The 3hr stopover at Dubai airport went very quickly and we were soon onto the final leg, but unfortunately the plane had been changed from an A380 to a Boeing 777. The pilot explained that this was because of the 380s being pulled from service to be checked (for cracks in the wings according to the news). The 7hr flight seemed cramped and the food pretty bad, the breakfast being almost inedible and perhaps the worst aircraft meal we’ve ever had. Having not slept during the second flight we were very pleased to arrive in Paris.
Amazingly quickly through security and out to track down our hire car. We had booked a 7-seater MPV so we could max out what we could fit in for our planned stop at Ikea, but the car we had booked wasn’t available, though a similar one was. It wasn’t as big as we had hoped but nonetheless we were off in a brand-new black Golf Touran by 4pm and with the magical GPS drove the few minutes to the nearest Ikea.
Our most important purchase was to be the sofa-bed but on receiving the 3 large boxes plus assorted bits that make it up, could not quite make it fit into the car, no matter how much we pushed and pulled. Darn! We had to return most of the boxes and get a refund. Not to be daunted, we then proceeded to buy up heaps of smaller stuff, including a couple of small tables, crockery and cutlery, bedding etc. It all took an enormous length of time and we didn’t leave until the place was closing its doors at 8pm. By this time we were pretty tired and hungry. We didn’t have any Euros with us so had to track down an ATM along the route (note to self, get money at airport early). It was dark and raining but we found a pizza place close to the ATM and bought takeaway falafel-type things at 9pm.
Now to start the 9hr trip south to Perpignan! We started to look for a cheap hotel pretty soon as we were very tired and my head kept falling down every 5 seconds or so, so I wasn’t much good trying to keep John awake. We gave up and, after much scouting for an appropriate spot, drove down a little road by a town cemetery (very quiet, neighbours no problem), reclined the seats, pulled out the lovely feather duvet and pillows we had bought at Ikea and bedded down at midnight.
