Lost + No Data? Never Fear.

Short little post today with a tip I've given several travelers now. For those of you who are tech savvy this should not come as a surprise, but if you are lost in a country where you don't have a data plan on your phone, you can still find yourself on using your Maps app. This was a game changer for me. And I've heard back from some people that they didn't know their phone could do that. If you already know all this, don't bother with the rest of the post. If this is news to you, read on!

I have no problem asking people 1) do you speak English? and 2) do you know how to get to X? But sometimes you just want to see how far you are from your destination or you can't find someone who speaks any of the languages you speak. Sometimes you're up on a cliff in Italy walking through the woods and wondering how far away the waterfall you heard about is. 

The cable car in Mezzocorona, Italy goes a staggering 620 meters (2,034 feet) straight up to the top of a cliff where there is a small community and hiking trails.

It's super easy. Just go to your Maps app on your smartphone and open it. Hit the little icon in the corner that looks like a target. Wait for the blue dot to pop up on your screen and now you know where you are. If you have the foresight to look up your destination from a place where you have wi-fi access, you can leave the directions up on the app and follow your blue dot along the indicated route. It's fantastic.   (Side bar: these are directions using an Android phone. It works with iPhones, but the icons might differ slightly.) 

 

Notice the phone is in airplane mode. To locate yourself, hit the bullseye button circled above and wait for the blue dot to show you where you are. If you're in a remote location you may have to wait a few seconds for it to work. I've had to hit the bullseye button a couple of times before it loaded, so if you've waited and nothing happened give it another try.

If you have data, look up the walking route you want to take. Even after you lose data and you're on your way, you can watch the blue dot (you) move as you progress on the route.