6. Pull up the app and locate it on my phone!

Food for the Win!

Though, I do have the habit of thinking about "landmarks" I pass that can lead me back to where I want to be. A habit developed out of need when wandering around dozens and dozens of places with irregular street patterns that I'm visiting for the first time, when I'm mapless. In the years before smartphones and GPS.

Yeah I’ll try to do the landmark thing. But by the time I’m out looking for my car I’m mentally exhausted from searching for my shopping cart a half dozen times. Maybe I need to take an airtag shopping! 😂

My car's app on my phone tells me where I parked.

HaHaHaha. My license plate used to be LSU Louisiana State University. RA RA! Now its NRM. Non Refundable Merchandise. Hopelessly dull. Can anyone offer a better idea?

I always know exactly where I parked, duh!

NRM= No Recall or Memory

I’m usually in the far row all by myself.

Whip in, do my business. Get in a few steps.

Whip out, I’m good to go.

I also will use my phone but still have a habit of the landmarks Elmer mentioned.

A different issue…does anyone else ever dream you simply can’t find your car after walking…searching…on and on?

Landmarks+keyfob. I tend to park in similar areas. Typically the outer rows. My legs ain't broke yet

After having a gray car, which was exactly like all the other gray cars, I decided that I would never get another gray car. While it's not neon green, it's easier to spot a color.

Grey blends in with road color. Nice color, but I want to be very visible — white, light tan,

I usually pay attention to landmark's, but last week had to use the horn beeping.

This morning I was thinking that I could pin the location coordinates, then walk to location if I needed yo locate car.

What it this ”Car App” some of you are referring to?

How do I do it? (iphone)

Some car models have a brand specific app available with that and other features. If your car doesn't offer that, there's a generic app, Find My Car

chloebud, I very frequently have nightmares about my looking for my car in a place I am not familiar with. Sometimes I don't even want to fall asleep because I know it's coming. It's always different and always so very stressful.

As for real life, I usually look for a landmark that is nearby and rarely have occasion to not be able to find it, so what's up with the nightmares?

If we anticipate it being difficult we take a picture of the area. We use the fob to flash lights. We buy cars with paint that sticks out, vs the 90% that are white or gray.

murraysmom, I think it’s a fairly common recurring dream. My sister, a therapist, suggests it has to do with not feeling clear where you’re headed in your waking life. You could feel insecure about being motivated, and/or you feel too dependent on someone. Who knows but interesting it’s a common dream.

Try driving a sixteen year old silver Honda Accord. Theres a million of them on the road because they last forever. No apps. If I dont remember a landmark, Im sunk.

"not feeling clear where you’re headed in your waking life"

While not being comforted by this, it sounds fairly apt. I often have no plan......... :)

Loss of direction does seem apt. My sister believes dreams, even when they make you uncomfortable or stressed, are trying to help you in some way. I can tell you some of mine are so wacky it’s hard to figure out anything!😵‍💫

I sometimes wish I didn't remember my dreams but I almost always do. The one instance of dreams that I like are when my family members who have passed are in them. It's always great to see them again and sometimes get to talk with them.

I generally park in the same area, even aisle, at places I go. But the other day I parked at the hospital parking garage, knew my floor, but because of how this parking garage is arranged, a floor has more than one level! Yes, I walked up and down the aisles. I felt like the Seinfeld episode.

“It's always great to see them again and sometimes get to talk with them.”

Yes!

petalique, sorry about bringing up dreams, but your thread title took me right to it! Maybe it’s a common dream since lots of people have done the wandering around aimlessly in parking lots IRL.

No need to apologize. Threads meander. Interesting and understandable that wandering a parking lot, trying to find one’s car is the subject of dreams.

wish I’d seen that Seinfeld episode. Anyone know the title?

The Parking Garage

I press the lock button and listen for the alert.

@dedtired we have the Silver 2002 Honda CRV along with ten’s of thousands of others. I park and then look back as to where it is generally in relation to the store entrance. Usually DH is with me and he has an amazing direction sense. I guess if I am ever alone I will get in lots of steps or wait til the parking lot empties .

I won’t be using an ” app” I don’t have any. c

as long as i go out the same door i came in, i can usually find my van without a problem. it's those places with more than one entrance/exit that can confuse me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

If I am leaving the car for a few days in a large place (airport parking), I take a photo of the closest marker. Fortunately if it is less than that I have never lost it. I tend to retain a general sense of where things are. However I drive a common car in a common color (silver), and I have almost tried to get in the wrong car once or twice. 😆

Ally De, I did that not long ago. I stood right at the door of the car, pressing my button and wondering what the heck? I looked into the car and did not see the hummingbird hanging from my rear view mirror. Thankfully I wasn't far from my own car. LOL

This is when I miss the tall metal exterior antennas. You could tie on a hank or red, orange, chartreuse colored cloth. Or some balloon or toy.

