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.
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The views from our hotel window
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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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
