I learned to Speak French Listening to my GPS. (Some off Topic Comments on Travel)
I recently returned from a trip to France, and we took our GPS to use with our rental car. The GPS worked very well in France, about 95% of the time. The few exceptions include the time the GPS directed us to what can only be described as a rocky wilderness fire road. The wilderness road eventually led to the place we were headed, but it was so narrow we couldn’t turn around. But the GPS was always correct in that it guided us to the places we intended to go. We inadvertently saw a part of France we never intended to see, but it was a pretty area.
Occasionally the GPS would lead us to a single lane road along side the highway where we should have been. Unfortunately you don’t always know you should ignore the GPS until it is to late. Especially in a foreign country.
On the positive side, the GPS guided us flawlessly through the Paris highways as we drove through the city on our way to Provence.
The GPS voice system would tell us to turn on a named street. The problem in France is that you can’t see street names very often, and of course the GPS could not pronounce the French names. (But I must confess that the GPS spoke French better than I do, which is very faint praise.) The GPS gave instructions in English or we would still be there and lost.
I learned one thing though. If you’re going to rent a car in a foreign country – use a GPS. It made life a lot easier, as well as more exciting on occasion.