We lost the car once in a parking garage at a concert. There was hardly anyone remaining on the premises by the time we flagged a security guard, who drove us around on his patrol cart until we found it.

Granny, in the early 1970s, got into a car of the same model as her own when exiting a store in town, started it and drove away. I don't know if just around the parking lot or some distance away (possibly all the way home, ~2.5 miles), suddenly realizing it WAS NOT HER CAR. The key fit the ignition. There are a specific number of key-cut combinations produced and her car/key was the same as the mistaken one. She was terribly shaken and hurried back to the store. Keyfobs with electronic coded chips solved that from occurring nowadays.

On rare occasions we'd drive my wife's car to shop and once we go back into the parking lot we think we drove my car which throws us off. Using the key to beep the horn helps, but my wife's car is an older model that lacks the beeping advantage, nyuk. In the end it turns out to be a momentary brain fart but we've never lost either car.

“The key fit the ignition.”

I can somewhat relate though not as bad. It was a trunk key for me. I needed to load groceries and opened the trunk of what I thought was my car. I heard a voice say, ”EXCUSE ME!” A woman was standing there with a terrible look on her face. I thought there might be something very wrong with her. Nope, I was the wrong one. It was her car, exactly like mine, and my key opened her trunk. I realized my car was one row over. I apologized and pointed to my car. Her look told me she didn’t believe me.😖

Just thinking…years ago (high school) I discovered my mom’s Chevy car key would start my boyfriend’s Ford van.🤷‍♀️

I'm pretty good about remembering where I park-especially at the grocery store because I always look at the aisle number and I park right by a cart return area...if possible.

But, to change the subject just a bit..I DID drive to church a few months ago...DID NOT realize I did not have my key fob...and when we went to leave church to go back home, the car wouldn't start. I had no idea a car would go that far without the key fob. Had to Uber home-too embarrassed to ask someone for a ride LOL.

I avoid parking directly adjacent to cart return stalls after an incident at the local grocery. Someone apparently aimed their cart at the stall from a distance away, gave it a push toward the stall and it veered and sideswiped my (previous) car, leaving a slight dent and scratch and a streak of orange from a bumper on the cart. The streak rubbed off (although the paint was slightly marred) but of course the scratch and dent didn't rub-out. I didn't get the damage repaired on premise that who am I to argue with the fates and whomever it was that declared my car needed redecoration.

Yesterday I parked at a meter and used the Parkmobile app. Kind of handy if you’ve lost your car. It was also expensive since I added time twice, not realizing it tacked on an extra .50 every time I did that.

Dadoes - I saw someone do that just yesterday! They gave the cart a hard push and just walked away. I couldn't believe what I saw. I jumped to grab the cart before it plowed into the car next to me. Some people really suck.

When I got my new car I kept looking for my old car. Started parking in the same area after that

“I saw someone do that just yesterday!”

I see it much too often. Some people just lose common sense/courtesy and/or are just plain lazy.😡

The parking lot for our Kroger is slanted down toward the store. People often leave their cart hooked over the cement block that keeps cars from going to far forward. Whenever I see one, I will take it on my way into the store. Or if someone is just finished loading their groceries into their car, I will offer to take their cart. One time as I came out of the store, along with another customer, we both saw a cart racing down toward a car. It was too far for either of us to have gotten to it in time and we stood helplessly while it ran right into the side of the car parked there. It's a shame people aren't more careful.

Years ago, when repair shops had loaner cars that you could use while your car was in the shop, my husband took his car in for work, came home with a little 2 door car that he didn't want to drive. I let him use my car for the day and I used the loaner. I didn't think about it - just drove to work, parked in my assigned space, worked all day, came out and threw my stuff in the back seat. I decided to run a couple of errands on the way home. Stopped at a decent sized strip mall, did my shopping, came out and realized I don't know where I parked. I also don't know what color the car is and I don't know the make or model. All I know is that it only had 2 doors and my stuff is in the back. I'm walking up and down the rows of cars and looking in the windows of each 2 door car I find. The police pull up, want to know what I am doing. So embarrassing. They asked to see the key, but it was a generic copy, so it didn't help identify the make. The cops were nice and even helped me look for the car.