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General Banter / My trip to france for MOTOGP
« on: May 24, 2011, 12:31:42 AM »
LOL, well started out me, the wife, my oldest son, and a friend (kp) were suppose to go for a long weekend and watch the races. Purchased tickets back in january and everyone was excited to go. kp couldnt make it do to a work injury, im sure some who know her know the story. So just the 3 of us went. Let me just say this.... Plan, plan, plan, make back up plans for back up plans!!!
Our trip started out great, the wife and i got upgraded to business class. If you have ever been in business class, its quite a treat compared to coach for long flights. So we land in Paris, get off the plane and out into the airport. Uhhh where do we go? Very confusing to find your way around the airport if you dont read french, and 95% of the people there dont speak ANY english. So we had to struggle with translation and drawing pictures.
Next we find the car rental place, they pull up our reservation and drag the car out. Its like a 2 person smart car, different brand. So i asked " this is the midsize car", you betchya. So we had to upgrade to something more of a ford focus style. Not a bad car, got decent mileage as far as what im used to. Ok lets pay for it, im sorry sir this card wont work. Try another, nope, another, nope, wife whips out some cards, not happenin. WTF!!! No credit card = no car. Oh no phones either. Not to mention its 7am there and only midnite back home, everyone we know is sleeping. Take check card? Sure but we have to double the deposit for debit cards. Me im ready to turn around and just go home, but there are no flights back til next morning. We get the car, and then realize our gps we brought doesnt have europe maps on it, ( my dumbass didnt even think of that). Getting out of Paris is a nightmare in itself if your not ready for the traffic and the way they drive over there. If theres a two inch gap they GO FOR IT, its crazy.
So no map no gps trying to find our way to Le Mans to stop in and check out the track. Took us 6hrs and some extremely high blood pressure before we got to the track. Watched a little practice for about an hour then decided we better get heading towards Laval which is another 80km away. That took us another 3-4 hrs and some serious discussions of divorce, and me planning a murder. We get to Laval, but couldnt find the right exit but knew we were in the right city. street signs occasionally change names depending on what neighborhood your in. We ended up going to another hotel to get directions to our place. Not far off but i definately woulda never found it.
We drove past the hotel 3 times, because its kinda hidden. The front has one little sign and it blends in well with the rest of the store fronts. Go to check in and no english, no parking, WTF where do i put my car. Well you can rent a parking spot in the lil garage downstairs. 10 car garage stall, which translates into about a 3 car garage in america. Apparently everything is extra, parking, breakfast, fresh towels, shit you dont expect.
Saturday back to the track for some more practice and qualifying. Went to the musuem at the track and that was pretty cool checking out all the old race cars.
Sunday, the Big Race. We sat in the Ducati tribune section which is the last turn before the straightaway. Pretty cool to see the stuff live. The ROAR of the bikes going by is pretty amazing to see and hear. The 125cc class was even kinda fun to watch, but a really long 24 laps. Watching Lorenzo blow it on a turn really sucked to watch, stoner had the race pretty much from the beginning. It was fun to watch everyone battle for the other 2 podium spots.
Flight home we all got business class again, and i was never happier to be back in mpls.
Moral of this story, do your homework even if your only going for a few days to a foreign country. Maps, Gps, currency exchange, check prices on stuff, even learning a few phrases could seriously help. Im glad i went, not sure i would go back to france ever again though. Oh and i really suck at operating my fancy camera, so i didnt even get any really good pictures at the track. They do make some wicked good bread over there though.
Our trip started out great, the wife and i got upgraded to business class. If you have ever been in business class, its quite a treat compared to coach for long flights. So we land in Paris, get off the plane and out into the airport. Uhhh where do we go? Very confusing to find your way around the airport if you dont read french, and 95% of the people there dont speak ANY english. So we had to struggle with translation and drawing pictures.
Next we find the car rental place, they pull up our reservation and drag the car out. Its like a 2 person smart car, different brand. So i asked " this is the midsize car", you betchya. So we had to upgrade to something more of a ford focus style. Not a bad car, got decent mileage as far as what im used to. Ok lets pay for it, im sorry sir this card wont work. Try another, nope, another, nope, wife whips out some cards, not happenin. WTF!!! No credit card = no car. Oh no phones either. Not to mention its 7am there and only midnite back home, everyone we know is sleeping. Take check card? Sure but we have to double the deposit for debit cards. Me im ready to turn around and just go home, but there are no flights back til next morning. We get the car, and then realize our gps we brought doesnt have europe maps on it, ( my dumbass didnt even think of that). Getting out of Paris is a nightmare in itself if your not ready for the traffic and the way they drive over there. If theres a two inch gap they GO FOR IT, its crazy.
So no map no gps trying to find our way to Le Mans to stop in and check out the track. Took us 6hrs and some extremely high blood pressure before we got to the track. Watched a little practice for about an hour then decided we better get heading towards Laval which is another 80km away. That took us another 3-4 hrs and some serious discussions of divorce, and me planning a murder. We get to Laval, but couldnt find the right exit but knew we were in the right city. street signs occasionally change names depending on what neighborhood your in. We ended up going to another hotel to get directions to our place. Not far off but i definately woulda never found it.
We drove past the hotel 3 times, because its kinda hidden. The front has one little sign and it blends in well with the rest of the store fronts. Go to check in and no english, no parking, WTF where do i put my car. Well you can rent a parking spot in the lil garage downstairs. 10 car garage stall, which translates into about a 3 car garage in america. Apparently everything is extra, parking, breakfast, fresh towels, shit you dont expect.
Saturday back to the track for some more practice and qualifying. Went to the musuem at the track and that was pretty cool checking out all the old race cars.
Sunday, the Big Race. We sat in the Ducati tribune section which is the last turn before the straightaway. Pretty cool to see the stuff live. The ROAR of the bikes going by is pretty amazing to see and hear. The 125cc class was even kinda fun to watch, but a really long 24 laps. Watching Lorenzo blow it on a turn really sucked to watch, stoner had the race pretty much from the beginning. It was fun to watch everyone battle for the other 2 podium spots.
Flight home we all got business class again, and i was never happier to be back in mpls.
Moral of this story, do your homework even if your only going for a few days to a foreign country. Maps, Gps, currency exchange, check prices on stuff, even learning a few phrases could seriously help. Im glad i went, not sure i would go back to france ever again though. Oh and i really suck at operating my fancy camera, so i didnt even get any really good pictures at the track. They do make some wicked good bread over there though.
