Ok, chances are that when you are on holiday, you'll never get really lost, although speaking as someone who can easily become disorientated in a large Marks and Spencer it does happen to me with alarming regularity. Here are a few tips that might just come in useful, (even if you are wandering around a large market and can't find your way back to your hotel!)



To find north, using an analogue watch

* hold the watch horizontally to the ground
* point the watch with the 12 facing the sun
* look at the hour hand
* the bisected line half way between the two will point north/south
* if you don't then know which way is north, remember the sun rises in the east and sets in the west
* the moon also follows the same pattern, rising in the east and setting in the west





To find out how many hours of sunlight are left

* hold your arm out horizontally so your hand is level with the horizon
* find the location of the sun, without looking directly at it
* now count how mnay times you have to flip your hand up sideways until it touches the sun
* each hands width represents an hour of daylight
* when there is less than a handwidth of space left, use your fingers, each one being roughly 15 minutes





To attract attention using a torch or whistle, use the Morse code sign for SOS

* ...---...
* This would mean short short short long long long short short short
* wait three seconds before doing it again
* don't stop until help has actually reached you, your signals will help to guide assistance right into your area





Doing anything in groups of threes will attract attention

* place clothing etc., in triangles of three, (particularly orange coloured items)
* light signal fires in triangles of three, so rescuers will know it is an emergency signal and not just a BBQ (pile pine branches or damp leaves on to make the fire smoke more)


Other tips

* if you have an emergency light stick, rather than just waving it about, tie it to a long piece of string or paracord, then whirl it round your head like a helicopter
* bees are never more than a mile from water; if you can see one, there must be fresh water about!
* to alert aircraft to an emergency, use your make-up mirror, or even a CD. Hold your left hand flat in front of you, little finger parallel to the ground. Now using your right hand, focus the reflected light of the mirror on to the palm of your left hand. As the plane flies along, move your left hand along just under it, then flash the reflected light just above and below the line of your index finger, in groups of three.