I've had a couple of depressing experiences relying on the locals to get proper directions and nowadays rely almost exclusively on GPS.

More than a decade ago, I was in Bejing (for business). Despite having the business card of the (small) hotel were I stayed, the driver told me (sign language) that he didn't know how to get me there (the hotel was located in old Bejing's hutong, a hopeless maze). Fortunately, we were able to navigate with the GPS (back then, i.e. before maps, I used to mark the location of my hotel, wander without worrying and head back using nothing more than the arrow.)