Topics: Travel, Europe, World News, Cars, Reddit, Technology, Phones
A woman was reported missing after she set off on a simple trip but ended up 900 miles away due to a GPS glitch.
Getting lost in this digital day and age with the likes of live traffic and navigation apps in our phones is hard to imagine.
However, one wrong turn and a buggy GPS system can quickly become a recipe for disaster, as one woman from Belgium found out the hard way.
Sabine Moreau set off from her Hainault Erquelinnes home to pick up a friend at Gare du Nord in Brussels, less than 90 miles from her house.
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It should've taken the 67-year-old around two hours or less to drive to the destination, but instead she ended up 'missing' for two days.
Due to a GPS error, the woman soared across continental Europe, bypassing five international borders, and ended up 900 miles away in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, before realizing she had taken a wrong turn, or several, at some point.
During her unexpected road trip, she stopped off for gas twice and took sleeping breaks in her car by the side of the road, according to local news reports at the time.
Speaking to El Mundo, Moreau said: "I was distracted, so I kept on the accelerator.
"I saw all kinds of signs, first in French, then in German and finally in Croatian, but I kept driving because I was distracted."
While Moreau's friend managed to get home without the lift, her son soon reported her abrupt absence in a missing person's report to police.
Cops eventually managed to track Moreau down where she claimed she hadn't even realized she was going the wrong way until she made it to Croatia.
She said: "Until I suddenly appeared in Zagreb and then it dawned on me that I was no longer in Belgium.
"I admit it's a bit strange, but I was distracted."
The bizarre tale has caused a stir on Reddit as users say it's alarming the woman didn't realize the mistake for so long - or appear to take any notice of the roads.
One comment read: "I don't understand how someone could be so distracted that they don't notice a two hour drive turned into a two day drive."
"I shudder to think I share the road with these people," another wrote.
A third chimed: "I really wonder how the hell they get their licenses in the first place."
But others pointed out Belgium has a seemingly relaxed attitude to driving as the country only introduced a compulsory test less than 50 years ago in 1977.
"So it's quite possible the older drivers you encounter never had to take one," another user suggested.
Meanwhile, others said they've faced similar situations from a GPS flop - but didn't quite take so long to realize their mistake, rather than taking a 48-hour detour.
