Many years ago, after becoming VERY confused while walking through Taipei, Taiwan, and struggling to refind my hotel, I started carrying a handheld GPS when traveling to unfamiliar urban locations. I make sure to mark my hotel and other key places before I head out on foot. Since I travel to Germany a fair amount I bought the extra German maps on a memory card that can be used in both their handhelds and the automobile devices.

Earlier this year I tried to use my Garmin GPSMAP60csx to help navigating while walking in the old city area of Regensburg, Germany (beautiful city - strongly recommended), but the very narrow streets and tallish buildings (3-4 floors) made it difficult to get a lock onto satellites. It was frustrating.

In the end it was the hotel-provided city map and a simple compass that guided us. I carry the small roundish Brunton TruArc 3 compass since it fits comfortably in a pocket and gets the job done. I found using a compass to quickly oriente maps at large amusement parks (Disney, Sea World) very useful.

On a side note, I have two Garmin Gekos and I LOVE their tiny size, but having older GPS chipsets they can struggle to get a satellite lock. Frustrating.

Last weekend I watched a few episodes of SOS: How to Survive - a couple lost in Big Bend, and a hunter who broke his ankle in a remote area. While electronic gear often gets a bad rap for battery and similar risks, both of these stories could have been relatively quickly resolved by a GPS (with a car waypoint set before heading out) for $85-$260, and a personal locator beacon for about $250. It's not low cost, but what is a life worth these days?

After the show I took my wife (who is not interested in using my GPS or other navigation skills) outside and asked her if she could figure out how to use the GPS to get to a waypoint if needed. I'm happy to say that she DID get it done.