Mapquest Just Might Be the Death of Me

Yesterday Macy and I went to visit a friend of mine (and her kids) who lives about 50-55 miles away. This was the first time going to her house, so she e-mailed me the address, I mapquested the directions and were on our way, figuring we'd be there in about an hour...give or take 15 minutes for traffic.

45 minutes later, I'm getting off the exit Mapquest told me to.

45 more minutes (and 3 or 4 hilarious phone calls to my friend trying to get the correct directions) later, we actually arrive at our destination. Not only did Mapquest tell me to get off 3 exits later than I was supposed to, it also said that the house was 1.2 miles off of the freeway when it was more like 10. And it had me going in the completely wrong direction.


(My worthless Mapquested directions, with multiple edits.)

This is not my first bad experience with Mapquest. When I got a job nannying in New York, I drove out there by myself. I made it all the way across the country just fine, but got hopelessly lost about a hundred miles from the town I was supposed to be going to.

All thanks to Mapquest.

I drove around the area that Mapquest led me for hours trying to find some main road or at least a sign that would give me some idea of where I was. I called my future employer several times to try and get directions, but it's kind of hard for someone to help you when you can't tell them where you are. I remember calling my mom bawling and telling her that if I was going to give up and come home...if I could ever find the freeway. Eventually I drove past a fire station and figured that it would be a safe place to ask for directions (that's what they taught us as kids...right?) So I go walking up to 6 burly firefighters (and no, they did not look like the ones in the "Firemen of New York" calendars...I was a little let down.) and ask them how to get to where I was going. After getting a few laughs over my misfortune and the fact that I was from Idaho (why was that funny?), they pointed me in the right direction and I eventually got to where I was supposed to be going.

So, if you ever want to complain about Mapquest, my door is always open. Just don't use it to get directions to my house...who knows where you'll end up.