wayfinding?
The other night, we watched Moana 2 and I heard the word wayfinder a lot - I felt the need to clear up since this is on my home page, I’m in no way a wayfinder like how the heroine is in this film. With that, I thought it’s time to write about wayfinding by my definition because I think anyone can know more about who I am if I talk about it.
I love maps. I love reading them, I love looking at them. I know all too well about the relief of realizing where I am in a top view of the world with man-made markings. I also have quite an interest in public transportation and urban design. It is not a fascination with the field of cartography, but navigation.
One of my earliest memories of me realizing I like doing this was on my family’s first trip out of the country. We were in the streets of Hong Kong and we had to use their public transit. This was several years ago now. I was a teenager. How I loved the trains and signages. At some point along the trip my parents must have noticed and decided to delegate me the task of leading them out of rush hour foot traffic in Central station and all the other times we used the train after that. There were 4 other adults in our party, my parents and my aunts, but it was either because I was the ol’ reliable eldest daughter or that they didn’t want to use up their mental energy to navigate these foreign spaces. It bugged me a little bit because what the hell do I know? But I stepped up. I managed and got us at the right locations at the right time. With the dopamine hitting me just as right, I began to like being the navigator for the rest of the trip.
Months later, I was finally able to drive a car. I had (still have) a lot of anxiety and would obsess about route planning when we’re about to go on a drive. I’d spend an hour or two on Google Maps and look at street views so I know what to expect on the road and it’s become this habit of mine - so I now know a bunch of Google Maps app features like the back of my hand and I’ve since been relied on for this specific task by the people around me.
We all already know navigating is a nice-to-have life skill. But there are 2 main reasons why I regard this in such a way:
First and foremost, our country’s transportation system is a big, sick, privately-owned joke. We have trains, we have buses and we have what you may know as one of our cultural icons - jeepneys and its other variants1! Beautiful, aren’t they? Only that, absolutely none of those run on time (sometimes the trains do, but not always and they're very limited). Nor have a schedule, at all.
Overpopulation, limited vehicles, a bottleneck for a capital - and you will have yourself contemplating about your life choices and why you were born here, standing on the bus and hugging your things close because we’re used to filling up our vehicles all the way to the brim, personal space be damned. All of us just want to go home, the conductor would say, so move, make space, and suck it up. I remember those days before we moved to the city and the one thing these commutes have in common whether you’re in transit day or night: everyone in the same bus, jeep or train car is as exhausted and probably contemplating the same thing.
I can go on forever about this topic, but all you have to know now is that it’s bad and disorganized, so knowing how to get around and how to utilize each mode of transportation can consume time, money, and energy if not efficiently planned.
Second thing: I still love to travel (!!) and I don’t have my own car. Me and my girlfriend both love to be out and about. We go at lengths to try new food and experiences. She would see a new hip restaurant on Tiktok or Twitter or have one recommended to us, then I search for it in Maps, we set a date and I plan our commute, then we go. This happens about a couple of times every few months and she’s the one who gets to turn her brain off when we’re in transit. From her perspective:
girlfriend brain is so real, poor guy has been trying to figure out metro lines etc and I was humming a song and walking along, he asked me if I know where we are and I said “with you”
— tutu (@SatinTweety) December 13, 2024
If we’re traveling and we somehow get lost, I’d have enough social battery and happily ask a stranger for us how we can get from point A to point B. I’m also an adequate passenger princess. I pay my attention to the road and would tell you a turn is coming up, then ping you again when it’s time to put your signal light on. If we were on a treasure hunting adventure, I’d gladly take up the role of the scout or someone holding the map.
I’m not a certified tourist guide or a professional driver, and definitely not someone descended from voyagers. When it comes down to it, I’m just a girl who loves the city, walking and small adventures, planning outings and road trips. Have I already said I love maps?
My favorite interaction with strangers is to be asked directions. I believe wayfinding is one of the best ways you can instantly connect with anyone. If I don’t know where you’re going, I will take my phone out and search for it so we can both see.
Asking for help or being asked, for that matter, is an interaction where vulnerability is a requirement. It is in these moments we can see ourselves in other people, just trying to get somewhere, looking for something, and perhaps just wanting to escape the feeling of being lost and alone. We’ve been there, right? Why not show other people the way?
tldr; I have a great sense of direction and this is a useful skill in my life. Helping others navigate is one of the ways I love to be needed.
Thank you for reading. I hope you got to know me better through this post :)
If you ever need help getting around here, just send me an email!
Jeepney wikipedia page. A jeep is a product of colonization that spawned a lot of variants through the years since it was left by the Americans after WW2. Jeepney art is a whole thing. See also: jeepney sign painting.↩