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Ah the charms and tribulations of driving through Europe. First off, doing a long-term lease was quite easy to do and recommended given the amount of time we needed a car. Hats off to the team at Kemwel for making what appeared to be a complicated process very simple and easy. We are doing a long-term rental of about 120 days through Peugeout's Open Road program. We got a brand new car - a 308 - and were introduced to it at the airport in Barcelona. I think the guy who took care of us that day had better things to do than spend time with some Yankees on a Sunday afternoon. He told us everything was so easy without getting everything to work quite the way it should. Amy and I being as "smart" as we are just kind of shrugged it off. "Oh, we'll put in the right address in the GPS, no worries."
After our brief paper signing, overview, and brief test drive we were off. Of course they can't just fill up your car with gas. Oh no, that would be too easy. You've got to get some right off the bat which led to our first near-heart attack. DID YOU PUT IN DIESEL FUEL? IT SAID GASOLINE?! Fortunately we didn't blow the engine up right out of the gate, but having to use the roundabout (more on these later) several times just going about 3KM's (not miles, c'mon we're in Europe) got us off to an auspicious start.
Once gassed up we were on our way. Speaking of gas, upon doing some reading on the history of Barcelona I learned about a famous "artist" named, Joseph Pujol. Pujol also went by Le Petomane or Fartomaniac. Turns out Fartomaniac had the ability to absorb whole pools of water into his, yes, you guessed it, as well as tunefully farting national anthems and animal sounds. Wait, wasn't I talking about driving?
With the help of our new best friend, Hope, the GPS voice we named since we hope she can't find everything for us, we were off heading southwest from Barcelona to Alicante for what should have been a four hour drive. Needless to say the drive took about 6 hours. During the drive I think we had to do about ten or so full 360 degree roundabouts to get back on the right track. I've set a simple goal for this trip - to make it to a destination without having to do a full 360 in a roundabout.
We made a brief stop at the Auto Grill during our drive. For those of you used to long road trips this is not your typical McDonald's. After our ham, bread, and somewhat cool Coca-Cola picnic lunch we were back on our way. As we neared the location we had punched in we realized it did not match up with the directions we originally had printed out prior to the trip. This all goes back to the guy who was too busy on a Sunday to really show us how the GPS works. We went with something kind of sort of in the area and we were quite a bit off. After some quick adjustments, and let me tell you this trip is all about adjustments, we got back on the right track, but not without having to take a full detour of the University of Alicante campus since the security officer told us after a wrong turn that we could not just make a u-turn, but we had to make an entire loop around campus. (Side note: we made that same loop again tonight.)
We made the loop and were just about there. We checked in and the front desk was going to let us into the garage to park. Now, keep in mind we're driving a brand, spanking new car right off the assembly line somewhere in France. When entering the garage you have to go through a very narrow entry way. Well, I completely scrape the left rear-side of the car. This was after a masterful parallel park prior to checking which really had my confidence high. Now, I'm not bragging, but I have not been in an accident or done any damage to a car since I was driving home from the toll booths at the Cross Bay Bridge to my house in Merrick when I hit a van who stopped short on the Southern State Parkway. Going back to my comment on making adjustments, instead of being remorseful and saddened about damaging a brand new car, I just say to myself now we look more like locals and not turistas.
Fortunately the beautiful sea and sand of the beach today have made me quickly forget what I did to the car. Did I mention we got there and back with only a slight hiccup. Of course we do have to drive to Seville in two days. Buckle up!
- comments
Amy The car still has that new car smell, just not the new car look! Amy
Mackey Williams Buckle up, indeed! Ever onward!
Cheryl McLeod I guess you can't make fun of your wife...
Cheryl Oh yeah... And you are still married... I think!
GodJoey I figured you'd have to wait until Paris to pull a Chevy Chase "200 times around the Arc de Triomphe". Well done!