Maps to GPS to Spontaneity? There is something I want to do one of these days…

Who wants to shut down their GPS and take a road trip of randomness on legs and see where they end up? Me…

I often think back to the early times where I would sit in the car with my family flipping through a physical map to determine the location of our destination by seeking nearby street names, checking the back of the map, and identifying the coordinates of the destination. Of course, the car would not be moving because I cannot read or look at the wording in a moving car without ending up sick. Although time consuming, there was a certain excitement you get from being the first person to find the correct direction to the destination.

The time of maps is long gone now and has been replaced by the GPS. Not going to lie, I just randomly searched the full form of GPS, and it stands for ‘Global Positioning System’ so I am learning something new every day. Although I heavily rely on the genius GPS to transport me to wherever I need to reach, at times I think of what would happen if we never had maps or the GPS. How would we travel around and where would we reach if we don’t know where we are going. Or would we know where we are going?

One of these days, I will wake up early in the morning, pack a small bag with my water bottle, an umbrella, and my travel card and delve into this unplanned, spontaneous trip. There will be no GPS or maps or pre-planned travel destinations or sneaky peeks on this trip. Everything will be random as soon as I step foot outside my door.

Maybe a left turn at this road? Or should I take a right turn? A left or right spin the wheel can be used to determine which directions to move on the roads. I will catch the first bus that comes to the first bus stop I reach on this random walk. Mainly because there are no nearby train stations or ferries, and I don’t want to tire myself straight away by walking kilometres and kilometres. I may use a random number generator app to determine what stop I should get off the bus. The first restaurant or café I encounter after exiting the bus will be my first food stop for a warm hot chocolate or some delightful surprises. What if for lunch I stop at the first restaurant which starts with the letter “R” and try their popular menu item?

Will I end up at a beach? Maybe a popular hiking area? Or a hidden spot which I didn’t even know existed? Maybe, just maybe with my terrible luck, I may end up back near my home. It will all come down to randomness.

Of course, to ruin the whole purpose of this trip, at the end of the day if I am 100% completely lost as to how to get home, I will need the support of the genius GPS to direct me back. I mean can you blame me? I am hopeless with directions…

Written with sincerity,

Me.