I’m having an affair with Tom. My husband knows about it and he doesn’t even care.
When my daughter Chelsea and I went to Pennsylvania last summer, I strategically planned our trip using Google maps and Mapquest. I printed the directions, almost mile by mile, and put them in a binder that we called our travel book. Chelsea navigated, reading page after page of directions. We made it there safely, although a few hours behind schedule due to the traffic from Hartford, Conn. to the New Jersey Turnpike.
If I had had a GPS, I could have tapped the screen a few times to find an alternate route to avoid the traffic. Instead, we were stuck in stop-and-go traffic for several hours.
I also took the laptop computer and printer to Pennsylvania so we could look up places we wanted to visit and print maps to our destinations. The system, while time consuming and cumbersome, worked.
One evening in Pennsylvania, Chelsea and I wanted to eat at Panera. We knew there was a Panera nearby, but it was an ordeal trying to find it, even with our printed Google map.
Now I have a TomTom. It would have been so nice to have it for the trip to Pennsylvania. Getting from one point to another would have been so much easier and we wouldn’t have had to return to the motel to print new directions all the time.
I really want to test the TomTom by having it direct me to a place far from home that I’ve never been, but I’m not ready to give up that much control yet.
We used TomTom to get to Westbrook High School the other day for my son’s track meet. I had only been to Westbrook High School one time before and it was a really round about way. I used the TomTom, knowing that if led astray, I was still near the turnpike and could eventually find my way back to a familiar waypoint.
TomTom led me straight to the parking lot of Westbrook High School using the most direct route possible. It was a relief.
Now that I also write for the Kennebunk Post, I often drive to unfamiliar territory. Unfortunately, I don’t know my way around  very well. I can get to downtown, Dock Square and other major places, but I don’t know the back roads.
This past weekend, I had to meet someone in Kennebunkport. When he tried to give me directions over the phone, I couldn’t get it straight in my head. Instead, I punched the address in to the TomTom and followed the directions. Once again TomTom directed me to my destination. Even better, it directed me back home.
I’m really starting to fall for TomTom. Now I just call him Tom. He’s become my constant driving companion just because it’s fun to watch my progress on the electronic map as I drive along.
I am working up to trusting Tom to take me on a long distance trip. I hope Tom doesn’t let me down.
I’d hate to break up with him.
                                                         –Renee Worthing