Rustique France

The Road Trip 2017

An adventure in human relations & tribulations

A Father & Son bonding session

Part 2

Now that we have experienced the first part of our Road Trip, it is time to move onto the more “adventurous” part of the journey, but first a couple of recollections.

For me to fill the role of “navigator” to assist and interpret Madam GPS was always a contentious choice. As anyone who has driven with me would know, my navigational skills are well & truly of secondary standard. But as this was Chris’ journey and he wanted to experience the drive, I had little choice but to acquiesce to his suggestion……….perhaps he might come to regret that decision at some point in the journey.

We had made Nice without too much drama and had refreshed ourselves for a fresh start this morning on our shortish leg to Genoa in Northern Italy. As the journey was only around 2.5 hours, our objective was to drive to Genoa and then follow the coast road back to a number of villages and towns on the coast that cannot be accessed from the autostrada. A good plan we thought at the time…..but little did we know what was ahead.

The actual drive to Genoa was incident free and provided some glorious sights of the Mediterranean and the coastal villages. We agreed to drive to the Hotel (in Pegli, a suburb of Genoa and around 8 kms from the centre of the city) and drop our luggage before making the journey back along the coast. Initially traffic was not bad, but soon deteriorated as we got closer to the city. Madam GPS was doing a fine job and even “the navigator” was holding up.

The views from our hotel window

As we found ourselves approaching the hotel, we knew that the car park was at the back of the building and so we needed to find our way to the back. Trouble began when we found two different streets immediately on both sides of the hotel……which one should we take??? Madam GPS was determined not to assist on this occasion and “the navigator” was left to make a choice. “Take the first street” I said to Chris and as he turned into the street, it quickly became obvious that this was not a street….not even a lane…it narrowed sharply and as we reached the crest there was a small parking area for about 4 cars…but there were 6 cars parked there.

Ok I said, as I saw another area behind us and through a gateway ………this could be the Hotel (then again it might not be). Chris did a 27 point turn and managed to drive into the gated area only to find again about 7 cars parked in 5 spaces. Oh dear I thought….this is not the Hotel (in fact it was an old persons retirement home). Another 27 point turn in a very tight spot and at last we were facing the right way to get out.

As Chris drove out we soon found ourselves very close to the automatic gate and I was charged with making sure that we got out without contact with that gate. Well despite much swearing and other language from both of us, I guided Chris out cleanly with barely ½ an inch between the car and the gate……..at least that’s what I thought. While I was busy watching to bodywork clear the gate, I unfortunately missed the motor for the gate and it managed to gouge a nice big hole in the low profile (and costly Continental tyres of the Mercedes). Much more vibrant language was heard all over Genoa once again and even the caretaker of the home came out to complain about the damaged motor (actually it was only the cover that was damaged and the motor still worked).

With the caretaker rabbiting on in Italian (not even having the courtesy of being able to speak in English) and requesting Chris’ insurance details, we gave him the Travel Insurance details. Little did he know that our travel insurance did not work like normal car insurance. He even tried to call them on the phone, but failed to realise the time difference between Italy and Australia. He at least did explain that the Hotel parking was in the next street immediately past the Hotel itself. With air gushing out of the tyre, we managed expertly to drive back down the lane and into traffic and then up the next street to the parking area.

Once inside the hotel, we realised that our objective of visiting other coastal towns was now a non-starter and we spoke with the hotel reception about finding a replacement tyre. Well of course, a new Continental low profile tyre could not be found anywhere in Genoa and we would need to have one delivered from Milan, but that would not arrive until mid-afternoon the next day. The hotel was able to get a friendly motor mechanic to come to the hotel after 7pm and take our wheel away and put on a suitable second hand tyre that would do us for about 50-100 kms. This was enough to get us to the tyre shop about 1 km from the hotel the next afternoon.

