I run into these motorway/highway issues all the time over here.
1. The M25 is an orbital and everyone seems to know every junction by location and usually say, just get on in Woking and get off at South Mimms and don't use the Dartford. Doesn't really matter as it's always jammed. Car's already done the front brakes and a water pump at a little more than 50k due to the stop-n-go.
2. Germany (and most of Europe) never have a North/S/E/W direction, so you better know where all the cities are, so you know if you're going in the right direction.
