Morning from Spa. Good sleep last night, tent was perfect. Just enough space and my bag kept me plenty toasty. Many more people carried on arriving last night so it’s getting busier here in Yellow. PCR test was negative! 👍 #BelgianGP Tea, breakfast then heading to the track.
For anyone wondering exactly where we are, here’s the boundary of the Yellow Camping. There’s portable toilets, showers and a permanent hall used as a bar/cafe. Short 20min walk to the track along a tarmac footpath. All very well organised (unlike the COVID testing) #BelgianGP
Here is the COVID testing, which is a big marquee full of unorganised teenagers in bunny suits. No signage for this at all and there was basically nobody else there, very odd. Results arrived by email overnight. €80/PCR, paid for 2, 1 for now, 1 before we go home. #BelgianGP 🦠
In the queue for the track. Taking a little while… hopefully we’ll be in soon! #BelgianGP
COVID vaccine/test check is happening at the first gate, which is good. People being turned away if they don’t have it all prepared. #BelgianGP
Second gate is ticket and bag check. Validating name on ticket with ID. #BelgianGP
And we’re in! Seats are great! #BelgianGP
Had a stroll down to turn 14. Watching the W series now that P1 has finished. Very drizzly and rainy. Having a pint and enjoying the walk, track is HUGE! #BelgianGP
Morning! On the road to Dover, destination: Spa! Making the most of my Peltors, forgot how noisy Campervans can be 😂 All good so far, just had an hours nap 😴 #BelgianGP
Well, this is a life-first, a passport stamp for France. Process was same as before with the addition of some ink and scanning of the NHS Vaccine pass on my phone. Waiting to board! 🛳
Bonjour France!! 🇫🇷 Smooth sail on what felt like a quieter than usual P&O ferry. 1L of Tanqueray for £13 in duty free 🕺😵💫 Now buckled up for three or so hours on the E40. Those not driving are on the road beers 😝 🍻 #BelgianGP
Just arrived at the track, pitched up (photo to come…) and dashed over to do our covid tests. Stopped at the Carrefour on the way to top up on food and beer €320! Just having a quick beer before we head back and get some dinner on the go. Many, many Max fans!!
Here’s our home for the weekend. Very proud of the new flagpole, bit of an eBay drama, but well worth it. Campsite is excellent, everyone having a great time with the odd firework despite them being banned! Dinner went down well, now on the French cheese! #BelgianGP
Well, here we go! This is the earliest I’ve ever been to Strood Station before, that’s for sure. #viewfromtheplatform
Didn’t think I’d be getting on one of these this year. So far so good, very tired. First flight out of city airport. ✈️
Made it to Belfast. Quick bus trip to the city centre and now pitched up in HubFlow coworking space for the day. Weather outside is good and everyone seems nice and friendly. 👍😊 Took a quick walk around the botanical gardens this morning to get some fresh air.
It’s not quite the H&W selfie I pictured in my mind, but it’ll do. Quick bit of lunch, then passport, then back to HubFlow for some more calls. I’m at 9k steps so far 😂
Oh, they have 0% Guinness here!
Done. 🤗
Very easy! 2 minutes at a desk where I (voluntarily) explained my stupidity to the lady who agreed I was silly. Checked the new one, signed a form and they chopped a corner off the old one.
“You’ve come a long way!” “Yep. Serves me right, I won’t forget next time” 😂
Right, meetings all done, emails under control, it’s time to head home. Treated myself to J on the way back🥂 (but only because Y wasn’t available…) ☺️
Belgium tomorrow!!! 🇧🇪
To put the size of these enormous gantry cranes into perspective, they literally have a crane on the crane 😳 They’re huge! Really quite a landmark.
Update on the passport situation. See you tomorrow, Belfast. 🤞
Today’s lesson: Check you passport and avoid a trip to Belfast.
Earlier in the year we drew the conclusion that 2021 wasn’t going to involve any international travel, the first year in probably a decade without getting on a plane. With Baby on the way, it’s all about hunkering down and getting ready. That was until we decided to have a boys trip to watch the Spa Grand Prix in Belgium.
No big deal I thought, I know the my passport expires in November. In the 10 years that I’ve owned my trusty (and now very worn passport) I’ve memorised the issue date, expiry date and number, which to be honest I take a bit of pride in. What I didn’t consider until last week is that with Brexit, my passport now needs to have 3 months left on the expiry for it to be valid (at least, when travelling to the EU). 🙄
Not realising this and with us planning to travel so soon was a bit of an issue and didn’t leave many options on the table. We’d already committed to the F1, paid for the tickets, etc so throwing that money away seemed a bit silly and getting a passport renewal normally takes weeks, so that wasn’t going to work either.
Luckily, there’s a special ‘same day’ passport service for idiots like me who don’t plan ahead. The catch is that you have to pay an idiot tax of £177 instead of the normal £75.50, AND you have to go to the passport office for an appointment to pick it up. Amazing! I thought, this is exactly what I need. The second catch was that ‘same day’ actually means ‘whenever and wherever you can get an appointment’. Luckily (again), there was one appointment left on the day before we’re supposed to travel, with the catch being that it’s in Belfast, Northern Ireland (which is probably why nobody else has booked that appointment).
That’s not exactly ideal, because literally anywhere in Great Britain would have been easier to get to than Northern Ireland. But it is what it is and so I hurriedly gave the government my money and pressed book, praying that my appointment at 2:30pm was still available. It was, thankfully.
Next challenge was figuring out the logistics of actually getting there. Basically the only way to get back in time was to take a flight, but these were all £200+ and really quite inconvenient. Luckily (again), there was BA reward flight availability from City Airport. leaving early-ish and getting back late-ish. Perfect! I can work remotely that day, from Belfast, pickup my shiny new passport and then head home. