This could be bad

Long, long ago, before the time of GPS, I remember my parents sitting at the kitchen table for hours planning a road trip to wherever we may have been going. What were they doing at the table you ask? Staring a big book of maps, commonly called an atlas. Now, I don't know about you, but the idea of reading a map, that most of the time is bigger than me (Katie) gives me a little bit of headache. Following all of those little roads, seeing where they connect, just doesn't seems fun to me. Especially considering we now process the power of a little box type thing, telling us where to go and when to turn, I swear it even gets condescending tone when you don't follow its directions.

The tone that GPS uses people isn't our only beef with this piece of "wondrous technology". In many past travels the GPS has screwed us over, for a lack of better words.

The first awful experience that I have had with it was when my family went to Australia in 2003. Now, if you don't know, they drive on the opposite side of the road over there which was an experience of its own for my father (I still have the image of my father trying to put on the turn signal and the window washers come on, and he swears). So we were there two weeks, and really didn't have much of an issue with the GPS, the only thing there were issues with was my parents trying to work it.

So, it was the last night we had the car rented for. We were driving back from Gladstone to Brisbane, this drive should have taken like eight or so hours if I remember correctly. Well because of the GPS it took about 12. We got lost in the city of Brisbane for about four hours. The car was small, and emotions were high. We kept driving past this one gas station, after third time passing it I began saying "Big Ben....Parliament" I probably said this about 5 times..maybe 6 before my mother turned around and for the first time used the "f word" to me...something like "shut the f up". I was amused, apparently I was the only one. The GPS kept telling us that our destination was in the middle of some on ramp. Yea that's just where I want to spend the night GPS. We ended up going to the airport and getting a taxi to go to the hotel. (Something which scared the hell out of my little sister because earlier in the vacation, some Aussie taxi driver, ran over her foot as she was getting into a cab, her foot still makes a random gross noise haha).

Due to this mishap and other ones we have had, we are going to learn how to read a map. It will be boring, and frustrating, but many have done it and so will we. I will be the map reader since Emily is the driver, hopefully she knows what the "red road connects to the blue road in like a finger tip" means.

God help us.