I was standing at a crossroad in the middle of Amsterdam with my bicycle. Lost. I wanted to go back to where I was staying, a place called Diemen, in the suburbs. But even after half-an-hour of trying to find a particular road that led to an old windmill, a landmark, I was at a loss.
Mind you, I had a map and I’m not too bad at reading them. Give me a good map and let me loose in a new city and I will find my way. However, this was a very detailed map in the form of a book and had me totally confused. I like a regular map where everything is on a single surface.
While I was still struggling to figure out my map-book, I saw what seemed like a family coming towards me. I asked them if they knew where my road was.
“Ah, wait a minute,” said an elderly man and whipped out his smartphone. Evidently, he had got it recently and fiddled with it for a full 10 minutes before flashing it in front my eyes. “You are here and you have to go here,” he said pointing his finger at two points on the screen.
I thanked him and went the way I thought I had seen marked on the phone, but I still couldn’t find my way! After another 15 minutes of asking every other person I met on the way and cycling aimlessly, I discovered an entirely new road that led to the windmill.
A good map is a traveller’s best friend. It should neither be too big or two small A huge map is cumbersome and confusing (in case they make it into a book) and a way too small one misses out the all-important small lanes and bylanes where you are likely to get lost and need the map the most.
There is someone called Gordonsky in Europe who makes a living out of making maps. Mind you, making, not selling.
In Prague, I had some difficulty finding an English map until I got hold of a Gordonsky map that he calls “city spy”. I wouldn’t say it’s a very detailed map but the size is very handy. The USP of the map is that there is a lot of useful info in it. This includes details of the local public transport, clubs and pubs and a few expressions in the local language. This guy prints such maps for at least 15 European cities.
What he does is, he gets sponsors from each city and names them in his maps.
That funds the business and all these maps are available at all the sponsoring shops/pubs/clubs for free.
When Carsten, a friend of mine in Berlin, saw my Prague map, he said he knew Gordonsky and the guy only printed maps and travelled all the time.
Now you know how useful a good map could be!