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Thursday 20th September
After a night of manic shopping and packing I didn't feel even remotely ready for Home2Rome by the time I left for work in the morning. At least all the hotels and the Eurotunnel was booked.
Unfortunately, we'd left booking the chunnel crossing till late and as a result of the price hikes, we'd booked ourselves onto the 10:50pm crossing. The conditions of the ticket theoretically would permit us to turn up as early at 8:50 and try and get our way onto the next crossing.. but whether that would work or not remained to be seen.
As luck would have it, I managed to get out of work on time and headed home to see what the postman had brought and pack the last few essential items. Where had I put that MOT certificate?
As is typical with these things, most of the stuff I'd ordered off eBay had arrived in time. Things, such as the viper stripes that I'd ordered in plenty of time off a regular internet store had failed to to turn up. Still, all the essentials were in order, so by 6:30 I was on the road. Traffic was on my side and I arrived to pick up Lucy, Sye and Jen from Folkestone just before 8.
With the car fully laiden we were ready for the off. We arrived at the Eurotunnel terminal by 8:30 and were allowed straight on the train without any delay. Definitely worth booking those cheaper tickets!
The crossing provided ample time to finish off sticking the spare stickers onto the Volvo. For one reason or another, we'd used the home2rome stickers on our BMW for CzechWrecks and so mused over what to do with the redundant "Let Skoda Prague" labels that had been made up. After some debate, cutting out and playing with the sticky letters, our new team name "Les Dronken Rats" was born! (Yes, I know that's not quite an anagram of "Let Skoda Prague" - but amazing what can be achieved with a pair of scissors and some creative flare).
By the time we'd finished off the stickers, the train had arrived in Calais. As unloading began, a brief moment of panic set in as the Volvo refused to start. Fortunately, 2nd attempt and we were on our way to registration. With all the paperwork signed and selaed by 11pm, our final task of the day was to check into the Formule 1 hotel.
I'd heard mixed reports about the very reasonably priced F1 hotels so approached with an open mind. Fortunately the on-line booking system had done us proud and we were checked in and greeted by a burley security guard demanding to keep our passports. Slightly uneasy after he'd taken them and discarded them into an anonymous cardboard box - we set off to find our rooms. Sye had likened the F1 to staying the night in a McDonalds and his analagy seemed surprisingly accurate on finding our room. No en-suite here, but a clean (if slightly smelly) room awaited us. Toilets and showers were dotted around and shared much in common with the coin operated conveniences you might find on the street.
After a trip back to the registration point to meet and share some beers with our fellow competitors, we eventually turned in for the night at 1am.
Urg - we'd agreed to meet at 7:45am... time for sleep...
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