By Michael Lewis
FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

PARIS — I am convinced that we really rely on our smart phones so much that we have become dumber.

Translated: better technology doesn’t always make life simpler. Sometimes it could make it a mess.

Case in point:

When I tried to get to the U.S. women’s national team’s press briefing in northern Paris Thursday using the Metro and a GPS to point me from the stop to the team hotel, it became an adventure in mishaps.

Using the Metro was a piece of cake; no problem at all.

Because there was so much construction there, Google maps could not find an easy way to the hotel. And, because there were two and perhaps three levels to these new buildings and area, it lost its way. Following one set of directions, I wound up on a dead end, although the GPS insisted there was room to walk.

Yeah, right, right through a wall.

I am not one to give up easily, but when I figured I would get to the session as it was ending, I decided to return to my hotel in the center of the city.

No, I did not whine. I wined and dined and had lunch. That’s the best way to recuperate from a frustrating experience — eat.

I learned my lesson and took an Uber Friday. It dropped me off in front of the hotel, but I recognized enough of the area that I realized I was a lot closer to the hotel than I thought. No doubt my GPS was messed up by all the construction and had me going around in circles.

BTW, I will not mention the hotel the U.S. is staying at because of their privacy and because they just might return there for a knockout-round match.

On a happier note, I am only a nine-minute walk from Parc des Princes, the site of Sunday’s encounter between the U.S. and Chile. No problem walking there for the pre-game presser Saturday.

Afterwards, the U.S. media was invited to the FOX Sports studio in the middle of Paris. The view was breath-taking with the Eiffel Tower making, well, a towering back drop.

Some trips are worth their weight in gold.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.