Longest time you were lost on the road

[ilvny]

The longest time I was lost on the road was when my family, my friend, and I went to Knoebels Amusement Park in Elysburg, PA.  We started off by going to a bed-and-breakfast where we made reservations, but we got lost for about 30 minutes.  We decided to go to Knoebels first and find the B&B later.  In the late afternoon, high winds and heavy rain forced us to leave Knoebels early.  Once again, we tried to find the hotel and got lost for about 1 1/2 hours.  We stopped at a pizza restaurant for dinner because we were hungry.  Afterwards, we got lost for 2 hours. 

Somehow, we finally found the place.  The B&B was nice, however, we saw a rodent near the front door and talked to the owners about it.  The owners wanted to contact an exterminator for us, despite the fact that it was 11:00 PM and most (if not all) exterminators would be closed.  We left and my friend spent the night at my house.  He thought we were crazy (in a funny way) for leaving because of a rodent because he was a Boy Scout and used to that sort of thing  .

Altogether, it took us 4 hours to find the B&B.  I'm glad I have a GPS now.

What was the longest amount of time that you were lost on the road?

[Brandon]

Lost?  Maybe about 30 minutes tops trying to find a park in Schaumburg.  I kept circling the damn park as it was in the middle of a shopping center and not really visible from either Schaumburg or Roselle Roads.  Even went to the Dominick's in the shopping center where it is located to ask directions.

[djsinco]

About 1980, I was on my way from TX to NJ, with a stop in Bloomington, IN. Leaving Bloomington, north on IN 37, I picked up a hitchhiker just prior to Indy, and the plan was to take 465 around the south side and head out 70 to the east. My passenger was headed to Columbus, OH so it worked out well for him. We had a good conversation and before I knew it I saw a sign for the next exit, I-65 to Chicago. I had missed the ramp to 70 east long ago. I pulled over and broke out the atlas. From where I was, it was easiest to just continue counterclockwise on 465 and take the whole loop back around, past 37 and onward to I-70! My rider commented (once we were on 70,) that we had been given the opportunity to see Indianapolis from all angles. 53 miles and about one hour of seeing the town.

[corco]

A few weeks ago, actually. I went to stay at the Hampton Inn Idaho Falls airport, and just assumed that because it was Idaho Falls and with a vague idea of how the city is laid out in my mind I could find it.

Took me a bit to find the airport, because it was further north than I expected. Then I circled the airport for a good 20 minutes trying to find the hotel. I actually passed the hotel at one point and even saw it, assuming that the hotel was a different Hampton Inn (and I knew there were two Hampton Inns in town but had no idea where the other one was), since at that point I was too far from the airport and that one was by all the hotels that are right on the Snake River and have that on their name.

Drove around for 20 more minutes before I finally decided to check the Hampton Inn I saw, and it turned out that was the right hotel. No idea why it's called the "Idaho Falls Airport" when it's closer to downtown and the block of hotels on the river, none of the others of which are called "airport" hotels.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

We were driving back from Maine via Hartford in 2007, and our hotel was on the outskirts of the Hartford airport (I think it was a Candlewood Suites). We drove around the main terminal for about 45 minutes before we found the service road to the "hospitality" area, and the guy who was working the desk at the hotel was a total doofus who had no idea how to direct us.

[Scott5114]

I was lost for about 10 minutes in DC once. We were going to take I-395 SB to (unsigned) I-695 to DC 295. The first sign that appears says DC 295, Pennsylvania Avenue. The second doesn't mention DC 295 at all. Since there was no mention of it, I thought maybe that wasn't the right exit, and we ended up continuing on 695 to Anacostia. At that point we said "fuck it" and took 395 to the Capital Beltway instead.

[kphoger]

I'm not sure I could say I've been lost for more than about five or ten minutes, even in unfamiliar locations in a foreign country.  Stopping and asking a local works wonders.

[1995hoo]

I'm not sure "lost" is the right word because I knew WHERE I was. I just didn't know how to find what I wanted. In April 2006 I was meeting some friends in Edinburgh and we were all staying at the Royal British Hotel. The hotel's website said they had an agreement with a nearby car park, but they didn't give directions and I kept going around the area trying to find it, complicated further because Princes Street is restricted to buses only through part of that area (but I messed up and drove on it anyway one time around). My mobile phone didn't work in Scotland, either.

Eventually I came to my senses and parked at the short stay car park at Waverly Station across the street, walked over to the hotel to check in, and then asked for directions to the correct car park.

[agentsteel53]

when I was in south Poland in 2010, there was about a four-hour span where I wasn't sure which little gray squiggly line (minor paved road on my map) I was on.  I became unlost when I entered a town and saw its boundary sign.

[Alps]

I've been "lost" for 15 minutes or so when my directions have me following local roads that don't actually exist or were closed for some reason, or where there's a fork I wasn't anticipating. After that length of time, I either figure out I'm on the wrong path and head back, or come to a place I recognize and continue on. The longest I've spent trying to find the right path is about 45 minutes, after finding that neither fork was the one I wanted and having to circle all the way around the area.

[kphoger]

Now, when I lived in the Chicago area, my girlfriend (now my wife) and I used to just go driving out in the country on the gravel roads with no map, deciding on a whim which way to go at each intersection.  One day we made it far enough that we had to turn around because we ran into I-39.  I almost never knew precisely where I was on those drives, but I hesitate to say I was "˜lost':  we always made it back home with no problems.

[formulanone]

Probably about 90 minutes or so, weaving through the various unmarked streets of Southern Golden Gates Estates (now Picayune Strand State Forest), trying to find the one road that actually traversed Alligator Alley (Everglades Boulevard) by an unmarked grade separation. No services in the area, no GPS, and just a hand-drawn map that wasn't really all that helpful.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Probably around 30 minutes, while coming back from a job interview in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville. For some reason, I ended up on Hwy 134 (Boulevard Taschereau) and ended up following it until I got back on A-15.