How I Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix.
We've just come back from a very pleasant week in Mallorca1. It was one of those holidays that had to be planned with military precision due to the number of people involved. OK, it was only six, but this involved hiring two cars and therefore, finding two working2 satnavs and that was enough for me. We took night flights 'cos they were a lot cheaper, ending up in Palma at three3 in the morning.
We picked up the cars - one very nice Fiesta diesel which my son hired from Goldcar and one Lancia 1.4i Musa POS4 I hired from Hertz. We loaded up and set off for Cala Ferrera getting lost in some one-horse town half way due to the crap mapping in the Gamin. At some point in the journey my wife casually remarked, "D'you think someone will be in reception at five in the morning?5". There was a family-pause and a collective "Ah."
The satnav took us to the middle of a very quiet rabbit warren of one-way avenues all lined with Fiestas & Lancia Musa POS's and nowhere to park. We found something that looked reception-ish but had no lights on inside. We eventually abandoned the cars back in Palma and walked back through an alleyway following the sign that said "Recepcion" - this took us back to the same no-lights-on-building6. As we walked up to the doors they opened as per Star Trek and a voice from the back said "Hola, I watch you drive past three times already. Passaportes please7".
We went back in the light later on the same day.
There is a sign on top of the building in three feet high letters that says "Playa Ferrera Apartments", which of course you can see in the dark can't you?
1Ma-yor-ca as we used to know it or Ma-jork-ka. Or even "Shag-a-loof".
2Long story. I was testing out my trusty old Gamin i3 by sticking it to the window of the conservatory when the sucker failed and it smashed to pieces on the tiled floor below. Several winning eBay bids later I managed to fix it and have enough bits over to make another one. Anyone want an i3?
3A tip: Fly at night. Ignoring the 238 passengers and aircrew, there are four people in Palma Airport in the early hours of the morning: The passport bloke, some random fellow in uniform and the two car rental chappies.
4To get it to go up hills you have to rev it to 6,500, the tacho only goes to seven and this particular engine complained like billy-o at 6,300. I therefore spent most of my driving time going up and down the crap 6-speed box. The brakes however were too good to make up for it, throwing my wife through the windscreen on several occasions - that's my story anyway. How it get goods reviews I'll never know.
5Yes.
6This is were it is for those people who might care:
Playa Ferrera Apartments
07669 Cala Ferrera
Cala Ferre.
*Exact* Satnav coordinates: N39.38105 E3.23866
7This will be the subject of the next post. It gets too complicated...
We picked up the cars - one very nice Fiesta diesel which my son hired from Goldcar and one Lancia 1.4i Musa POS4 I hired from Hertz. We loaded up and set off for Cala Ferrera getting lost in some one-horse town half way due to the crap mapping in the Gamin. At some point in the journey my wife casually remarked, "D'you think someone will be in reception at five in the morning?5". There was a family-pause and a collective "Ah."
The satnav took us to the middle of a very quiet rabbit warren of one-way avenues all lined with Fiestas & Lancia Musa POS's and nowhere to park. We found something that looked reception-ish but had no lights on inside. We eventually abandoned the cars back in Palma and walked back through an alleyway following the sign that said "Recepcion" - this took us back to the same no-lights-on-building6. As we walked up to the doors they opened as per Star Trek and a voice from the back said "Hola, I watch you drive past three times already. Passaportes please7".
We went back in the light later on the same day.
There is a sign on top of the building in three feet high letters that says "Playa Ferrera Apartments", which of course you can see in the dark can't you?
1Ma-yor-ca as we used to know it or Ma-jork-ka. Or even "Shag-a-loof".
2Long story. I was testing out my trusty old Gamin i3 by sticking it to the window of the conservatory when the sucker failed and it smashed to pieces on the tiled floor below. Several winning eBay bids later I managed to fix it and have enough bits over to make another one. Anyone want an i3?
3A tip: Fly at night. Ignoring the 238 passengers and aircrew, there are four people in Palma Airport in the early hours of the morning: The passport bloke, some random fellow in uniform and the two car rental chappies.
4To get it to go up hills you have to rev it to 6,500, the tacho only goes to seven and this particular engine complained like billy-o at 6,300. I therefore spent most of my driving time going up and down the crap 6-speed box. The brakes however were too good to make up for it, throwing my wife through the windscreen on several occasions - that's my story anyway. How it get goods reviews I'll never know.
5Yes.
6This is were it is for those people who might care:
Playa Ferrera Apartments
07669 Cala Ferrera
Cala Ferre.
*Exact* Satnav coordinates: N39.38105 E3.23866
7This will be the subject of the next post. It gets too complicated...
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