lost in an Asian Super-Mall. Basically, a mall that is about 8 floors with hundreds of shops.
2 - I was driving in the DC/MD/VA back roads without a map, GPS was not widely available yet, and I just watched the Mothman Prophecies... It got really really foggy.

I was freaked out.

[Populist_Prole]

24. In the woods at night, returning from fishing

I was fishing at a small lake totally engulfed by woods. Been there a lot and knew the way well through whatever openings and what might pass for a path...in daylight hours. As dusk approached I knew I should have headed back toward the house I was living in at the time, but I was enjoying it all so much I left too late. The sun had long since set behind the ridge around the lake. I got maybe a few hundred yards and then became completely disoriented.

My small mini-flashlight ( really small, one AAA battery ) was of almost no use at all. I could illuminate my immediate footing but nothing else: Directing it at the woods in search of clues to my path only pointed out a vague silhouette of trees and leaves, basically telling me what I already knew: I'm somewhere in the woods. There was no moon, just blackness, and the fact the ground rose in front of me made the horizon so high it was of no use to me. Let's say annoyance turned to worry very quickly. I resolved to make my way groping up the hillside ( making sure I was always going uphill ) till I got high enough to crest it and get a vantage point, or at least a lower horizon in which to spot lights/roads etc. After about 30-40 mins doing this this I saw an aircraft flying low preparing to land at a nearby airport, as I often noticed they did often while hiking in or fishing. I knew immediately I had to hike at basically a 90 degree angle from my present path, which I did. Not 2 minutes later I saw lights i knew were from a small group of houses. Cutting through a yard I came to the road about a half mile from my house.

I was relieved as all get out but also shocked at how wrong my directional intuition or "internal compass" really was when deprived of light and geographical cues.

[Rhythm]

25. Lost -- with the kids -- in Boston (damn you, Tobin Bridge)

My family and I had driven from NC to Mass., where we joined a large group of friends in October '95 (Halloween), convoy-ing in 3 cars, looking for Newbury Comics, because they were hosting the CD release party for a favorite band.

Note: This was '95, so none of us had car-phones.

Anyhow, the car in the lead sort-of knew where they were going... the middle car was following them down the expressway... and i brought up the rear, having my daughter (age 6) and her best friend (age 8) in the car with me, because although the others were going to the CD party and concert, i was just following along, and was going to take the girls Trick-Or-Treating.

Car 1 made a late lane-shift, and took the last exit before Tobin Bridge (toll bridge)... Car 2, quickly changed-lanes WITHOUT SIGNALING and made the exit... and i missed it.

We went across the bridge, got lost in downtown Boston trying to fine our way back the other way on the bridge. Finally got back across, and turned around again... and missed the exit a second time. Went through the same toll booth, and the gal in the box waved us through with a laugh. The kids were getting antsy and anxious by that time, but we got back around downtown and out again, and this time on the return we managed to get off at the place where our friends had.

Both of the other cars were waiting on us in the parking lot of a vacant factory at the bottom of the off-ramp. They had been waiting for about 30 minutes by that point.

I almost smacked my friend Steve (the driver of car 2) when he laughed and said, "Oh yeah... my blinkers have been out for months..."

[FloridaJudy]

26. Once in a small town in Hungary

A friend told me to meet him at the zoo: "You can't miss it. There are signs everywhere". The word for zoo is some variation on "zoo" in every other European language: parque zoológico, зоопарк, jardin zoologique, Зоолошки врт, etc. But not in Hungarian. In Hungarian it's "állatkert". So I wandered around for hours, unable to find the damned zoo. I couldn't read any of the street signs, and couldn't find anyone who spoke English. I had no idea where I was, and had a cranky toddler in tow. By the time I found the zoo, I was exhausted and well-nigh hysterical.

After that, I have a great appreciation for what new arrivals to the US, who don't yet know English, have to go through!

[DFW]

33. Nem érted magyarul?

It's in Europe, but is by no means a European language!

Whenever I'm there, I always have my Transylvanian friend's phone number on speed dial in case I need to know the Hungarian word for anything, because the only thing you be sure of is that it's like nothing in any other language! Nem igaz?

[FloridaJudy]

35. I was only there for a few weeks

It's a fascinating country, and the food is beyond delicious, but the language is a bitch! I'm something of a dunce when it comes to learning new languages anyway, and I spent a lot of time being lost and clueless.

It's probably easier now, with GPS and computerized language translators, but this was back in the eighties.

[DFW]

37. I've only been there for six days over a period of thirty years!

Once in 1982, and once again last year. The city had changed dramatically, of course.

The "main" foreign language back in 1982 was German, now it's English. I mistakenly thought, back in 1982, that they would prefer Russian to anything else, as they were forced to learn it in school. Man, did THAT turn out to be a misconception! I was spit on, and one guy nearly physically attacked me since he mistook me for a Soviet. I used only German from then on. These days, all the younger generation learns English, and only hotel, restaurant and airport employees learn German.

