Before the Journey · Principle 1 of Six

CONFIRM

Make sure you have the correct destination.

The Basic Idea

Before a route can be planned, the destination has to be the right one. A postcode covers an area rather than a single door, a street name is repeated in dozens of towns, and a business may still be listed at an address it left years ago.

Confirming the destination means checking that the place the satnav has accepted is the place you actually mean to arrive at — and, where it matters, which entrance of it.

Why It Matters

Every principle that follows depends on this one. A route can be planned carefully, learned properly and driven well, and still end at the wrong gate on the wrong side of a town.

An error found before setting off costs a few seconds. The same error found on arrival costs the whole journey back.

In Practice

  • Enter the full address rather than the postcode alone, and check the road and the town the satnav shows against what you were given.
  • Magnify the destination on the map and look at what is actually there: the entrance, the parking, the side of the road you will arrive on.
  • Where a site has more than one entrance, decide which one you want before the satnav decides for you.
  • Ask which access is intended when a delivery, a visit or an appointment depends on it.
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