This is not my experience. I almost always check a map before traveling to an unknown place. My wife has the extremely irritating habit of removing the maps from the car for no apparent reason other than that she believes them to be as useful as cuneiform.

I seldom ask for instructions unless I actually am lost, because most of the time the instructions I receive are nonsensical or erroneous. On the rare occasions when I can't find myself, I have also been unable to locate said gas station attendant who has lived in the area for decades.

The good news is that my oldest daughter is adept at map reading, able to express herself clearly, and being an excellent navigator is an absolute pleasure to travel with. My youngest daughter is showing signs of being similarly inclined. I can only deduce that, if there is a gene for this characteristic, it must reside somewhere in the X chromosome. This astonishing conclusion has caused me no end of cognitive dissonance.

k