August 7, 2017
That's Not A Pillow!: 'Planes Trains and Automobiles' Reprised
Drive from Gravenhurst to Missassauga. Pick up bikes.
Drive from Missassagua to Pearson International. Check in. Fly to Paris.
Retrieve bikes and bags at CDG. All there and in good condition. High Five!
Pick up rental car. The car is actually what the booking said! An Opel Astra estate (station wagon for you folks in NA). Second high Five! Bikes and bags fit 'like a glove'.
Drive to Nantes, about 4 hours driving with a few caffeine stops. A few tense moments when we realise that we're on a toll road with lint rather than Euro's in our pockets (cash machines at CDG weren't working). No issues though, toll booths took credit cards.
Arrive in Nantes around 4:30, find our Warm Showers host (thank god for GPS!). Build bikes, take bike boxes to recycling and return rental car. Take taxi back to Warm Showers host.
Had wonderful dinner and evening with WS hosts. Collapse into bed after 30 hours of no sleep.
The trip is on.
You might notice that there is no train (directly) involved. We did try to book a train from CDG to Nantes while we were still at home. This was rapidly turning into a nightmare as all websites kept putting us on TGV's which generally don't take bikes. After several days of trying to book a train, we found out we could book a car for about the same price.
Turns out this was a wise decision as we both shudder at the thought of us schlepping bikes boxes to and from trains, or building up the bikes at CDG and then disposing of the boxes.
Tomorrow is a 'run around and get organized day'. We hope to leave Nantes sometime in the afternoon.
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