When I use a navigator, I can't find my way back. If I look up the route beforehand and look at a map, I can.
When I first moved to Seattle, on weekends I would sometimes just aimlessly drive down various roads. I wound up building a mental map of the city that has served me well ever since.
> When I first moved to Seattle, on weekends I would sometimes just aimlessly drive down various roads.
This is so American. I don't know anyone in Europe who would aimlessly drive around. If you have to drive, you drive from A to B and that's it.
I can understand aimlessly walking around or cycling. Walking or cycling, you perceive the smells and the sounds of the city, you can feel the wind, the sun, the rain. You can talk to people on the streets or just observe them. In other words, you're part of the world. Driving, you're locked inside of your comfort box, perfectly isolated from the world around you.
In both Berlin and London, I discovered that exploring the city using the subway builds a mental map of the city that is grossly distorted. First off, the subway map of the city is distorted, secondly, you get a very messed up sense of distance when you're rushing through a tunnel.
When I'd walk instead from stop to stop, I was quite surprised at the distorted version in my mind. It was a black field with a circle of illumination around each stop, with no real connection between them. It took walking to fill that in.
I'd walk for miles and miles in London and Berlin, which was quite pleasant but I got rather sore legs from it :-)
I once aimlessly drove around using public transportation in Freiburg, Germany, when I was new in town. "Let's see where that line will take me". It was a fun way of exploring the city.
Unfortunately, walking doesn't give me enough sense of the city here to drive it. I take walking paths, which cut through neighborhoods or are separated by barriers. I do not take the vehicle-only tunnel under the city and do not know the exits there. I walk down roads that are dead ends to cars.
Not that I would aimlessly drive here if I had the chance, but that is more because of the price of gas and the fact that it is way more interesting to drive in the countryside. For clarification, I'm in Norway - Trondheim - and am American.
I drove around London all the time when I lived there. I'd do it at night, when no-one was around, when traffic flowed freely.
One day it'll be banned, and for good reason. May as well take advantage of it while it's there.
I walked and cycled as well. Exploring is awesome. I love chatting to someone and having them say "I live in X" and knowing where that is, how to get there, having common knowledge, etc.
When I first moved to Seattle, on weekends I would sometimes just aimlessly drive down various roads. I wound up building a mental map of the city that has served me well ever since.