It’s a somewhat common experience to zone out while driving and not remember how you got from points A to B. However, is it just as common to “wake up” from being zoned out between points A and B and momentarily forget that you’re in New(ish) Location and not lost in your Old Location (hometown). Or say someone asks you for directions someplace and you give them directions how to get there based on a different location you lived? I’ve been living in the Midwest US for 12 years now and still occasionally give directions or think I’m still on the East Coast.
I have lived long term in 5 countries. There was only one time I forgot that I was in my hometown instead of in my earlier location.
I was on a bus and I felt asleep. When the bus driver woke me up and told me to get off, I said sorry to him in the language of the different country.
Understandable, you were booting up
Not often, but it happens sometimes, usually early before getting out of bed.
I travel a lot as part of my job, I’ve been to 27 countries, and lived long-term in three of them.
When out and about, upon waking up from my alarm I sometimes have to orient myself and remember where I am and why.
I have this too. When I open my eyes, sometimes the room is not what I expected and it takes a couple seconds to register
No, but if anyone asks me where I’m ‘from’ I never really know what the answer is.
Anyone who asks this IRL gets to hear my entire life story, 'cause that’s the only answer I can come up with.
SAME! Like I was born in one place moved when I was two, moved somewhere else till I was 6, moved to another state and then 3 different houses before college in that state… then, then, then.
Same! I ended up with a kinda stock answer (“all over the state!”), but that still leads to a story. Which is the point of the question, I guess.
(I’m a preacher’s kid, hence the moving!)
Where are you from?
A lovely place called Earth.
I thought you were from Ostania.
Shhh… I am, but I need to bring peace to the world.
I’m an Eagle Scout. I don’t just know where I am, I know which direction I’m facing and the elevation.
I used to commute between Portland and Chicago, 2 weeks here, 2 weeks there, 1 week here, 2 weeks there… back and forth. Did that for a year…
It was not unusual to wake up and not immediately know where I was.
No.
I accidentally drove to my former house in a different town after work a couple of times
As others have said, I find it more common when I am traveling short term than when I move from a place to another.
I think part of it is that moving has a strong emotional impact, so I am unlikely to forget about that in my wake time. But my dreams are often set in my hometown, where I haven’t lived in almost 20 years… the brain is weird!
Nah, except maybe in those first few seconds after waking up
Yes. Usually when waking up or after dozing off. In extreme cases, i sometimes know i am in location A, and yet struggle to accept it — the sounds or smells or something is just too reminiscent of location B.
I’m 54, not a military kid, just a genX that had hippie parents.
I’ve lived in 13 different states. Went to a different school every year, sometimes a couple of different schools in one year.
When people ask for directions, i tell them to use maps.
yes
I have a good sense of direction and where I am. I rarely forget where I am. I moved a lot as a kid. Lived in in a bunch of different areas of Washington St.
The sun and shadows will tell you so much about where you are. I was in Virginia for a few years. It was such a diffirent place, I never forgot how foreign it felt. At night, knowing where to look for the stars you know is also helpful. Even knowing which ways the wind blows normally can help.
No, but then I grew up traveling a lot as a kid, so I was used to being in different locations.
My spatial understanding of where I live has gone to shit due to Google Maps, though.
Back when I was moving more regularly, yes, but only when I first woke up in the morning.
