I can’t believe I’m actually writing a car trip report! I’ve been a biker for over 47 years and cars have always been a utilitarian necessity to me, and still are, but needs must. I started a new contract job early 2018 (having been out of employment since Nov. 2017) and by the time I got around to thinking about booking our (my misses and me) usual flights to Bologna for the Misano MotoGP the costs were through the roof. She suggested we could drive and I took it to the next level and suggested making a trip out of it for two weeks and that’s when Florence and Rome entered the plan.
Day 1 – Thurs. 30th August
It’s time to head over to start our first car road trip to mainland Europe.
The worst part of my journey is always the long, slow slog through England (sorry to all the English but it’s true - 630 miles to the channel tunnel from home). This time I’m leaving from work (Ayrshire) and that will save me about 200 miles to the tunnel.
We’re up at 06:00 and head out to the local Costa to pick up two coffees to go. I’d added two hours of travelling time to what it should take (just in case) and we got to the tunnel well ahead of our booked slot. The machine told me I could pay an extra £75 and travel now (aye, right) or wait 30 mins. And travel for no extra charge (that’s the one we’ll take).
While milling about the services / shop area I booked a hotel near the centre of St. Quentin so that was us sorted for the night. I found the hotel, parked on the road across from it, checked in and then went looking for somewhere for dinner.
We found a lovely square (place) and a nice evening was had by us both.
Day 1 – Thurs. 30th August
It’s time to head over to start our first car road trip to mainland Europe.
The worst part of my journey is always the long, slow slog through England (sorry to all the English but it’s true - 630 miles to the channel tunnel from home). This time I’m leaving from work (Ayrshire) and that will save me about 200 miles to the tunnel.
We’re up at 06:00 and head out to the local Costa to pick up two coffees to go. I’d added two hours of travelling time to what it should take (just in case) and we got to the tunnel well ahead of our booked slot. The machine told me I could pay an extra £75 and travel now (aye, right) or wait 30 mins. And travel for no extra charge (that’s the one we’ll take).
While milling about the services / shop area I booked a hotel near the centre of St. Quentin so that was us sorted for the night. I found the hotel, parked on the road across from it, checked in and then went looking for somewhere for dinner.
We found a lovely square (place) and a nice evening was had by us both.