• Sweden edition

GPS mix up sends Swedish couple on impromptu Italian odessy

Published: 28 Jul 09 15:16 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/20962/20090728/

A middle-aged Swedish couple on holiday in Italy drove 650 kilometres out of their way when their GPS system confused the island of Capri with the northern Italian town of Carpi.

The couple did not discover their error until they asked the local tourist office how to get to the celebrated "Blue Grotto".

"It is a little difficult to understand how they managed to go so wrong. Capri is an island," Giovanni Medici of Carpi's regional government said to the news agency Reuters.

"They were surprised but did not get angry. They returned to their car and started driving south," Medici said.

The picturesque island of Capri is located in the pristine waters of the Gulf of Naples in southern Italy and is a popular romantic getaway.

Carpi, a significantly less romantic destination, is an industrial city at the opposite end of the Italian peninsula.

Peter Vinthagen Simpson (news@thelocal.se/+46 8 656 6518)

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19:25 July 28, 2009 by fifyseven7@googlemail.com
So nothing new here then! Swedish people isn't really know to be very clever.. Men Svenska tjejor ar fortfarande mycket snygga!!
20:25 July 28, 2009 by ossydave
The only thing not clever about this is relying on an electronic gadget instead of a map. Did it not cross their mind that they were going the long way round?
21:33 July 28, 2009 by tillerman
GPS devices are a directional aid but only as good as their users. When you get one for a boat the box and directions say "Not to be used for navigation."
02:10 July 29, 2009 by casinoed
hmm middle aged? couple? wasn't Kungen and Silvia by any chance was it?

Die dummen Schweden....
09:49 July 29, 2009 by Faunaman
"when their GPS system confused the island of Capri with the northern Italian town of Carpi"

Well, certainly the GPS was the only one who knew where it was going and did a seamless job, the confused were the couple of Svens
10:21 July 29, 2009 by TheSupercargo
Reminds me of the Japanese tourist who concluded his visit to Sweden by taking the sleeper from Stockholm to Vännäs. He THOUGHT he'd bought a ticket for Venice ...
11:24 July 29, 2009 by totyis
bbc says it was a typo : "A Swedish couple in search of the isle of Capri drove to Carpi, an industrial town in northern Italy, because they misspelt the name in their car's GPS."
17:51 July 29, 2009 by Che-che
Took a trip to Italy, trying to get to a small fishing village 3 hours south of Naples...the GPS we got from the car rental company had another destination typed in and we ended up on the wrong side of the boot, 3 hours in the WRONG direction! Not to mention, the directions were in Italian, so we couldn't even program the thing right...what a trip.
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