I’ll be honest with you: at 64, “where did I park the car?” has become a genuine, recurring feature of my life, not an occasional embarrassment. It happens most reliably at Pacific Fair on the Gold Coast, a car park with enough levels and identical concrete pillars to make a much younger memory sweat, but it also happens at the airport, at the shops, and once, memorably, in my own street after a longer walk than usual.

So when I came across a genuinely simple trick using Google Maps, a feature I’d apparently been ignoring for years, I gave it a proper go. It’s changed how I park, full stop, and I want to walk you through it exactly as I learned it, because it took me all of two minutes to pick up.

Why this matters more as we get a bit older

It’s not just me. Multi-level car parks like Pacific Fair, Westfield centres, and airport parking stations are consistently where this problem bites hardest, because there’s no natural landmark to anchor your memory to. Add a long-haul flight, a week away on holiday, and the general fog of jet lag, and even a sharp memory can come up blank on which level you parked on three weeks ago. It’s a genuinely common experience as we get older, and there’s no shame in it. The good news is your phone can simply remember it for you.

Step 1: Save your parking spot the moment you park

As soon as you’ve parked and turned off the engine, open the Google Maps app on your phone. You’ll see a blue dot showing your current location. Tap it.

A small menu will pop up. Tap “Save parking.” Maps will drop a marker right at your current spot and keep it there until you tell it otherwise.

That’s it. You don’t need to remember anything else at this point. Just walk away.

Step 2: Add the details your phone can’t guess

Here’s the bit that makes all the difference in a multi-level car park. A GPS pin can tell you roughly where your car is, but it can’t tell you which level you’re on, or which lift to take to get back to it.

To fix that, tap on the Parking location entry (you’ll find it by tapping the search bar at the bottom of the screen), then tap More info. From there, you can type in a simple note, something like “Level 3, Section C,” or in my case at Pacific Fair, “Blue level, near Myer.” Whatever will actually jog your memory when you step out of the lift later.

Step 3: If you’re at a metered spot, let Maps count down the time for you

If you’ve parked somewhere with a time limit, you can add that too. In the same More info screen, there’s a “Time left”option where you simply enter how many hours and minutes are left on the meter. No more doing mental arithmetic while you’re distracted by the shops, and no more that sinking feeling three hours later wondering if you’ve copped a fine.

Step 4: Share your parking spot with someone picking you up

This is the one I now use most, and it’s perfect for exactly the scenario I mentioned earlier: coming home from a week away, or having someone collect you from the airport.

Once your parking location is saved, tap into the Parking location entry, select More info, then tap Share. You can send the exact spot straight to whoever’s picking you up through a text message or any messaging app you use. No more standing near “one of the entrances” trying to describe where you are over the phone, and no more your daughter circling the car park for ten minutes looking for you.

Why I wish I’d started this years ago

The next time you’re heading off on a trip, try this before you even leave the car park: save the spot, add a quick note about the level and section, and forget about it entirely until you land back home. When you do, Maps will walk you straight back to the car, and if someone’s collecting you, you can share the exact spot with them before you’ve even cleared customs.

It’s a small habit, but it’s genuinely taken one of life’s little frustrations off my plate entirely. Give it a go next time you’re at Pacific Fair, or wherever your own personal car-park nemesis happens to be.