How do I improve my sense of direction?

[MolotovMocktail]

This is kind of embarrassing, but I have a really shitty sense of direction. Even to get to places within the city I've lived in most of my life I usually have to have step-by-step directions written down. I plan on starting out traveling soon and obviously a bad sense of direction is going to make things pretty difficult. Am I doomed or are there ways I can improve my sense of direction? Or does it just kind of happen as you gain more travel experience? Any help is appreciated!

 

[Desert]

I have the same problem man! The town I'm in, i've probably been around for 7 years, and lived here for 3. And yet I still have trouble remembering how to get to the walmart here! The times I was out on the road though, believe it or not, I was actually a lot better with getting to where I was going; especially when I didn't really have a schedule to keep. There was something about not having to be at a specific place at a specific time that got me in the mindset that I knew I'd get to where I was going with no problem at all.

 

[Joni]

well... for some its a natural ability... for others.. just remember the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. if you take mental notes throughout the day of your heading or where you are relative to certain objects its kinda hard to get lost. if you can't look where the sun is look at the shadows they are pointing opposite of where the sun is.
so if you want to go west you should be walking on your shadow. if you want to go south your shadow should be on your right i belive. its cloudy today so i can't check.

the compass reads like a watch clock wise
north - never
east - eat
south - soggy
west - waffles

hope this helps...
-joni

 

[Pappy]

directions can sometimes inhibit your learning of an area. Like if your following a gps all the time you might not pay attention to the route and not learn the way even if you've gone that way many times. My advice would be to intentionally get lost. You might not get to where you're going in time (or at all) but you will start to learn the area overall. If you always take the shortest route, try taking back roads and side streets without directions. Pay attention to landmarks, rivers, streams and hills

 

[Dmac]

a cheap compass and a map of the area helps a lot.

 

[wildboy860]

learn the map of the stars in the sky. the north star for the western hemisphere and the southern cross for the eastern hemisphere theres other ones too but those are the most important. also you can take any peice of wire rub it in your hair to magnitize it and put it on a leaf in a small pool of water it will point north. and moss grows on the north side of trees.

 

[ByronMc]

go buy a map & look at it,dream while looking it,look at it again,then fold it up , put it in your pocket & go