Even these days, it's not easy to find someone outside hotels and airports who speaks anything but Hungarian, which, as you noted, is a bitch of a language. Though located in Europe, it is not a European language (from a linguistics point of view), and is widely thought to have its origins in the far east. Luckily, one of my best friends here is from Transylvania, and Hungarian is his native language. If I need help, he's just a cell phone call away--except from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown or on Jewish holidays, which he observes strictly. If I need help then, I'm on my own, which is to say, S.O.L.!

[CreekDog]

27. My friends and I were going down this river in the Central Valley

in rafts. I was the only one who knew where we were, and I didn't have my glasses.

and I only knew part of the river, but my friends kept going, so we tried to catch up with them, getting more and more lost as we did.

popped out of the river not knowing where the hell we were and the only one who knew the way (me) couldn't see.

was kind of a mess but we walked a couple of miles down a dirt road and made our way back. not too bad, but felt really lost.

[cbrer]

28. Middle of the Iraqi desert

In 1991. The 1st Gulf War. Riding in a 56 ton armored vehicle. Towing an M-1 (early version 64 tons), M-577 (armored command post), and an M-113A2 (armored personnel carrier) across the desert on a poorly defined MSR at about 3 MPH. We hadn't stopped for 3 days, except for fuel and food (plus quick shit stop). No GPS, no map. Stopped to drop off broken vehicles, and start picking up the pieces of the battle of Jaliba Airfield.

[undeterred]

29. Now thats scary.

[FloridaJudy]

39. You win.

[cbrer]

40. Didn't feel like it at the time nt

[HopeHoops]

30. When I was 19 or so, I'd just take off driving, TRYING to get lost. Then find my way back.

I'm talking like delving deep into southern Maryland on roads barely wide enough to pass a car coming the other way. Just by the sun, I'd work my way back to where I thought I'd connect up with a major road (which often went going over or under the beltway a couple of times before finding an on-ramp). I never stopped for directions (guy thing, you know) but always made it back home - sometimes the next day. I never even took a map with me.

In retrospect, the word "idiot" comes to mind now.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

32. Lilburn Cave

I was in my early 20s and I went into California's longest and most complex cave at over 20 miles in length. The cave is an impossible maze, a labyrinth, in three dimensions with several levels of passages. Twenty miles of passages underground is awesome, seeming more like 200 miles above-ground. Anyway the trip leader knew the cave like the back of his hand, as he'd spent years exploring and mapping it. Once we arrived at a giant room with a floor of deep clean dry sand like you might find at the beach, he told me I would have to lead us out and remember the way back. I got completely lost and every passage looked the same. After several hours my friend finally had to take over and lead us out.

[DFW]

34. 1971 near Eskilstuna

My brother and I were visiting friends in Central Sweden. There was a huge forest on the edge of town, and we decided to take a walk one afternoon. What we hadn't taken into account is that it went on forever with no paths or signs anywhere. We had no idea how to find our way back. The only reason we didn't spend the night on a bed of cold pine needles is because in June that far north, the sun doesn't go down until 11 PM, and we stumbled onto a road and my Swedish was good enough to ask which way led back to town.

[mysuzuki2]

36. When I was 3 years old I went with my mommy to Daytons dept store

in downtown Minneapolis. Although maybe it was Donaldsons. An yway I turned around and my mommy was done and I was terrified. So a nice lady who worked there found me and gave me a piece of gum. Eventually my mother was found (probably trying her best to leave the store BEFORE she could be found and made to take me home; at least that's always been my suspician). We went home without further incident. It's 60 years later but I've never forgotten the saleslady who gave me a piece of Clorets gum.

[noamnety]

38. The time I was pulled over for drunk driving.

I flew into Ft Knox and was supposed to get there in daylight, which is why I only bothered to bring my sunglasses.
The plane was delayed, I landed there in the dark and it was raining, and I had to choose between going with no glasses or wearing the prescription sunglasses that just made things darker.

I had a case of classified documents with me, so I couldn't just get a room and find the destination the next morning. I drove through post and at each intersection I would swerve a little to the side and slow way down to try to shine my lights on the street signs - which, at fort knox, are annoyingly low contrast (brown backgrounds on them).

The MPs pulled me over for erratic/drunk driving. They ended up letting me follow them to the place I had to lock up the documents.

I have also been lost on the DC beltway at night while couriering, and lost with a coworker somewhere in the midst of all the embassies. Why they pick couriers with NO sense of direction is beyond me.

[TrogL]

41. This was *with* GPS

Trying to find an AA meeting somewhere near Fort Erie, Ontario.

The written directions were nonsense and the GPS said we were making great time going down the middle of a field. Odd, consdiering we were on a highway.

[TrogL]

42. Also, trying to find my boyfriend's farm in the middle of nowhere after dark

Missed the N/S turnoff but the road curved around and found the E/W range road that should have taken me back but it skipped his part of the area entirely and there basically wasn't away to get there from there unless I went all the way back to the highway and go the other way. Ended up passing two lakes nobody's ever heard off. Stopped at a gas station for directions and they said turn left off the driveway and I'd be fine. They didn't say which driveway so I ended up right back where I started.

Finally found a landmark I recognized and went back down the highway at a crawl so I wouldn't miss the sign. Went back in daylight and wrote down all the directions in kilometers.