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How do you remember where you parked your car?

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Jeff7 said:
I once parked my car at the Pittsburgh airport's extended-term parking lot. 7,350 spaces.

- This was not long after I had bought a new car after owning its predecessor for 11 years, so I only sort of had its appearance committed to memory.
- I forgot to remember where I parked.
- I was gone for more than a week.



For whatever bizarre reason, all I remembered was that the number of the bus stop I parked near was divisible by 8. I also traced out on a map my vague recollection of the path I had driven before parking.
So luckily I was able to find my car fairly easily, rather than have to wander the lot for days.

But after that, I was always sure to remember where I parked.
Click to expand...

I do wonder what happens in such cases if the person does not have any record of where they parked the car. Luckily in your case you were able to locate it.
 
_Rick_ said:
I use my sense of orientation. It also helps me remember where I live, and where to get the cucumbers at the supermarket.
Amazing, innit?
Click to expand...

You just wait. One day that stupidmarket will move those cucumbersomes to another aisle, and you will have an invisible, transubstantiated magical question mark over your head with a perplexed WTF look on your face and your hands in the air exclaiming: "Where the fack are the cucumbersomes?!?!"

Oh people will stop and stare, but they won't care.
 
squarecut1 said:
I do wonder what happens in such cases if the person does not have any record of where they parked the car. Luckily in your case you were able to locate it.
Click to expand...

my dad used to work security at a stadium... a couple times, he had to drive people around the parking lots looking for their cars (but those people are required to sit and wait until 99% of the attendees have left and the security guards have nothing more important to do)
 
Android and iOS have some cool apps for this, I don't usually need them, but a few times I couldn't find my car to the point I was certain it had been towed or stolen.

On Android I bought Car Locator, like $5 iirc but it's come in handy more than a few times. iCarpark on iOS works. Another reason I use these, I'm somewhere with a big parking lot and a friend who has no idea where I parked but needs to get something out of my car. I give them my phone and boom they know right where it's at.
 
I lost mine one time in airport parking but then I ended up remembering I could use this to find it.

https://www.automatic.com/

I use to have an app that you could use but you would have to tell it to remember this gps spot. The automatic does it automatically.
 
Park in the fire lane or take up 2 handicap spots. Your car will be the one on the flatbed when you exit.
 
sthames said:
I lost mine one time in airport parking but then I ended up remembering I could use this to find it.

https://www.automatic.com/

I use to have an app that you could use but you would have to tell it to remember this gps spot. The automatic does it automatically.
Click to expand...

holy crap. thats a cool little thing. I mean...not the car-finding part of it, because, you know, you'd have to be an idiot to not know where you parked your car. Am I right folks? amirite?

Surely, I didn't think this thread could produce anything that actually interested me, but you've proven me wrong.

edit: also, why is there not a thread discussing the merits of such a device?
 
dawp said:
having a distinctive car helps.
Click to expand...

I think the point of this thread is parking lots too large to simply be able to see your car.

When I travel long term, I try to use the same main garages at the airport and then just snap a shot of the space marker.

Pretty simple in even a huge parking infrastructure.

There are apps out now that actually track by GPS location.

If I am just at a mall or anywhere short term, it's not hard to remember where I parked.

Even long term, I have rarely had to use the photo I have taken.
 
QueBert said:
Android and iOS have some cool apps for this, I don't usually need them, but a few times I couldn't find my car to the point I was certain it had been towed or stolen.

On Android I bought Car Locator, like $5 iirc but it's come in handy more than a few times. iCarpark on iOS works. Another reason I use these, I'm somewhere with a big parking lot and a friend who has no idea where I parked but needs to get something out of my car. I give them my phone and boom they know right where it's at.
Click to expand...

google now does it for free BTW
 
This is ATOT, us with brain power so great that we can command the cars come to us. Come to the cars is for losers.


Seriously, I made a note in my brain where I parked (location/mark/tree/signs/etc.) and remembered it.
 
This is an extremely difficult question, as such a memory falls outside of short term memory, and does not seem to create a long term memory, so must be captured in some kind of 'specific instance' memory. But we can't seem to find any good process that would explain that. The truth is, I'm afraid to say, is we just don't know, yet.
 
SMOGZINN said:
This is an extremely difficult question, as such a memory falls outside of short term memory, and does not seem to create a long term memory, so must be captured in some kind of 'specific instance' memory. But we can't seem to find any good process that would explain that. The truth is, I'm afraid to say, is we just don't know, yet.
Click to expand...

Indeed. Is it the exact equivalent of asking how many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop.
 
I've lost my car a few times while in college. I thought I parked my car at a particular place, but I actually parked it a mile away in a different lot. Truly embarrassing, I never thought my car would be stolen though, since it was a Dodge Neon.
 
disappoint said:
You just wait. One day that stupidmarket will move those cucumbersomes to another aisle, and you will have an invisible, transubstantiated magical question mark over your head with a perplexed WTF look on your face and your hands in the air exclaiming: "Where the fack are the cucumbersomes?!?!"

Oh people will stop and stare, but they won't care.
Click to expand...

No, not one day.
These days.
They're rearranging the entire bloody thing, and nothing is where it used to be anymore. It's a disaster.
I now wonder the corridors aimlessly, in search for nourishment, for hours on end. Sometimes I feel like I am stuck in pet food for days.

At least the exit is still where it used to be.

Edit:

What's worse is when you park at a place regularly, and then are suddenly required to park elsewhere. If this happens under stressful or non-regular circumstances (being late, for example, or driving out for lunch, and looking for the car where you put it in the morning) then it's more likely to look in the wrong place first. But that's simple confusion.
 
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