navigating unknown cities without a smartphone
While I was at the conference, my wife explored Brussels on her own.
As you might know, she doesn't have a smartphone, and the only similar thing she has is a tablet with only WiFi capabilities. Public WiFi is more and more common, but you can still walk half the city without a connection. I asked her to document her experience, as I think most people would like to rely on their smartphone a lot during travels in another country in a city they have never been to before, even just to use live map navigation or spontaneously searching for the next café or restaurant that fits their needs.
This is not meant to be a "dumbphone superior, touch grass" post; obviously, in today's world, the above circumstance is needlessly cumbersome. But I still wanted to give insight into it, and maybe it inspires less smartphone dependence during travels, relying more on your intuition and environment to navigate, or reassures you when the battery runs out. In the end, you still have signs and strangers to help.
Once again the Dumb Phone-Wife rears her pretty Head to bless you with Tales of her pre-smart Life in a post-smart World and her Capitalisation-Idiosyncracy.
Hello once more, esteemed Readers! As you've read before my Wife and I just were in Brussels for a few Days. As Ava was busy from Morning till Evening on every Day that left me with a lot of Time to spend on my own. This is not going to be a Travel report of my own though, you will be able to find that on my own Blog later this Week. Instead, Ava asked me to write a Guest Post for her Blog, about how I navigate being on my own in a new City, getting where I want to go and finding out what I need to know — as always without Smartphone nor mobile Data.
One of the hardest Aspects of it is indeed literal Navigation. Most People today rely heavily on having an accurate and reliable GPS-Device in the Form of their Smartphone on their Person at all Times to find there Way around while out and about. Which I freely admit is an immensely practical and helpful Tool — but in my Eyes more nice-to-have than essential.
I am not so old-fashioned that I would insist on using printed Maps or written Directions, rather I am taking the middle Way there. My Tablet luckily has the Feature to download set Areas of Maps for Offline-Use, which comes in very handy whenever I am alone and need to find my Way to Places. So what I usually do is save the Map of an Area, in this Case the Brussels-Region, and then use it to generate the Routes I need.
Without GPS there obviously is no real Live-Tracking of my Position, it tells me roughly where I am though, based on WiFi-Networks in the Vicinity though (I'm not entirely sure why this works and it is a bit bewildering, but can't deny it being useful from Time to Time either). So I mainly use it to unburden myself of having to decide on Routes myself, as I can horribly indecisive about that, and tell me how for it will be.
Then when following these Routes I'll have a Step-by-Step Instruction and to compensate the Lack of Livetracking I just pay heightened Attention to Roadsigns, Landmarks/Businesses along the Way and if I am going by Car actually my Mileage-Counter too, to know when a certain Distance until the next Turn/Exit/etc. will be over.
To avoid having to give those Instructions any more Attention than absolutely necessary (Eyes on the Road!) I also thoroughly go through these Routes beforehand and try to memorise them as good as possible. Not Error-free and perfect, but also does help a Lot to make it easier and prepares me for what to expect on the Journey.
Of course I still get lost...occasionally..., but so far this only every was a minor Annoyance and Delay, not an actual Problem. One Situation that comes to Mind during the recent Trip was when I had to use a specific Motorway Access, but the next Junction came so quickly, that I couldn't react on Time — so I had to drive until the next Exit and then get back on in the opposite Direction, inconvenient, but no big Deal. Generally when I'm driving alone I am very laidback about these Kind of Situations, and Motorways at least are very simple in their Layout and Direction most of the Time.
Missing a Turn or taking the wrong one in the City tends to be more of a Hassle, because there is more Traffic and you get to Experience People's Impatience more directly, but even then I consider myself quite good at keeping an Overview what Street I should be on and then just try to get back en Route. Doesn't work flawlessly every Time, especially when I'm not very familiar with the Area. I never get really lost though thanks to the Map, and if it becomes too confusing, I can just use a long red Phase at a Traffic Light or stop on the Side of the Road to re-orient myself. Usually works just fine, and eventually I get where I want too without too much Issue.
Another very present Aspect of being in a new City without a Smartphone is finding out about Places you want to go to to begin with. As both Ava and I are vegan and we have to consider some Allergies this is not merely a Matter of Sightseeing or Shopping, but more so relevant for finding Places to eat at that fulfill our Requirements, after all most Places still are not at a Point yet where we could just walk into any Food Establishment and expect to find something for us there.
The Website Happy Cow is an absolute Lifesaver there, as it is probably the easiest and most reliable Way to find out about Restaurants with vegan Options in any given Area. On this Trip we used it extensively too, even wrote down a List of interesting sounding Restaurants, Cafés, Pâtisseries, etc. with their respective Adresses ahead of the Trip.
In the End we didn't go to all of them (wasn't my Plan anyway, I'm always in Favour of some Redundancy) and also went to some that weren't on the List, but once again just being prepared helps a lot.
One Thing I noted in Brussels is that there were relatively few public WiFi-Networks available. This is not necessarily a Problem, but it did stick out to me. Compared with Germany, where every bigger City seems to have their own public Hotspots in the City Center to use (which I am not above at all). Meanwhile the only one I encountered there, that wasn't affiliated with a specific Business was one in the Ravensteingalerij, which is basically a Shopping Centre, so not a really a public Service as the ones here are either. Stores and Restaurants also seemed to have their own public WiFi less often than I am used to here either, but I can't say that as definitely, because that might have just been my subjective Experience there.
As I said, this is not a Problem per se, but given how here I reliably have constant Access to WiFi at least in the central Pedestrian Mainstreets and there basically not at all, I did also had to figure that into my Planning, which mostly meant preparing more thoroughly while still at the "Hotel" (for the Quotation Marks see Ava's Post). Which might have been a bit more restrictive if I had intended to be more explorative of the City and had wanted to look around more than I did this Time, thanks to Heat, hurting Feet and other Reasons. So I mostly limited my solo Endeavours to a few specific Target Locations and was satisfied with that.
All in all, I would not claim that navigating a new (and big!) City without constant Internet Connection and GPS is not harder than with a Smartphone, but it is definitely very doable with good Preparation, a bit of Creativity and being able to think on your Heels at least occasionally. It is a bit of a Challenge, and I would even assume that it did not get easier in the Years since Smartphones became ubiquitous, most of it is just a Matter of Habit and easily learned Skills though. I would say I am faring pretty well with it and get by just fine.
P.S. Not related to the Topic at all, but recently I realised that modern Dumbphones don't seem to have Holes to attach Charms at all, which is a bit sad!
That was it! :)
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