Road Trip

Until recently in human history, a road trip was the only way to travel from one point to another- that is, if there were roads at all. And it certainly was not undertaken as lightly as it is today since distances of the past were much greater than those of the present, and everything required more time. We often complain that we have no time, but in fact we have more time now than ever.

Also until even more recently in human history, two women wouldn’t have been able to embark on such travel without the presence of a man thanks to a myriad of factors, none of which I’m going to delve into here. But the reality is that this still holds true in a number of places around the world. We were fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to do so since ours was through parts of Western Europe.

Perhaps we should be more appreciative of the League of Nations because even though it failed and was followed by WWII, it still set a precedent for peace that hadn’t previously been set, and laid the groundwork for future organizations and treaties in promoting the same. And with peace and plenty come time for reflection and cooperation. At least sometimes, and in theory. At least in the framework of the European Union.

While in the recent past the Pyrenees would have posed a formidable geographic border between Spain and France, well-built roads and tunnels paved our way across and through this ancient range of rocks and over country borders that are no longer manned by weapon-toting mammals. Empty patrol buildings stood in silent testimony. Traffic only slowed due to the sheer number of vehicles on the roads.

Somehow the heavy traffic determined the direction of our trip because after a night spent at a roadside hotel just outside of Montpellier (in which we were quick to lock ourselves in our room, where we had dinners of canned salads and bread sticks and avoided any feelings of discomfort we had as women traveling without a man in that particular area) the traffic was still heavy, we decided to take a definitive detour in Avignon, which ended up being the highlight of our trip. It was decided on a whim, a perfunctory exchange while only a few kilometers from the exit, and based on what I had quickly read from a Google Maps search and part of a conversation with a friend the night before in Barcelona, which I had not heard.

How it was versus how I imagined it to be was very different. But in the habit of following life, there was no agenda, and we were free to go where we were guided. Avignon was astoundingly alluring. Enveloped in stone, it was the first French town I was to see outside of Paris. Reserving a room in a bed and breakfast on the island just outside of the town, we were able to rest in quiet natural surroundings in between visits to the town itself. We ended up spending the entire weekend in the area, enjoying glimpses of its history in between a few delicious bites.

That Monday we continued northbound and ended up reserving a room in another rural bed and breakfast just outside of La Roche-sur-Foron. From the patio of our room we had views of both the surrounding farm and the not-so-distant mountains, and the following morning we woke up to horses grazing just steps away. It turns out they make much better neighbors than people. After breakfast we headed up to Switzerland via Geneva, only to discover that our particular data plan was blocked in the country. Not in the mood to go through the unnecessary hassle of getting another SIM card, we ultimately decided to spend only one night there, even though our original destination had been Bern. Booking a night at a hotel near the lake with data scraped from the French side from a beach where we spent the afternoon, we later enjoyed an absurdly expensive bowl of fondue for dinner, happy to return to France the following day.

We needed a new destination and decided on San Sebastian via Bordeaux. Halfway to Bordeaux, we stopped at a roadside hotel just outside of Sadroc to spend the night. A relic of the past but with young owners who cared about maintaining its quality, we had one of the best meals of our entire trip at the hotel’s restaurant before getting a good night of sleep and a couple of good recommendations for places to visit in the area. Our first stop of the day was the Edmont Michelet museum in Brive-la-Gaillarde, which wasn’t one of the recommendations, but was nonetheless an interesting place to visit. We then had a fantastic lunch in town before continuing on, and fantasized about living there for six months while learning French. Free water and cool air go a long way.

Of the recommendations, the first was to visit the town of Collonges-la-Rouge, which reminded me of a real-life Disney World without the attractions- and the corporation. The second was to visit the town of Turenne, capped by one of the many castles dotting the French landscape. Both were beautiful. By that time, morning had become late afternoon and it was too late to continue on to Bordeaux, so we booked a room at a rural hotel just outside of Turenne to spend the night. It was so quiet there that I slept soundly throughout the night without the use of any kind of soothing background noise or ear plugs for the first time in years.

The following morning we abandoned our plan to go to San Sebastian and with it Bordeaux and instead headed to Ax-les-Thermes on a more direct route home. A French Pyrenees’ Niagara Falls (but without the falls or the English), it is named for its thermal springs but stained by its casino. We enjoyed dinner at a French restaurant that served Spanish-style tapas. We missed the food in Spain.

We spent the final day driving all the way home. Neither the original destination nor the subsequent one became places that we even visited, but isn’t the point of a road trip to see places along the way, to create the illusion of control, and to fantasize about freedom?