Where Did I Park Again?
 

It's just age catching up with me.

But with The Fit? I've really had to start to pay attention closely to where I'm parking.
I get out, then immediately take reconnaissance of local landmarks and markers in relationship to where I am parking. I really never needed to do that in the past.

But...I'm getting older, and have found I can exit a store, look at a parking lot sea of automobiles and suddenly realize I'm looking for Nemo. That is, I'll totally forget where I've parked. I then shuffle aimlessly through the parking lot like a zombie from The Walking Dead, hoping I stumble upon something familiar.

And I can press the alarm button and listen for the hopeful echo of a chirp back. Sometimes it helps.

But besides that, The Fit isn't helpful.
If it becomes sandwiched between two big SUV's? I'm never going to see it, unless I walk almost directly up to it.

It's not a fault of the vehicle. It's a fault of mine. But gone are the days when I can quickly park, quickly exit, and count on my nimble mind to recall where I've parked.
I have to formally stop, and formally take account. THEN I'll remember. Otherwise?

Joni Mitchell warned that they paved paradise and put up a parking lot. And if I don't pay attention, I get to walk all over that paved paradise.

This is why I like having my roof rack.

I'll say, with many of of the SUVs I find myself around, even a roof rack wouldn't help. And if it wasn't an SUV, I'd be able to recognize my Fit (so long as I'm looking in the right direction)... so a roof rack still wouldn't help.

Dunno why, I didn't realize I had that song (or rather a cover of it by Counting Crows) in my itunes collection. I guess what threw me off was the title of the song when looking for it.

But yeah, I do struggle with finding my car now too. The other day, what I used as a landmark was the van (either a Sprinter or Transit) of the driver that couldn't figure out how or where to park (tried parking in one spot then moving over, repeat again up to a third spot).

I tend to pick the furthest spots. I did that with my cars when they were brand new, with my (new-to-me) BMW, and now with my (high-mileage, but new-to-me) Fit. Maybe some people do no't like the extra time spent walking or are in a hurry, but it gives me extra steps (occasional Fitbit junkie) and a chance to stare at nice cars (if any).

Along with the car-alarm confirmation chirp, why not just activate the alarm and follow the blaring horn?

I'm going to say...
 

Well, I do feel I have the answer now.
Which is to take that real "recon" moment after parking. Look around and tie where I've parked to a few permanent landmarks.

I suppose hitting the panic button would work...if all else fails. But it's embarrassing enough to be wandering all over a parking lot looking for your misplaced vehicle, without scaring families with strollers by setting off the panic button on your vehicle just to find it.
The day I'm forced to do this is probably rapidly approaching.

Or use google maps and drop a pin in your location as soon as you park.

I think the point that is being missed, is as much as I like the Honda Fit, and actually really like that it is a subcompact, in a world dominated by big SUV's, The Fit can become very hidden in a parking lot.

If it becomes surrounded by bigger vehicles, while I'm gone. I'm not going to be able to see it, so I better know where it's parked.

This really isn't a big issue, it's more or less myself ranting about age catching up with me.
And just a little dedication to making sure I know where I'm at? At this point solves the problem before it happens.

It’s sometimes inconvenient getting older. I try to remember that many don’t have the privilege:-/

take note of the asile number on the parking lot lamps? not sure. i travel a lot for work and sometimes lose track which rental car i was driving since i rent cars often. i take note of the aisle mark on the lamp or maybe a weird looking tree or something.

worst is when i see multiple cars of the rental in the same color..

This doesn't help at all but I feel your pain. Granted I don't have a Fit yet, but my 98 Civic coupe and my previous 98 Civic coupe, I can't count how many times I couldn't see my car walking out of a store and around a parking lot. There is an ongoing joke at my work about my car going missing. My family has had my current Civic for 20 years, it's been broken into 4 times, stolen twice . A big thing that has helped with finding it in parking lots is that both my previous and current Civic are Milano Red . Not too many of those in my town .