Holidays with no bike – Christmas 2017

It’s that time of the year when the Cribs are set,

the streets are enlightened with Christmas decorations and we can feel that festive atmosphere in the cold air of the streets, and here we go, the 3 of us, for the first time on a long trip.

Well, we had already taken a plane the 3 of us in September…

But this time, as we can’t get the side-car yet (Emma is too small), it is by car that we start our 2 weeks long road trip (first time are always big adventures!).

We start with a few hours by car up to Dublin, where we take a ferry. In the ferry Emma seems to enjoy the scenery, and then crawls around between the tables (mostly empty) of the ferry lounge (well then, the carpets were not very clean though… lol).

We disembark in Holyhead, it looks like we are in Wales, as the names seem absolutely impossible to pronounce… And here we start our crossing of the UK. We stop for the night in Stafford, a hotel we booked from the ferry, very nice and comfy and very cheap.

The next day we go on, to get to the Eurotunnel. We arrive there 2 hours before the booking time, so we have to pay a supplement if we want to take a train before the one we booked. As there is a delay in all trains, the sooner we get in the queue, the sooner we’ll be on the other side. So here we are in those giant wagons below the English Channel. If we think about it, it IS really a masterpiece of engineering. But Emma wasn’t too bothered about it lol .

Once in France, and as we lost one hour under the Channel, we try to go as far as possible, and we stop for the night in Reims, with nothing to declare.

The following day we have a very long road at sight, and it becomes even longer with a huge traffic jam close to Valence. We are stuck in traffic for 2h30 (1 hour announced on the signage).

We finally get to our destination around 10pm, where we will spend one week of rest and family time.

On the way back we make a few stops for friends and family.

We spend the New Year’s Eve in Beaune, town we chose randomly on airbnb, and that happens to be a lovely town where it would be worth spending some more days for tourism.

After 2 other stops to visit family and friends, here we are again in the Eurotunnel (on time), just after a big storm that went across France, UK and Ireland. We go through England and Wales at once. Traffic is quite heavy but funnily people drive quite well and there is hardly any traffic jam. We arrive to Holyhead around 9pm.

The day after we take the ferry, which rocks Emma to sleep, and makes me half seasick (only “half” thanks to the pills). We get to Dublin and after a few hours drive here we are back in our Home Sweet Home. And under the Sun, it’s important to say it! We were very lucky as the day before all ferries had been cancelled because of the storm!

Noteworthy:

*English people “stealing” our old carts 😉

*the Customs agents who congratulate Juan for the car boot being so well organised lol

*the restaurants and shopping centres in France absolutely unprepared to go with babies (no changing facilities, no highchairs). Which is quite strange as France is the European country with the highest birth rate…

*we now know by heart all the nursery rhymes in French and Spanish lol

*Emma has been through the 4200km in 2 weeks without any problem. Yeah !