Use your AWOL map to get lost. Photo courtesy of Dan Cottrell

Here at the Local Travel Movement, we have always believed in the power of getting lost to go local. The beaten path really has been too well trod, so why not throw caution to the wind – and with it the bucket lists of must-sees and must-dos – and detour through that alluring alleyway filled with… who knows what?!

As Dr. Seuss writes in his Oh, the Places You’ll Go:

“You’ll look up and down streets. Look ’em over with care.
About some you will say, ‘I don’t choose to go there.’
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street.”

With that in mind, imagine our thrill when we accidentally happened upon AWOL. It is described by its creator, the UK’s Chelsea College of Art & Design graduate Dan Cottrell, as “a guide to getting lost, encouraging exploration and an increased awareness of your surroundings.”

Packed in transparent plastic map case, it’s part humor – a compass that doesn’t work – and part gentle genius: printed maps of ‘algorithmic walks’ that lead you to you know not where but always take you back to the place you began, “so you can enjoy the new surroundings and experiences without the anxiety that often comes with being lost.”

How did it all happen?

“The idea for AWOL started when I realised I was walking the same way to the same places every day. I decided to take a different route to the Tube one morning and found myself coming across lots of interesting shops and galleries that I’d never seen before,” says Cottrell.

“With iPhones, Google Maps and GPS, travel has become a very streamlined process where people seldom stop to explore their local surroundings. The concept of Local Travel sounds great to me, and I’d like to think that AWOL could be a fun and engaging way to feel closer to the local community and discover those things round your corner that you never new existed.”

So it’s just as good in places you know as destinations in which you have never step foot. We know what we’ll consider grabbing the next time we step out and head around the corner to get some milk. Oh, the places we’ll go.

Read more about AWOL on Dan Cottrell’s website