Getting lost in a new city is how you end up knowing it better than the tourists.

Getting turned around forces you to look at what is actually there. When the route is handled for you, a city stays a line between two dots, but once you are unsure you start reading signs, noticing which way the river runs, remembering the corner with the green awning. That is how a place stops being scenery and becomes somewhere you know.

Next time you are somewhere unfamiliar and safe to wander, put the phone away for thirty minutes and pick a direction. Keep one landmark in view so you can always get back. Being slightly lost on purpose is how the map gets into you.