Well now with plenty of time on our hands, we reluctantly managed to explore the local area and find somewhere for a meal that evening. It was not central Genoa, but it was right on the coast. The next morning, as we had plenty of time to wait for the tyre to be delivered, we opted to take the bus into Genoa and explore the city proper. The bus ride took about 45 minutes and stopped regularly for the predominantly elderly patrons………we had plenty of time and so it did not worry us too much. On arrival at the harbour in Genoa, we left the bus and explored the city on foot. I have to say that it was not one of my favourites, but that might have had more to do with our mood rather than the city itself. As Chris said, the “cons” seemed to outweigh the ‘pros” but that was just our opinion. After a couple of hours walking and photographing Genoa, we settled for a reasonable “Sushi” lunch just for a change from local.

Genoa Harbour

The return bus trip was another experience and this time as we got on at the first stop, we managed to get seats with no problems, but at the very next stop the bus filled with patrons both elderly and youth from nearby schools. It was now so packed that Chris could not even get up to offer an old lady his seat…..she just continued to glare at him for the entire journey, which took the best part of an hour. Finally we made it back to the hotel, but still had an hour to kill before setting off for the tyre change.

Downtown Genoa

Because of the delayed departure, we had to reconsider our itinerary and while we had intended to push onto Innsbruck in Austria that night, the timing told us otherwise. We decided on diverting the trip to Lake Garda in northern Italy where Kerrie & I had visited about 6 months ago …..it is a great spot and a wonderful stop over.

While it only took about 60 seconds to change the tyre, it did cost €180 but we were simply happy to be able to move on again. The drive onto Lake Garda was uneventful and the language in the car had settled back to a degree of normality considering my navigational skills. As we drove through the hills and then mountains of northern Italy, there were some great views and a couple of stops for the inevitable photos. After arriving at our hotel, we took a drive into Pescheria del Garda (right on the lake) to explore and take more photos in the fading light. Chris was again most upset with my inability to find the spot that Kerrie & I had visited 6 months prior and again a few choice words were exchanged as we searched for a suitable parking area close to the water. Mission accomplished and an hour’s walk and photos shoot finished the frustrating day. Later that night after dinner, Chris even allowed me the luxury of having a glass of Laphroaig whiskey to calm me done. Well done son.

The final day saw us heading to Basel, which is located right on the borders of France, Switzerland and Germany. We both had flights departing Basel the next day to finish the road trip stage of Chris’ journey. Again the trip into Basel took us through some wonderful scenery of high rugged mountains and beautiful lakes (Garda, Como & Lugarno). It was indeed necessary to switch roles driving and navigating (not that we need much of the latter at that stage) so that Chris could take some photos from the car, as there were few places to stop for them.

Lake Garda

The final leg saw us arrive on the outskirts of Basel only to find a combination of peak hour traffic and roadworks. It took us a good hour to go 8 kms, but finally we actually made it to our hotel where we checked in. We were supposed to drop off the Mercedes at the airport (French side) at 3pm, but it was now 5pm. None the less Madam GPS made one last gesture of help by bypassing all of the heavy traffic and we found our way to the correct side of the airport without any problems.

View from the Car crossing into Switzerland from Italy

Now we simply had to find our way back to the hotel……..ahhh we thought, let’s take a taxi. Sure enough, we found the taxi rank and all of the drivers pointed us in the direction of one cab…..a brand new BMW 7 series limo. Of course we did not think until after we arrived at the hotel that perhaps we should have taken an ordinary basic taxi. The cost of our ride (about 12 minutes) was €55 against the normal €27, but hey we had a great ride with the driver accelerating to 110 kmh in a 50 kmh zone and some hairy lane changes….he was obviously in a hurry  to get back to the airport and catch some other poor suckers.

Some of the imposing scenery in Switzerland - viewed from the car

And so ended our road trip together as we each headed our separate ways the next morning…..me flying to Bordeaux and Chris off to Copenhagen to start his journey through Scandinavia and onto the Northern Lights.

It is fair to say that there were a few times where voices were a little raised and some serious glares at times, but I do know that both of us fully enjoyed and appreciated the journey together. For me the best parts were at the end of each day when we would sit down for dinner and simply talk about all kinds of things. It had been quite some time since I had spent any quality time with my son and for this journey I am forever grateful. It just went to show me how much he had matured and become a wonderful, thoughtful and caring person.

I simply hope that he enjoys the rest of his journey and that he does indeed feel the need to come back in the near future to visit us again and then to explore Austria & Germany that he missed out on this time around.

Perhaps I might even join him again.