Living near Houston can be really stressful, especially near the holidays when traffic is at its worst. I tend to get lost when driving in areas that are outside of my normal routes. When you add that to the traffic, you never know how long it will take me to get where I am going. This year my son started 7th grade where he would be attending a new campus. I thought I knew where I was going until I had to drive him to school one morning when we were a little short on time and I was under pressure to not get lost and of course you know what happened. I totally missed the turn and then starting questioning the exact location of the school and decided to try a more familiar route. By the time we got to school, he had missed his whole early morning tutoring session, but he did make it to school before the bell rang. This went on for the first week until I was comfortable with the new location. I know that sounds so stupid for me to mess up so much on the way to school, but navigation skills are defnitely NOT in my blood! I’ve been driving to that school now for 4 months and still have to pay attention to the landmarks as we pass them to make sure that we don’t miss our turn.
Traffic, time shortage and knowing that someone is meeting me at a certain location are just a few things that cause my mind to go blank when I am driving. With this said, my husband made sure that my last vehicle came with a factory GPS, but sometimes my GPS cannot find the address that I need it to, so it is not always 100 percent helpful. Maybe it just needs to be updated, but I never think about that until I need it to help me and it can’t.
Yes, I am spoiled and depend on my van’s GPS, but this week, my husband and I switched vehicles and his truck does NOT have a GPS. This is sad, but sometimes I get so turned around that I have to hit “destination home” just so I can get back to my “safe area” where I will know where I am again. Driving his truck through the Christmas shopping traffic without a GPS definitely made my head spin, but luckily I happened to be reviewing the VZ Navigator app on my smartphone. This was one review that definitely came in handy and relieved my stress as I was hunting down unfamiliar stores to find those last minute gifts that had been sold out in the stores where I usually shop. This app offers turn by turn navigation with real time traffic and even gives you speed limits and traffic routing. The traffic routing is a great feature since I am always running into road construction detours that make me want to turn around rather than figure out how to get back on track after taking the detour route. This app speaks to you with turn by turn directions that include street names and also offers images which show exit signs. Houston traffic goes so fast, that it is very easy to miss your exit if you aren’t ready for it. Cars are everywhere, swerving in and out of lanes and everyone seems to be in a race to get where they are going. At this point, the kids have to be completely quiet, the radio has to be turned off and I have to concentrate on where I am going. While driving my husband’s truck this week, VZ Navigator had to take over and it passed the test. I made it to the mall the next town over, picked up some gifts and got back home in time to pick the kids up from school!
Here’s a few things that I learned about the VZ Navigator app that may be helpful:
- Verizon is offering a 30-day free trial for smartphones so that you can try out VZ Navigator for yourself. If you like it, it is only $2 a month after the trial expires.
- This app can even track down restaurants, ATM’s and find the lowest gas prices!
- This app can give you the local weather forecast and has an automatic speech recognition feature so you don’t have to type in your addresses while you are driving.
- If you have Windows 8, this app offers an advanced experience which includes panorama view, swipe actions, sharing made easy, and the ability to pin your favorite spots right to your start screen.
- VZ Navigator can also be used on a basic phone, and is available for $9.99 month or $2.99 a day, but if you have a smartphone, your rates are $2.00 a month or .99 a day.
If you get lost like I do, or plan on traveling soon, be sure and take advantage of their 30 day free trial for smartphones. You never know when you may need a little navigational assistance.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own.
