Kyle Taylor – gaytravel.com Blogger
The five of us are closer than we every thought we’d be to getting back to the gay and lesbian travel mecca of London. We touch down in Barcelona just minutes before planned airport closures in Spain, the adrenaline is pumping through my veins. We are ON FIRE and it feels so good! We should give lessons on how to travel during environmental disasters.
After extensive conversation, we agreed that renting a car was the most cost-effective and timely way to get back to the gay destination of London. Unfortunately, every car in Europcar’s Northern European fleet is booked. EVERY SINGLE RENTAL CAR IN EUROPE IS BOOKED. The only hope is a cancellation or an early return. Hertz does have one vehicle that needs to be “taken home to France,” but the computer will not allow the employee to rent it until 7am. “Come back then and if you’re lucky, it will still be here.” Alas, once again, the computer wins in Europe.
Europcar is a flat out no. Avis has a sign up that says, “you’ve got to be kidding if you think we have cars available. Go away.” That was the gist, anyway. Just as we’re about to head to our hostel in a taxi, The Hertz guy waves me over from the other side of the terminal. I sprint at top speed to his counter, where he tells me they have a small compact car that was cancelled on the phone minutes earlier. We have five people and five large bags, but it has wheels and an engine, so we’re checking price. What might you guess Hertz charges for a car in times of crisis? $1200 per day? That’s right, TWELVE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR ONE DAY.
Fortunately, Charlie decides to make one last check with the other companies. Somehow National Car Rental emerges with a Citroen C4 5-door, which is still a compact car, but not quite as tiny. The price? It is just $400 including full insurance and 750 kilometers. Oh and $60 per day plus another $280 to return to a different location. I guess it’s not totally unreasonable. The important part is we’ve got wheels.
Thirty minutes later we’re struggling to close the trunk while duffel bags and pillows are piled shoulder-high on every passenger but the driver. We’re in, but just barely. A small part of me wonders if we wouldn’t be better off if we were still in Dubai. But, wait, they are still stuck in the hotel paying $160 per night to “wait it out.”
The first part of the final leg begins NOW. We just need to make it 1000 miles in 12 hours From Barcelona to Calais via Paris. Getting to the gay and lesbian travel hub of London is too easy. BRING IT ON!!!