B&B in Balleroy

This evening we made it to the B&B in a very small village called Balleroy. There is an old castle here that is owned by the Forbes family. Evidently old man Forbes was a great guy who loved to visit this town in France and would frequent the local pub, greet his neighbors, and dote on his house staff. Everything we’ve discovered about his children, since his passing, is quite bland – they fly in on a private jet at Christmas to give out the Christmas bonus to the house staff and then roll out of town. So much for making good of the family name; it’s such a shame, the castle is so beautiful.

Mom and Dad have a room on the third floor which is really like an attic room to any of us Americans. It has a tiny door, like the one in “Alice In Wonderland” that you have to duck and squat through to enter the bedroom. I’m luckier with a room downstairs with two twin beds and plenty of room to spread out my things. While I don’t have a bathroom attached to my room, there’s one down the hall that I have all to myself.

That’s all for tonight, it’s time for some allergy medicine and a good night’s sleep.

"What did we do before we had GPS?"

You know, I hear people asking themselves and others the question: "What did we do before we had GPS?"

I used to wonder myself having always remembered having Map Quest, Map Blast, or Google Maps of some form ever since I could drive.

Having not been on a family road trip since that time, I have now experienced such a situation and know the answer to the often posed question.

So what did we do before GPS?

WE FOUGHT!

Let me just note in this post that I have no desire to ever go on another road trip where my Dad is the designated driver in a place that he is not completely familiar with on every level possible.

In order to partake on the next overseas adventure with my parents, my Mom has threatened me with the fact that I MUST learn how to drive a stick shift if I want to take another trip as a family.

Evidently if I drive, none of this bickering would have happened.

Whew, now I really wish I had felt comfortable driving a car with standard transmission...this trip requires earplugs if we're in the car.

Trains, Planes and Automobiles (In that order)

We left the hotel this morning after I chose to sleep in for breakfast while giving myself just enough time to stop into Harrods for a cheese scone, my favorite and only 39 pence (so less than $1 – beat that Starbucks!).

Mom and I had to find a way to compact our luggage from three items (purse, carry on bag, and checked back) to two (carry on and checked bag), so we did our best to make the temporary changes to not have to pay an extra bag fee with Ryan Air and all three of us were off – dragging our luggage through the tube stations until we reached the Liverpool Street station where we picked up the Stansted Express train that would bring us to the airport.

As usual, with my Dad in tow, we were incredibly early in checking in so we spent time wandering through the Duty Free shops and sat down at the airport bar for beers and a snack before our flight to France. We picked up lunch at Pret A Manger to bring on the plane and by the time we decided to walk down to our gate it was time to board.

The flight to France was just under an hour and we landed 5-minutes before we were due to arrive. The trouble began there when it took over an hour of waiting in line at the Avis counter for our rental car. Mom had requested a GPS, but for some reason they couldn’t find one for us, or a map (Mom: Do you have a map? Avis Jerk: No, I have no map for you). Customer service, ahhh, welcome to France.

We did finally get a car, and after Dad figured out the parking break we were off on a 2-hour drive to Balleroy.