A night away from home.

Yesterday we set off for a journey of approximately one and a half hours. No problem getting to Alicante but then we hit diversions, what a nightmare, stopped at a pedestrian crossing and a car drove right into the back of us, now we have a nice new dint and a crack in the rear bumper. Eventually manage to work our way out via diversions (the Spanish are not really wonderful with diversion signs) and off we go again. However now we take a wrong turn and end up in some tourist resort we can' find a way out of. What seemed like hours later we are back on route and heading up the mountains towards our destination, now there is a terrific bang and we thought the truck passing the other way had crashed, but no, it was thunder, down came the rain. We reach our destination, it's only taken 4 hours, when lo and behold another storm, thunder and lightning and torrential rain. Now we can't find the hotel. Guess who had to get out of the car in the torrential rain, ankle deep in water to run to a shop and ask for directions? I was absolutely soaked.
Off we go following the directions, we find the road, it's blocked off, so I get soaked again running to another shop to ask how we get there as the only roads leading to it were one way streets. No problem, I'm told, use the one way street, the roads are blocked because tonight is the running of the bulls. Okay we risk it and use a one way street, then turn the car round to face the correct way. Just time for a shower, hair wash and get changed and it was time for friends to pick us up to go to the party. I went to get my laptop and cameras out of the car boot, not there, they were still at home, I'd forgotten to pick them up. I'm happy to say it was a wonderful night, many old friends from England there and we met some lovely people, the venue was lovely and the food was wonderful.

After this we were dropped back at the hotel but sleep was impossible, drums being banged all night, very loud firecrackers being let off all night, evidently this is part of the fiesta and is called "waking the dead", they were still waking the dead when we left the hotel at 10 a.m. this morning.

We then went to visit the friends whose wedding anniversary it had been, from there we went to Monro's carvery and then set off home. This time Mr "I'm not paying motorway tolls" decided he would and we got all the way back to Alicante with no trouble. Then we hit trouble again, traffic jam for as far as you could see, we were stuck there for an hour or more, nothing movng. Then the traffic started moving again but one lane only, there was a big truck completely smashed up, it looked as if it had turned over. Unfortunately it was blocking the turn off we needed so we had to continue on the motorway and come off quite some way further on so it was the long way home. I was so glad to be home, hot, sweaty and sticky but home. I think we almost divorced half a dozen times on this trip !

Re: A night away from home.

Blimey Loretta! What an adventure.

Bet you were glad to be home. And how awful, leaving things at home that you needed/wanted. I'd call that the final straw.

Re: A night away from home.

The final straw Jazzi was when I put on my new necklace, sort of 3 blue flowers in a row, one had turned the wrong way so I turned it back and all the petals fell off !

Re: A night away from home.

Oh no!! Did you, at any time, feel like bursting into tears? Think I would have done.

Re: A night away from home.

Reminds me of the time I was leaving Stansted airport on return from our holiday. I took a wrong turn 3 times on the trot and what should have been an hour and a quarter journey home finished up a four hour journey. There and then I was determined to always take my sat nav in future.

Re: A night away from home.

We do have a sat nav Alan but himself is a bit deaf and not at all techie so it's still "what did it say?" and after telling him 3 times he's missed it anyway. Heaven only knows how he found his way about when he was a truck driver !

Re: A night away from home.

I don't know about bursting into tears Jazzi, I felt more like committing murder

Re: A night away from home.

I can understand about Stansted Airport being a bit confusing, as Mum and I left my car in its car park for one holiday and I got confused.

But Bury St Edmunds does it for me. Didn't have a sat nav when driving there years ago when visiting a friend. Went along the same road several times, in circles. Arghhhhhh!

Re: A night away from home.

Oh Clumsy that must have been just terrible, my heart goes out to you.
XX

Re: A night away from home.

Loretta, I'm still reading yesterday's Mail and Joan Collins wrote an article which almost mirrored yours! She and Percy were driving from St Tropez to a place called Gordes, a maximum journey of 2 and 1/2 hours, to attend a wedding.

Their sat nav sent them in all directions and it took 5.15 hours. To find the door to their hotel room was glued shut with fresh paint. They had 15 minutes to freshen up before the ceremony.

Percy, fiddling with the sat nav, discovered it had been set to avoid all toll roads!! It was a hire car and the previous hirer had set it.