Weekend Road Trip Saved By A Map

Being “old school” really saved me last weekend.  Setting out on that weekend road trip to Annapolis, I had just loaded my suitcase in my sister’s car and was ready to get behind the wheel when I asked her, “Do you have a road map?”  She shook her head, “No,” so I went into my car to grab the AAA map of Washington DC and Maryland.  Turns out we are glad we had the paper map because it helped us plan our route better than her in-car navigation system.

Don't get me wrong, I do love GPS nav systems!  Because I don't have a very good sense of direction, I rely on technology to lead me to where I'm going.  Quite often!

But that simple paper map really came in handy.  We had wanted to avoid the big congested areas so we plotted our directions the old fashioned way.  When we took a wrong turn, it was an opportunity to pull over to the side of the road, and get reoriented with the map.  The paper map also gave us an idea of how many bridges we would be crossing over (neither of us is a fan of driving on bridges.)

Are you planning a road trip this weekend?  Do you keep a stash of maps in your car?  What about your kids?  Do they use maps or rely solely on GPS or apps like Waze?