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Writer's pictureAndrew Jack

Chapter 11 — French Tips (Part Deux)*

Tip 6 — do your research. While our first experience of Barcelona started well (tapas!), we slowly realised that apart from the magnificent Sagrada Família, we didn’t really know what else we should be trying to see. The clouds then appeared, it became really, really dark, and started to rain heavily, which left us all feeling damp, underwhelmed and frustrated. Fortunately, after some quick studying on Fiona’s part, our second day there proved a trip highlight, as we strolled in dappled sunshine along La Rambla, soaking up the Gaudí, and enjoyed chatting to some fellow Kiwis and seeing Te Kawau waka after stumbling across the America's Cup race village at the waterfront.


Tip 7 — take a break. As with most things in life, finding the balance has been key on this trip. Some of the best days have been when we’re actually not trying to do anything. Like relaxing in the apartment in Calafell on the days between our train trips in to Barcelona, or experiencing village life — a daily bread from the boulangerie, an afternoon espresso at the cafe, shopping at the local food market — during our stay in Saint-Saturnin-lès-Avignon.


Tip 8 — never ignore a warning light. After twice deciding that by turning the van off and then on again I had solved the issue of a flashing warning light, it became clear that we should probably get it checked when we arrived in Provence with the engine giving off more heat than a Disneyland fireworks display. With the help of our lovely Airbnb host, we arranged to drop it at the local Volkswagen dealership while we spent the day in Avignon, nervously awaiting the results of the diagnostic. We finally received an email informing us that the “Turbocharger Supercharger Radiator” needed to be replaced, which was either a bad French to English translation, or they had just picked the names of the three most expensive sounding components and stuck them together in a ridiculously implausible conglomeration, to justify me spending the equivalent of a small nation’s GDP to get the vehicle back on the road. Having little choice in the matter, we booked the van in for the repair and then hastily rearranged our accommodation options for the next week. On the plus side, when we eventually come to sell the van, an advert title that includes “complete with brand new Turbocharger Supercharger Radiator” will surely spark some interest, while there are worse places to be stranded for four extra nights than a pretty village in Provence.


Tip 9 — keep the Netflix subscription. Despite intentions of an 8-month break from TV, having family movie nights or watching videos of old rugby games from the 90s on Youtube as a way of fending off home sickness, is no bad thing.


Tip 10 — don’t forget the bug spray. Our short stay on the French Riveria wasn’t quite what we had hoped and dreamed, as thunder, lightning, torrential rain, flood warnings and mosquitos as large as house flies meant our last two nights camping on this trip were memorable for all the wrong reasons.


*Yes I know Barcelona isn’t in France. But according to people who actually live there, it’s not in Spain either, so there you go.




Barcelona

 




Calafell

 




Perpignan

 




Provence

 


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3 comentarios


sienna
20 oct

Cool

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Estelle
Estelle
20 oct

🤣🤣🤣 thanks for this post Andrew,I really enjoyed it 🤣..I forgot to tell you to avoid mechanics and hairdressers in France,my bad ...at least I hope they solved the problem! Keep going and enjoying this amazing trip! The photos are amazing☺️👏👏

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Contestando a

It always feels like mechanics are speaking a foreign language, but in this case they literally were 😬. Thanks for the tip re the hairdressers, will wait until we’re in Italy 😉

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