Mon, 14 Apr 2003

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 19:26 BST 16/04/03	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 1 ( all photos )

Across a few Countries ( 4 photos )
Awaking somewhat painfully on Monday morning, it was nice not to be at work, but instead three countries and a big lump of water away. Still, our aim for the day was to get back there in time for work the next morning, so that's what we did.
Choosing to bee-line it straight for Calais, we stopped only twice for brunch, fuel and the like as we crossed through the bottom of the Netherlands and then the tops of Belgium and France. It would have been nice to have taken longer, but plenty of time for that later. Today we had to get home. Sure, the scenery was nice and varied quite a bit, and the road signs were all different, but it was just a long, if interesting, drive on a motorway to us.
We arrived at Calais very early, 3pm for a 6:40pm ferry. After asking in my worst high-school French if the man there spoke English (I expected he would, but thought it might have been rude to presume so), everyone in the office laughed at me! Well, I think I said the right thing...
Anyway, he asked if we wanted to go on the 3:15pm ferry instead - so we did, eager to get home earlier. The trade-off is that we didn't have time to sample any of the famous Caliais cheap produce that the British love to come and bring back in huge quantites on day trips. There's always next time.
So, Rosie rumbled her way on to the ferry, where we had a relax in the bar before a bit of a wander around the ship as we waved goodbye to "big proper joined-on Europe" for the moment. We grabbed a few essentials at the on-board shops, and before we knew it (1:15, actually), we were back in Britain.
No problems with customs on either side, and in fact for two Australians arriving in a Combi on Dutch plates we expected a lot of scrutiny. Both sides of the channel were happy to see us, and we drove basically straight through, back onto English soil.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 19:26 BST 16/04/03	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Back in England ( 1 photo )
(Continued from Netherlands 1)
I had expected to see more signs reminding you which side of the road to drive on once back in Dover, but you just sort of had to work it out. We managed ok, my brain more than a little confused, but no major problems as we now had to check competely different blind spots for passing cars.
Only one stop on the way back to Cricklewood, before we arrived home fairly early, got all of our gear out of Rosie, locked her up good and tight, demolished some food and retired to bed.

What an adventure. We are both very keen for more travel, both to Turkey on Friday an dour big Europe trip, starting mid-June. We'll keep you posted.

(customised)