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"Darling, can you please turn on the GPS?" I asked my wife.

"Hang on, I know exactly where we are", she replied.

"Can you, for once, listen to me?"

She ignored my remark, immersed in the reading of the map. This was not the first time we were going on a trip, and this was definitely not the first time we were having a heated discussion because of this! Argh, in moments like these, I hate her for not listening to me. Especially when we are in a city we don't know!

"Seriously, you never knew how to read a map, turn on the damn thing".

"Hey, chill. Look, you just have to turn right, here."

I turned right.

"To the right, again, don't miss it".

I turned right again, but I smelt something was wrong.

"Ok, seems that you have to turn ri..."

"Again?! We're back on the same road! You can't read a map, I already told you!"

She fulminated, and turned on the GPS (yes, she should have done that in the first place, right?).

In 100 meters, turn right. Then, in 100 meters, turn left.

"Ah, you see? It's not making us going round in circles, at least!"

I turned right, then left.

In 100 meters, turn left. Then, in 100 meters, turn right.

"Wait", my wife said, "aren't we going on the same road again?"

"No, there are roadworks, we're just avoiding them."

In 100 meters, turn right. Then, in 100 meters, turn left.

"Sorry, honey, but your GPS is broken", she told me. "We're back on the road parallel to our initial road, and there were not any roadworks!"

"Yes, ok, this is strange. I'm sure there's an explanation, maybe there's... traffic jam?"

"Traffic jam? For 100 meters? Are you kidding me?"

I stayed silent, awaiting for the next instructions from my GPS, hoping it was not broken.

In 100 meters, turn left. Then, in 100 meters, turn right.

"Ok, maybe it's broken!"

"Ah, you see! Your 'modern' instrument is as bad as me!"

"Stop talking nonsense, and take the map".

I followed the instructions of the GPS nonetheless.

"Ok, now, turn right on the next cross-road", indicated my wife.

I turned right.

"No, not this one, sorry. Just turn around."

I turned around, and this time I went right on the good roa...

"NO! Darling, concentrate please! This is a deadend!"

I mumbled, but that was my fault this time. So I turned around again, and took the next road on the right.

Though this question doesn't make sense at first glance, can you guess where are my wife and I?

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    $\begingroup$ Sounds like you're in the Costco parking lot. $\endgroup$
    – Chris Cudmore
    Jan 5, 2017 at 15:11
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    $\begingroup$ You're in a European city with a lot of one-way streets. $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Jan 5, 2017 at 15:18
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    $\begingroup$ Your first "back on the same road" scenario would typically need 4 right turns if you're in a regular grid. Did you intentionally only have three? $\endgroup$
    – Ian MacDonald
    Jan 5, 2017 at 15:26
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    $\begingroup$ @IAmInPLS 3 to be back if its square shaped streets as NY but europe has curvy roads so who knows where you are after a few turns xD real roads have curves! XD $\endgroup$
    – lois6b
    Jan 5, 2017 at 15:42
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    $\begingroup$ Did you hijack the Magic School Bus and now you're driving around on some kind of inverter gate? $\endgroup$
    – user33097
    Jan 5, 2017 at 16:12

6 Answers 6

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EDIT

After mapping their whole trip (and discussing some details in the chat room), I ended up with a drawing that spell out the word PSE.

Here is the drawing:

enter image description here

The letters are spelt in the way they're driving, so P, then S, and finally E.
So, they are driving in PSE: Puzzling Stack Exchange! (Yeah, strange place to drive, eh?)

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  • $\begingroup$ Oooh. You are definitely on the good way, however you got the wrong letters somewhat. Feel free to add a drawing! $\endgroup$
    – IAmInPLS
    Jan 6, 2017 at 7:13
  • $\begingroup$ (Well, I admit the instructions are not very clear on purpose ;-) ) $\endgroup$
    – IAmInPLS
    Jan 6, 2017 at 7:17
  • $\begingroup$ @IAmInPLS I tried drawing it in paint. Forgive the mediocre quality. I am unsure about the begining (3 or 4 right turn) and the end(3 back and forth) $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Jan 6, 2017 at 7:35
  • $\begingroup$ I am also unsure if "I followed the instructions of the GPS nonetheless." implies that there is a few extra turns that were done until the wife reached for the map again. $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Jan 6, 2017 at 7:41
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    $\begingroup$ Dude, that looks like PSE backwards... Although, I don't understand how they would drive in PSE.. $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Jan 6, 2017 at 8:24
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I know a solution is already accepted, but I have a picture that I think matches the description of the trip a little better.
From it we can see you are indeed

driving in the land of PSE.
Of course, at the end we see you drive away...
"On second thought, let's not go to PSE. It is a silly place."

