How To Find A Car Parking Space And Find Your Car!

Problem
You drive around and can't find a space. You find a space and go off. When you come back you can't find your car.

Answers
I wish everybody would arrange car parks like the one at Disney which had animals and names and colours. The only trouble is if you remember it was a four-footed animal on blue, then you walk out through the next parking lot which is another animal on green and then past donkey on red by the time you get back you think it was camel on green and your family think it was zebra on turquoise.

In White Flint mall in Rockville, Maryland , USA, my husband was walking through the full car park back to his car when a smartly-dressed woman in an elegant two-seater drew alongside and asked, "Are you going back to your car?'

He replied, "Yes, why?"

"Hop in," she answered. "I'll drive you back - because I want your parking space!"
He got in.

Enterprising lady. Sounds like the start of a romance.

No, he didn't marry her. Why not? She must have decided he was a dolt because he couldn't find his car.

Eventually she tired of driving him around.  She saw a space ahead. She suggested that he get out.

Finding A Car With Photos
However, he learned his lesson. The next time he found himself parked in a huge car park, he took photos as he walked away from his car, all along the route, each time he turned. He turned to face backwards, the way he would face when returning. It worked a treat.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Find My Car!

Problem
Where's my car in the airport car park?
Has it been stolen - or am I just in the wrong car park section?
Has my son borrowed the car when I told him not to?

Answers
Lost In Car Park
I recall several occasions when I have lost a family car. Once at Disney in the USA. Once in a shopping mall which turned out to have car parks at either end. I had walked the length of the mall, gone up in the lift (elevator) and my car had vanished.

On another occasion, I could not find my lime green car. Eventually, when I got through to my son on the phone, he pointed out that we had gone shopping in his car, which was grey.

Tracking Stolen Cars
A car tracer sounds a good idea. Firstly for tracing your car if it's been stolen. I've heard of people who tracked their stolen car. Then they went and retrieved it.

Tracing Destinations
Secondly, for checking where family are when they are lost and satnav won't get them home - or they weren't on their way home but to some other destination.

Cost?
What's the cost? The link I just found is for a one-off payment of $99. No ongoing rental or fee.

However, before buying anything, I always check around to see if it's cheaper on Ebay and Amazon, with Paypal or a reliable seller. Ebay rates the seller. Amazon gives more feedback on the product.

Useful Websites
http://techiefans.com/how-to-use-your-smartphone-to-track-your-vehicle-eu/?IM=A02C&TT=T03&utm_term=009701429222c9bc47cd33613ffb29ffaa&sid=BBC+News&pid=BBC.com%2FNews&otbxid=7fbfcfd52a29ab4175adf2899496799a-0058d15c2acaeac7646ad8533211879053&sxid=3j4d57688r5o

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-find-my-car-apps/

Losing your car at an airport:: what to do

Have you ever lost your car in a car park? What a worry. Is it stolen? Moved by the police? Moved by the parking people? Will you ever find it?

Who will help? How quickly? Where do you think you left it? Which car park?

What is the numberplate? The colour? The make of car?

Lost Car
A relative of mine lost their car for about half an hour on returning to S t a n s t e d airport. The driver noted the car park (three huge car parks) and the nearby bus stop for the link bus to the airport. But when they came back they could not find the car.

Trudging around a car park, although brightly lit at night, when you are tired from travelling and its raining and you are worried is not fun.

Websites
I went on line to try to help. The help lines go off at 6 pm. Nobody to call for help. I remember once something similar happened to us as Disney, I think it was the one in Florida. They had a bus to drive people around. Each car park was named for an animal or something memorable. At least you were driving in the warm. And there was no charge for the help.

Stansted
Back to the problem at S t a n s t e d. (Predictive text called it stagnated. Yes, the driver was stagnated.)

Valet Parking
Valet parking sounds a good idea. Unfortunately the cost is £45! I presume that's on top of the cost of the parking charge. If you are highly paid and on expenses, maybe.

Photos
My solution in an unfamiliar car park, at a supermarket, is to take a photo of both my care and the parking place and the exit I use. I can show any helper the car I have lost. I have a record of the number plate. I know the model of the car. I can't do what has happened a couple of times, forget I am looking for my relative's car instead of mine. If it's a hire car, I know the numberplate.

Number Plates
No good just remembering just the first three letters or the last three letters. I've done that, either deliberately or accidentally (having forgotten the beginning or could not read my writing. It may turn out that all the city's cars have that ending which happened to me (in India), or all the country, or all the state, or all the county (Middlesex), or all this year's cars (UK), or all hire cars have the same prefix or suffix (Malta).

Success
The good news is I got a call half an hour later to say the car had been found. What was the reason for the problem? Two nearby bus stops, went to the one ahead of the car and not behind it, the furthest not the nearest.

Remote Control Sounds
Eventually the driver had thought to try using the remote control door opener. The lock or unlock flashes twice as it does when you get into or out of the car. So you walk along the rows and whether the car is right or left, even a few yards away and in the dark, the remote locates it and alerts you. If you are really desperate you can press on the warning triangle which makes the siren.

Happy ending. But remember not to rush off in your haste to catch the plane, and end up delayed on your return. As the saying goes, more haste, less speed.

Remedies
At least one of the Disney theme parks has or had characters (animals) in the names and visual reminders of the car parks. A multi-storey car park in Paris has or had different colours or murals on each level.

Malta had numbers on each marked parking place.

Call To Action
If you are a regular user of an airport or have any kind of clout please write and ask the airport to address the problem and to provide ways of remembering.

I hope you will always find your car. Happy holidays.
http://www.stanstedairport.com/parking/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker and author.

Author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In