My GPS experience in Italy!

Living here in Italy, we try to travel as often as possible. If we rent a car we always take our GPS with us. I have an older Garmin 660 with the European Memory Flashcard installed.

I find a GPS to be tremendously useful in Italy. And we “don’t leave home without it!” One of the advantages of a GPS is to “install” points of interest (POI’s) into your unit before you leave home. Then when you’re in that small town or big city, pull up your favorites and select that “restaurant” you have to eat at! Using a GPS helps us organize our trips and gives us the confidence we’ll never get lost. (Okay, we still get lost with it sometimes, but it easier to “get found” with the GPS!).

I do miss the “routing” function on my previous GPS unit. The ability to plan a trip and lay it out on the GPS, with stops, sites, eats, etc. gives you plenty of flexibility. I used to spend hours on planes, sitting in airports, etc. filling my GPS with places I WANTED TO GO… rather than where I was headed those days. It’s probably better I don’t have that option as I have so little airport time now.

With the European maps we can use our unit in all countries of Europe. Now many GPS units (Garmin, Tom-Tom, etc.) come with all maps installed. Someday I’ll upgrade.

I have downloaded upgrades for my unit. I had to download an Italian “voice” as the young American voice just butchered any street or piazza name. I was lost trying to listen to her. You can also use a British voice, Australian, in French, etc. It certainly will enhance your language skills!

A GPS will always tell you where you’re at, even if you don’t know where you’re at. Sometimes I’m still lost, but at least I know WHERE I’m lost! (Does that make sense – it doesn’t to my wife either – LOL!) A GPS will tell you when you are close to a site, posted restaurant, etc. They’re also great at calculating the shortest routes or quickest routes – but only if you set them up.

My most embarrassing GPS moment came years ago. I had purchased a “state of the art” GPS back in 2003. It was a small, B&W screen that was a little hard to read. My wife and I were in a large piazza in Rome and I programmed the “correct” route into the GPS. Totally trusting, off we went. After walking about 40 minutes, I found myself entering the piazza from the other side. Quickly I suggested to my wife that we needed to head this other way…. Too late, I was busted. She recognized where we were and asked me, “Weren’t we just her 30 minutes ago?” I, of course, played dumb and kept staring at the GPS…. The problem – user error. The restaurant we wanted to see was across the piazza but when I put in “find destination” I still had the GPS set to “vehicle mode,” not pedestrian mode. So with all the one-way streets in Rome, we followed the traffic for almost a mile before winding our way back. Needless to say my wife will never let me live down that “GPS moment.” So ALWAYS make sure you have the “transport” setting consistent with your mode of transportation. I learned it the hard way and EVERY time we go through this piazza with friends she retells this story….

I rarely use a map now and can’t see driving in Italy without a GPS, even to places in Italy where I KNOW where I’m headed. I just like knowing where I’m at and how long it will take me to get there!

A good map can do more than tell you where you are at … it can help you see more in less time and give you peace of mind. You’re never lost when you have a good map! These are a few of the maps you could use driving through Italy! Click on any of them to purchase now or head to our Travel Store, Magellan’s Travel Supplies, or look in amazon.com.   Non-USA Guests can search for maps and travel-related items at amazon.co.uk.

Let Me Coach You, if you’re looking for travel assistance or some help creating an iitinerary! If you want to build your own vacation, please feel free use the information in the articles of the Ron-in-Rome website to help plan your next trip. If you need consulting, head to the Coaching page; For a list of all articles on this website, head to the Postings page. Or use the SEARCH Box, on the top right of each page!

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