A Skimobile story.

Monday, May 14, 2018
Gijón, Asturias, Spain and Canary Islands
Simon has edited the previous entries so they now have a map showing the Skimobile route. The maps do not show any deviations from the route planned or unplanned.  Simon has also added in an overall map of our route ( red line ) Porto Airport to Orly Airport to be travelled during the 3 weeks we had the Skimobile. 
We left Ribadeo on Monday morning and drove north, heading to Gijon. Our drive, was like previous days, through very picturesque countryside. Susan got quite good at taking photos while The Skimobile was moving. As you drive through the countryside you come across a sign saying xyz village and before you know it saying xyz village with a line through it. We had driven through.  These villages often had nothing just a name. Sometimes you exited one village and entered another 20m yes 20m further on. Simon is unsure why they are named places. Some of these villages   hamlets are actually vacant, as the younger people want the big cities. Gijon, as you can see on the map is by the sea. Our hotel, the Hotel Hernán Cortés was a more traditional hotel with a very formal lobby. The booking system was a bit more antique looking with a paper spreadsheet of the rooms visible just like when a Susan worked at the Vacation Inn last century. ie. the Pre-computer age. They did have a computer as well and modern key cards. The hotel was a 5 minute walk from the beach so we headed there for a wee look. We found a ‘cafe’  which was open for some food before heading back to the hotel.  
Simon did his usual on a Tuesday morning, he went for a run. A longer run than his recent runs as it was such a nice morning plus he wanted to run up to a look out. The run was like being out at Taylors Mistake heading up to Godley Head. Jason and Nigel you both know how good a run that is. 
We then left for Santander which was going swimmingly well until just before the wee village of Santillana, the driver, Simon took evasive action as a car coming towards us was heading too closely for comfort to the Skimobile. The Skimobile headed right and hit some moguls ( a skiing term ) = hitting the kerb, which made a Ski go pop. We drove onto a safe place to stop and had a look. Not one but both Skis on the right hand side of the Skimobile had popped. tío, tío, tío. While Susan tried to phone Eurolease ( EuroLease state that is the first thing to do - phone the 24h, English speaking number but of course no, non, no. Simon headed to find somewhere open to ask for assistance. An English speaking hotel manager ( did not live locally) found that there was a Ski shop 3km back. Meanwhile Susan had struck platinum and was talking to a Victoria ( spoke a little bit of English ) at another Ski Shop in Viveda, 6km forward of us. They had our skis in stock and one of the men would drive out to rescue us. While Susan had been talking to Victoria, Simon had put on the reserve ski which was not a full ski but it was a start. We hadn’t had lunch but for some reason neither skier was hungry. We smiled and then stood & sat in the Sun until LoLo (his real name ) turned up in his van took the 2nd damaged ski off and headed back to his workshop. He returned with a new ski which we Oops he ( he wouldn’t let Simon assist ) fitted to The Skimobile and then followed him back to the workshop so he could rotate the Skis so 2 new were both at the rear and the existing good skis (1000km old) were at the front. At 6pm the workshop was all go. 6 ski bays all in action. The Spanish work day is so confusing to us 9to5ers. Once the Skimobile was back to earth ( off the hoist ) we said muchas gracias, muchas gracias, muchas gracias ..... and paid €312.25 to Victoria. So after just under 3 hours we were sorted. We then drove the Skimobile cautiously onto Santander arriving at about 7.30pm. After unpacking the Skimobile and then finding a park as none were available at hotel Simon had a cold one - our 4€ Chilly Bag was earning its keep we headed downstairs for a feed. Looking back at the possible what if’s 
What if Simon had been skiing more slowly - he wasn’t skiing fast but ....?
What if we couldn’t find a ski shop?
What if we found a ski shop but did not carry our size ski in stock?
What if we couldn’t find someone who spoke English?
What if it was after hours?
What if EuroLease had answered the phone? How quickly would have been able to do anything? Eurolease are in Paris.
What if it was raining?
Lastly what if we were say in Glenavy ( near the Waitaki river ) would the AA had been as quick and efficient? 
Anyway that is so yesterday The Skiing continues.
It had rained overnight and was a bit cooler so when Simon went for a morning walk, yes only a walk, to the Atlantic Ocean he was not tempted to have a swim.
After breakfast we were heading to Bilbao. 
Postscript:
That night Susan contact Mel at House of Travel Ferrymead to ask her what do as we hadn’t been able to get hold of Eurolease? Mel replied with the contact details for the NZ manger who Susan was able to send her photos of the Skimobile damage, screenshots showing the number ( the correct one ) Susan had tried to ring and a copy of the invoice and by Friday  morning ( Spanish time ) our reimbursement had been approved. A great positive for using a travel agent. 
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Comments

Leanne
2018-05-19

Glad none of those 'what ifs' featured during your incident.

2025-02-12

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