Recent first time experience: Traveled by car some six hours north and west, and for 3 days felt north was south and east was west. I had to carry a compass at all times to understand directions to places and to use maps. I felt the directions and maps were wrong but by slavishly ignoring my directional sense I got along fine. Very disconcerting.

Watching the sun rise in the west and set in the east was eerie. Finding south and north consistently changed places was literally disorienting. I kept thinking if I concentrated I could reprogram my sense of direction, but that failed.

About half way on the drive home my internal gyroscope or whatever re-set and I am once again able to trust my sense of direction.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Moving temporarily from W-coast (Skandinavia) to E-coast of U.S. offset my internal gyroscope. I intuitively know where the Atlantic ocean is. Trouble was - the Atlantic ocean was now EAST of me, not west.

Even after 4 months I found myself repeating that "I'm going inland (away from the Atlantic), that's to the east" kind of mistake. Kind of annoying. Everything I entered an east/westbound highway in that part of the U.S. I need to double check that I'm not going in the opposite direction.

I've read of something like this affecting pilots. Despite their instruments saying one thing, they become convinced that they are wrong and go off in a different direction. Of course, the instruments were right and trouble ensues. Some people think this is what might have happened to the famous lost flight of Navy planes in Florida after WWII and usually blamed on the "Bermuda Triangle."

I think it is a topic worthy of study. Why does it happen? How many people who got lost and perished while hiking etc. became totally convinced that they were walking in the right direction (e.g. East) when they were actually walking west?

Moral: have, use and trust your compass.

Carry two compasses. They're cheap, and small. When you question one, consult the other.

It's not like watches. Confucious say: Man with one watch always know what time it is. Man with two watches never sure.

It doesn't get much better. I've been off the west coast for years and still do that. Usually with freeway directions - probably out of habit I want to jump on east-bound freeways (out in Cali, you run out of road pretty quick if you head westbound)

I've also had the disorientation thing. I currently live in VA, near a very large Navy facility. When I first moved here I was all sorts of screwed up in my internal compass (which was GREAT in numerous states). Eventually it's gotten better, but I think it may be a large amount of steel in the area - wonder if humans have that little compass-like organ that migrating birds have?

A college classmate in Oregon was from New Jersey and freshman year got up super early to drive to the Oregon coast to watch the sunrise. We kidded him about that for a long while.

I'm just back from a week in Tennessee, adjacent to the Smokies. Took me a frustrating couple of days to get my bearings so that I had a rough map in my head. I'm accustomed to knowing instantly what is N-S-E-W. Easy in DC since the streets are in a grid and the major monuments conform. Was easy growing up in Oregon because of the Cascade Mountains running due north. We lived on Mt. Hood.

I've marveled at my dogs' geospatial sense and recall over the years. They have an uncanny ability to remember specific rowhouses belonging to friends -- even when there are several identical alongside one another and we haven't been there for a long time. The rod iron fences and gates are virtually identical all over my neighborhood.

If I ever get lost and have no map, compass or GPS, I'll trust my pup to find the way home or trailhead.

It is known that many animals and birds have been observed to loose their sense of direction a few days to a week before a major earthquake.

I'm a snowboarder. What's a good compass for me to put in a jacket pocket?

I generally always have a wrist watch band compass on. Most of the good compass companies sell them, some a bit smaller than others.

I've been all over and never really had this problem. I know the sun rises generally in the east and go from there. I'm from NE, where the roads meander and US 95 (a N/S road) runs E/W thru CT, go figure. DW is from Idaho, where she used the Tetons as a visual reference for North. Considering we are now in NC, she never knows which way is what. Lack if her visual reference is my guess.

Slightly off topic - On a cross country drive preceeding me going to Korea for a year, we went from TN to RI to ID in that order. The first night, we slightly passed our exit to find a motel. The next morning it was very foggy. We took off onto an empty road, no traffic, and going in the wrong direction. To this day we use the phrase I used that day -- "Dunno where I am, where I'm going, but I'm making great time."