Lost in known foreign lands

 Write a scene or story that includes a character looking at a map.

Prompt

So we're here, on the edge of this town, you can tell that because the river is on our right. That little thing in front is the bridge, which is...that, over there, with the giant concrete columns. So if we keep going on this road without changing directions for...hmm, about thirty kilometres, we should get to the closest town where we can ask the locals if they know the address.

Shoulda' brought GPS or phone maps? We wouldn't have wasted so much time trying to figure out the maps and directions and backtracking if we always knew where we're going. And we wouldn't have to ask the people either. They look at us like we're idiots, without a phone or a GPS. And you saw right, the man we talked to before, he didn't know crap directions he just took out his phone and literally told us what the phone said to him. We could have cut that middleman out and directly used it ourselves...

Yeah but this is how you get to know a new place. By the time we're done we'll know every nook and cranny, street and alley of the town, what the locals wouldn't know even these days. And talking to the locals connects you to the community, no man is an island man we gotta talk to others, interact, to know our people. Make friends, learn about their culture etcetera.

Yeah big fat culture shock we're gonna have two hours away from home!

Guys guys guys stop fighting alright, we're here, we know the direction we're going to it's going to be fine! There's no GPS or phone so there's no point arguing about it anymore. Lets just go where we need to, figure out our way back and it'll be easier because we'll have done this before, and we can have all the arguments back in the dorms. We're in foreign territory... well...relatively speaking...but it feels like a foreign land you know, look at those giant corn plants, the villagers...oh right you people call it townspeople...and the crazy trucks they have. Let's appreciate the scenery and the soul of this place alright guys? Let's do this.

Yo check this map, I think we're going the wrong way because if we'd been going where we need to we'd see a park on our right...lotsa trees as you can see here, but this is an...industrial area it looks like, which means...hmm...we took the North East at that intersection instead of the North, can you drive slower, let me find a street we can turn left at. Okay cool so that street is...Hann st which means if we make a left turn here, and a right two kilometres from there and go straight we'll be caught up.

Alright, you're better at looking maps at me, you should guide me while I just drive, it's hard to navigate and drive. Just tell me where to go alright.

Yeah okay fine, still think a GPS would have saved us a bunch of time...

Okay alright alright I'm sorry man it was a mistake okay, if we'd brought along a GPS or a phone map we wouldn't have gotten to talk to each other and have an adventure figuring this out. I sorta knew this would happen, I figured the fun was in exploring new places, and discovering streets with friends. And now you've turned it into this big...thing, so sorry alright it's my bad for foolishly thinking it'd be something we could do together instead of in and out. From next time it'll be strictly business come in go out, no fun-having.

Guys do you think we should like stop by a local theater or amusement park or something? This place has so much character, look at all those weird little poles with...idk strange flags flying on them, it's like an entirely different country, I'm having so much fun. Like maps or not we're finding out so much about the country we live in!

I didn't mean it that way, just...You know. Yeah fine, it's fun. We should have had a phone as a backup just in case. You know if we get lost in the dark and there's nobody to talk to and there's a traffic accident ahead so we'd know how to reroute or something. It feels like we're driving blind right now. But like, whatever, don't care.

OooO my god look at that fake donut, it's bigger than a house that's insane, they must really love donuts here huh?!