The Fear of Getting Lost – A Traveller’s Perspective

It’s interesting talking to people who don’t travel very often and hearing what holds them back.

One reason that surprised me was the fear of getting lost.

It had honestly never occurred to me that this could stop someone from travelling, particularly travelling alone.

For me, getting a little lost is simply part of travel. It’s happened to me plenty of times, and I’m sure it will happen plenty more.

Most of the time, getting lost isn’t dangerous. It’s inconvenient. You take the wrong train, walk three blocks in the wrong direction or end up somewhere you hadn’t planned to be.

And sometimes those wrong turns become some of the best travel stories.

Of course, there’s a big difference between getting lost in the streets of London and getting lost in the Australian outback. There are situations where losing your way can become dangerous.

But if the fear of getting lost is stopping you from travelling independently, I want to reassure you: you can deal with it.

And these days, it’s easier than ever.

When Getting Lost Gets a Little More Serious

One of the scariest times I’ve been lost wasn’t in a foreign country at all. It was right here in Australia.

This was years ago, before we all had GPS in our pockets. We were driving across northern Victoria on our way back to South Australia with little more than a basic road map and the occasional road sign.

I could see that the main road took a huge loop and decided there must surely be smaller roads cutting across it.

How hard could it be? We just needed to keep heading west and eventually we’d hit the highway again.

Famous last words.

We spent the next few hours driving along dirt roads and farm tracks, barely seeing another car. Our brilliant shortcut was almost certainly taking longer than simply staying on the highway.

At first, I wasn’t particularly worried. I knew roughly which direction we were travelling and figured we’d eventually find our way back to a main road.

Then we noticed the fuel gauge.

We were getting low on petrol, we had no idea where the nearest fuel was and, at the time, there was no phone coverage either.

Suddenly being lost wasn’t quite so entertaining.

I started imagining us spending the night in the car, carefully rationing whatever snacks we happened to have with us.

Thankfully, we eventually reached a tiny town, found fuel and asked a local for directions. Not long afterwards, we were back on the main road.

Looking back, we saw a part of Australia we probably never would have seen otherwise. And like so many things that go wrong while travelling, it became a good story afterwards.

I certainly wouldn’t recommend deliberately heading down random country roads with a nearly empty fuel tank. But it taught me an important distinction:

Being lost isn’t necessarily the problem. Being unprepared for where you’re travelling can be.

Getting Lost in Remote Areas

Getting lost in a city is one thing. Getting lost somewhere remote is different, and Australia has plenty of places where you shouldn’t assume you’ll have mobile reception.

These days, if we’re heading somewhere with patchy coverage, I download the area in Google Maps before we leave.

If the entire driving route is within the downloaded area, Google Maps can still provide driving directions without an internet connection, although you won’t get live traffic or alternative routes.

Walking and public transport directions aren’t available offline.

I also make sure we know roughly where we’re going rather than relying completely on the phone.

If you’re travelling somewhere genuinely remote, having enough fuel, water and supplies, knowing the road conditions and telling someone where you’re going are far more important than having Google Maps on your phone.

For everyday travel, though, technology has made getting lost much less of a problem.

Which brings me to cities – because apparently putting me underground completely destroys my otherwise good sense of direction.

Getting Lost in a City

I’ve become pretty good at navigating public transport systems around the world, but I still get it wrong.

One city that particularly challenged me was Sofia, Bulgaria.

Part of the problem was that many signs were in Cyrillic, so instead of easily recognising station names, I found myself trying to match the shapes and patterns of words.

And remember how I said I have a good sense of direction?

That apparently doesn’t apply underground.

Put me in a metro station and all bets are off.

More than once in Sofia we’d travel a few stops, realise we were going the wrong way, get off, head back in the opposite direction and try again.

Was it frustrating? Yes.

Were we actually in any danger? No.

We were simply on the wrong train.

I’ve done similar things in Vienna, Munich and plenty of other cities. I’ve also walked in completely the wrong direction more times than I can count.

But walking is also where I quite like getting a little lost.

Wandering away from the main tourist streets has led us to little cafés, interesting shops, unexpected museums and places we would never have deliberately searched for.

I’ve even found places I’ve wanted to recommend later and realised I couldn’t because I had absolutely no idea where we’d been!

These days, with a map on your phone showing where you are, it’s difficult to get seriously lost in most cities. You might go the wrong way, but you can usually work out where you are and turn around.

And sometimes taking the wrong turn is when you find something you weren’t looking for.

Have a Backup Plan

One thing that makes me much less concerned about getting lost is knowing I have options.

Before heading out for the day, I make sure my accommodation is saved in Google Maps. That way, even if I’ve wandered miles away and have absolutely no idea where I am, I know where I need to get back to.

Having mobile data while travelling also makes life much easier. An eSIM, local SIM or roaming means you can check directions when you need them rather than relying entirely on Wi-Fi.

I also like to have the appropriate rideshare app set up before I need it. Depending on where you are, that might be Uber, Grab, Bolt or another local service.

