mmgarrett

We had another long day of driving ahead of us. Today we were off to meet the rest of the family in Italy. The day of driving was going good until the last couple of turns. We took the A9 instead of the A8, which basically took us 30 miles to the East. No problem, we just plugged the coordinates into the GPS and found our way. We told the family that we would be there around 3 pm. It was 10 after 3 when we entered into the small town. As we drove past the small bus station, we saw my mom and Melissa yelling at us as we drove by. There is a good chance they’ve been yelling at every blue VW that drove by. We had finally arrived and it was good to ... read more

We got somewhat of an early start this morning due to the amount of driving we had ahead of us. Our plan was to make it to the seaside town of Sete and camp there. As we drove along the long desolate highway, we quickly noticed this was the windy region. There were electricity-producing windmills everywhere. The wind was strong enough to move around our little car. We were surprised at how quickly we reached our destination. We drove through the town that we thought would be a nice beach village and found it was nothing more than a smelly commercial port. We decided to move on. After another 4 hours of driving, we reached what was supposed to be our second night’s destination - Frejus. The hostel/campground was located on the edge of town next ... read more

We got an early start this morning from the hostel. We knew it was about an hour drive to Pamplona so we left at 530. The drive into Spain was great. We went through some of the nicest scenery since Switzerland. We almost ran into about 60 sheep crossing the road. When we reached Pamplona, we saw everyone camping on the edge of town and in the parks. As we got closer to the town’s center, it looked like a war zone. There were people passed out on the sidewalks and in the streets. There was trash and broken glass everywhere. The people who weren’t passed out were wondering around in a drunken daze. It was evident that we had just missed the biggest party ever. We knew we were in the right place because ... read more

We headed out of Paris wondering what we had missed. We probably missed some stuff, but I think we hit the major points of interest. Anyways, it wasn’t worth wondering around the city aimlessly getting soaked by the rain. We were driving to the middle of France, to a place called Poitiers. Poitiers had no attractions; it was just a stopping point that looked good. Quite honestly, most of this trip was not planned. Some days we didn’t know where we were sleeping the following night. That was how we wanted it, and it seemed to be working good for us. Which brings me to the next surprise of the trip. Since we had been rushing our tours, due to the rain, we had some extra time. It just so happens that starting on July ... read more

We woke this morning at our hostel to gentle rainfall. Our plans were to see Brussels on our way to Paris. As we drove the two hours to Brussels, the rain was coming down in sheets. We finally made it there. I wasn’t to impressed. Our first stop was to look at the European Union Headquarters. This building was heavily guarded so we just took a picture from the outside. Next, we drove into the city center. It was probably some of the worst traffic I had ever seen. We looked at some of the old buildings and then headed back towards the freeway. We drove for another few hours and the reached Paris. We tried to navigate our way to the hotel that Nic’s girlfriend, Tori, was staying at. If I thought the traffic ... read more