Steve Coogan likes to plan a trip using maps in "The Trip" movies.YES!
At school, one of my all time favourite lessons was when the teacher walked to the front of the classroom holding a long stick with a hook on the end. She would reach up and hook down the map, and I would be enthralled for the whole lessons. Maps still fascinate me today.
When my son was a toddler any car trip required a road map for me and a road map for him. Always! On his first road trip south as an adult recently, physical, paper maps are what he relied on to get him there and back again. And they brought him safely home.
We have had the Big Road Atlas Britain 2012 out many times, planning our route across northern Wales. Even though we wish to travel with a blank mind, modern travel requires us to have an itinerary. Government bodies, airlines, international ferries and rail pass dispensers, require us to have an itinerary.
To create an itinerary you need to have some idea of where you want to go. Maps are the way to go.
“A map does not just chart, it unlocks and formulates
meaning; it forms bridges between here and there, between disparate ideas that
we did not know were previously connected.”
― Reif Larsen, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
― Reif Larsen, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
And so it goes! Anglesey now has meaning; it is connected to Ireland, just look at a map. Reading The ancient Ireland guide, you find that one of the maps recommended by the authors is The Survey's Official road atlas of Ireland. This map has been poured over, also.
I like to know where I am in the world, even if I am not where I should be. They allow me to make sense of my world, my place, my travels.
Maps are beautiful things to touch, to hold, to look at. I wonder at the names of places, the shapes of lakes and coast lines. And I am good at reading them. There will be maps in my luggage, there will be no electronic navigational device to leave me in the dark.
Maps... make us masters of sights we can't see and spaces we can't
cover.”
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| Ferry terminal on mainland Scotland from Skye |
I love maps too! Especially the paper ones. Preferably in book format.
ReplyDeleteOn our recent forays to Sydney, someone insisted on relying on the maps on his phone. He was driving, so I thought that was fair. BUT! I was still needed as navigator for the many "connection lost" messages, and I found it very stressful using the tiny screen. I eventually pulled out our battered 2000 Sydney street directory, found where we were and our destination, and instantly felt calmer.
I am a good navigator, and I readily admit I feel disgruntled to be replaced by a smarmy-sounding device. I may have felt a little smug when it proved to be less than useful.
I feel a map allows me to be in charge. Devices don't always get it right. Recently, a friend was navigating for her husband, the device she was using indicated an obviously wrong direction that would have landed them in the ocean. She decided to override the given instruction. Smart girl!
ReplyDeleteNavigating with a map in hand is a very satisfying occupation for me.