What was meant to be a quiet camping holiday (staying on a camping in the South of France for ten days, reading books, enjoying the sunshine and taking the occasional swim) turned out to be quite the road trip. Both my travelling companion and I enjoyed the driving so much that we were actually a bit disappointed when we arrived at the planned destination after our two-day drive. Also, the camping site was in the mountains with lots of trees and we both felt a bit cramped – we craved for the sea and wide views. So despite the fact that the car was over-loaded and full of stuff that was useful for our initial plan but NOT for a road trip where we would have to pack and unpack every day, we decided to just drive on and see where we’d get. We just picked our destinations along the way, guided by impulse or by what we saw on the map. First we drove all the way to the South-East near the Spanish border, then we crossed the country to the Atlantic Ocean, with stops in Carcassone and Lourdes, then we slowly made our way back North along the coast. Total distanced travelled: around 4000 kilometres in eleven days… I’m normally not much of an improvisation person, but now it didn’t bother me at all. The driving cleared my head, all worries had been boiled down to the most basic needs (finding somewhere cheap to set up our little tents and finding something good to eat) and we were constantly standing in awe of the amazing surroundings we encountered. Great trip!