And if technology fails completely?

Ask someone.

Hotel staff, shopkeepers, station staff and other locals have been helping lost travellers for a lot longer than smartphones have existed.

You don’t necessarily need to speak the same language either. Having your accommodation saved on your phone or using a translation app can usually get the message across.

Getting lost doesn’t mean you’re stuck. It just means you need to work out what to do next.

When Getting Lost Really Can Be Dangerous

Of course, I don’t want to pretend that getting lost is always harmless.

Sometimes it can become dangerous, particularly when you’re hiking or somewhere remote.

One of our more memorable experiences happened near Saalbach in Austria.

It was towards the end of May and we’d already been in Europe for about five weeks. I’d imagined lots of lovely spring hiking, but we’d had rain and even snow for much of that time.

Finally, I decided we were going hiking anyway.

It was only supposed to be a short walk of a few kilometres, starting and finishing in town. What could possibly go wrong?

Quite a lot, as it turned out.

There was no snow in town, but as we climbed higher it quickly became deeper. We weren’t experienced walking in snow and hadn’t considered that it might completely cover the trail.

We’d find the path, lose it, find it again and keep going.

Then we reached a small creek. It wasn’t particularly wide, but the snow, water and slippery muddy banks made crossing difficult. Once we’d scrambled across, getting back didn’t look nearly as easy.

So we kept going uphill.

The snow got deeper, and eventually we lost the trail completely.

By this point it was cold and raining. We’d both slipped around in the mud and snow, our trousers were wet, and we could see water running down the hillside and sometimes hear it underneath the snow.

This had gone well beyond taking the wrong metro.

But there was one thing that stopped me from panicking: I knew where we were.

I knew there was a road below us that led back to town. We just needed to get down to it.

Eventually we found somewhere to cross another creek, scrambled up a muddy bank and made it onto the road.

From there, we walked back into town.

If we’d followed the trail without any problems, I probably wouldn’t remember much about that hike today. Instead, it’s become one of those travel stories we’ve told many times since.

But there’s an important distinction here.

Getting a little lost while wandering around a city can be fun. Losing a trail in bad weather or unfamiliar terrain isn’t something to take lightly.

These days I’d be far more cautious about continuing once we’d lost a snow-covered trail. Sometimes the best decision isn’t to keep pushing ahead. It’s to turn around while you still safely can.

What If You Have a Terrible Sense of Direction?

I know I’m lucky to have a reasonably good sense of direction. I’m usually the navigator when we travel.

In fact, I once asked my daughter if she could remember any times we’d been lost while travelling.

Her answer?

“Whenever Dad was reading the map.”

😂

But you absolutely don’t need a good sense of direction to travel independently.

My sister-in-law has possibly the worst sense of direction of anyone I know. She can get lost in a city she’s lived in for years.

She’s also travelled to every continent except Antarctica, sometimes travelling solo for months at a time.

Has she got lost? Plenty of times.

But she’s always worked it out.

And that’s really the point. You don’t need to know exactly where you are every second of every day. You just need to be confident that if you take a wrong turn, you can work out what to do next.

How to Make Getting Lost Less Likely

You don’t need to eliminate every possibility of getting lost. A few simple things can make it much easier to find your way again.

• Download offline maps before you go. I use Google Maps, particularly if I’m going somewhere mobile coverage could be unreliable.
• Save your accommodation. Save it in your map app rather than relying on remembering the name or address.
• Have mobile data if you can. An eSIM, local SIM or roaming makes independent travel much easier.
• Check your route before you start. Know roughly which direction you’re going, how many stops you need to travel and the name of the station where you’re getting off.
• Check for a local transport app. Google Maps can provide public transport directions in many places, but not everywhere, and sometimes a local app is more useful.
• Set up a rideshare app in advance. Which service is best will depend on your destination.
• Download a translation app. Google Translate even allows you to download supported languages for offline use.
• Carry a power bank. All those clever apps aren’t much help when your phone battery is at 1%.

And perhaps most importantly, don’t panic.

Stop. Look at where you are. Check your map. Retrace your steps if necessary. Ask someone for help.

You haven’t failed at independent travel because you walked the wrong way for ten minutes or caught the train in the wrong direction.

You’re just temporarily somewhere you didn’t intend to be.

Don’t Let the Fear of Getting Lost Stop You

If getting lost is one of the things making you nervous about travelling independently, don’t let it be the reason you stay home.

You probably will get lost at some point. I still do.

You’ll walk the wrong way, get off at the wrong stop or emerge from a metro station with absolutely no idea which direction you’re facing.

But you’ll work it out.

You’ll check your map, retrace your steps, ask someone for help or find another way to get where you’re going.

And every time you do, you’ll become a little more confident that you can handle whatever travel throws at you.

Because independent travel isn’t about never getting things wrong.

It’s about knowing that when you do, you can work it out.

And who knows? That wrong turn might just give you one of your favourite travel stories.

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