More preparation for the great escape

A great nights sleep, slept like the proverbial security guard!

The first order of the day was to arrange transport over the ditch and into 'old Europe' as the American's are fond of saying. I was expecting it to be expensive but we had one quote of over 200GBP which was quite demoralizing although we have settled on using the chunnel for 90GBP but it means that we arrive in France quite late in the evening so we've gone the safe route and booked into a formula 1 hotel for the first night. I've checked that the GPS knows where the hotel is so we shouldn't have any issues finding it.

We went to get a pukka MSR bottle for the stove today and driving by the GPS is simply amazing. We had absolutely no idea where we were going, just followed the arrow and miracle of miracles we found the shop we were looking for. Dead easy!

We stopped at a 'thorntons chocolatier', it sounds so much more sophisticated in french, shop and had a couple of hot chocolates and something small to eat. It was very nice but it actually cost the same as a full meal including drinks back in johannesburg. Caron has managed to lock up her credit card and it can't be reset without appearing in person at a standard bank branch - in south Africa! Fortunately it isn't our only card but methinks this is a significant flaw in the EMV implementation. Just wait until someone's one and only card gets locked and they're overseas; I predict a hissy fit of note!

We spent some time in the afternoon cleaning the car, packing and then repacking several times and then went out with John and Julie to an Italian pizzeria for a
farewell dinner. The table next to us had 28 people at it, 26 women and 2 men; talk about being outnumbered. When it came time to pay for the meal we called for the bill but john had surreptitiously already paid it. We're not really sure when he managed to do it because we definitely didn't notice him doing it but he was very pleased with himself, grinning like a cheshire cat that got the cream! John and Julie have been very kind and hospitable to us while we have got all the threads of the trip together.

On the way home we drove down the high street and there were girls in 'little black number' type dresses. I was cold in jeans and a fleece jacket so I don't want to know how cold they were; what people will suffer through to look good!