The pic:

enter image description here

Initially driving "north" (doesn't matter but all directions relative to this starting direction and road) - from bottom of diagram up to "1".

The trip: 1. I turned right.
  "To the right, again, don't miss it".
2. I turned right again, but I smelt something was wrong.
3. "Ok, seems that you have to turn ri..." (I assume we make this turn.)
-> "Again?! We're back on the same road!" (Yes, we are.)
  In 100 meters, turn right. Then, in 100 meters, turn left.
-> "Ah, you see? It's not making us going round in circles, at least!"
4. I turned right, ...
5. ... then left.
  In 100 meters, turn left. Then, in 100 meters, turn right.
(Doesn't say we do, but I assume we follow these directions, so --)
6. (Turn left.)
7. (Turn right.)
-> "Wait", my wife said, "aren't we going on the same road again?" (Yes. We are.)
-> "No, there are roadworks, we're just avoiding them." (Apparently, roadworks between 4 and 7)
  In 100 meters, turn right. Then, in 100 meters, turn left.
(Doesn't say we do, but I assume we follow these directions, so --)
8. (Turn right.)
9. (Turn left.)
-> "Sorry, honey, but your GPS is broken", she told me. "We're back on the road parallel to our initial road, and there were not any roadworks!" (Yup)
  In 100 meters, turn left. Then, in 100 meters, turn right.
-> I followed the instructions of the GPS nonetheless.
10. (Turn left.)
11. (Turn right.)
-> "Ok, now, turn right on the next cross-road", indicated my wife.
12. I turned right.
-> "No, not this one, sorry. Just turn around."
13. I turned around, ...
14. and this time ... [implies he continues as if 12 didn't happen: so turn right, resume original course]
15. ... I went right on the good roa...
-> "NO! Darling, concentrate please! This is a deadend!" (Yup)
16. [...] So I turned around again, ...
17. ... [and again turn right, resume original course]
18. ... and took the next road on the right.

There are multitudinous turns in the accepted answer's trip diagram that are not indicated at all in the story, so I wanted to make a diagram that actually agrees with what the story says and implies the driver did.

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You are:

You are a high school student on spring vacation, practicing improv for drama class, and just learning to drive

Wait, what?

You're taking your time driving and practicing your improv talent with an actor playing your wife; only during a mild spring break would you be able to take this much time on the road (too risky to do on icy roads during winter break, and you wouldn't be thinking about school over summer vacation). And, you figure, why not do this to practice turning as you near your driver's license test?

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Inspired by stack reader I gave my try on the puzzle:


I mapped the turns with guessing how long some of them were (aside from the 100 meters fixed turns, however we do not know how long it did take for the GPS to announce to turn in 100m?)
What resolved is the letters WNNP, could be also others, however those letters somewhat hint at my current tip of the answer:
They are in Winnipeg

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You're driving

on a cube with length, base and heigth 100 m

Explanation:

Suppose that you always turn in the center of a face. Turning right thrice means you're on the same line and in the same direction again.
Turning right, left, left, right, right, left brings you on the same line (around the cube) but in the opposite direction.
I'm not sure about the dead end thing, though.

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  • $\begingroup$ Not at all :-). $\endgroup$
    – IAmInPLS
    Jan 5, 2017 at 15:56
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you are

in space

Explanation :

the movement done with the car is similar to the one done with the spool while sewing, with a back and forth at the end to close the string. Another name for the spool used for sewing is shuttle, hence you are in space.

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  • $\begingroup$ Wow, a long shot! Unfortunately, there's not much lateral-thinking here. $\endgroup$
    – IAmInPLS
    Jan 5, 2017 at 16:05

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