GPS aware hotel staff
We had an interesting incident while on our trip to Flemish Belgium. We were to camp at Mechelen on Day one (because we had plans to go via Ghent) and so, we typed out Hotel Novotel’s address on our GPS device.
Mechelen is a very cozy place, tiny streets where you could barely squeeze your car in and out of; and it’s hard-to distinguish whether it’s meant for vehicular or pedestrian traffic, thanks to the cobblestone pavement used without distinction. We took one, much to the surprise of many onlookers and outdoor diners. It became obvious to us that it was a pedestrian street and we drove over it, smiling and waving at them =). It goes without saying that we were lucky not to have the Belgian (traffic) police around.
The GPS took us close to the hotel, but we couldn’t distinguish it, thanks to Mechelen’s extremely narrow lanes. We called the hotel’s central help and gave her our position. While she was giving us directions, we mentioned that we were using the GPS. She stopped and said: “Oh, you’re using GPS? Good, because usually GPS devices cannot find our street, so try this one.” And she gave us another street name and a number, with which our device took us straight to the hotel door.
It was most interesting to note Novotel staff’s GPS-awareness and their quick response to customer’s needs. We wouldn’t be surprised if this goes for most places in Europe.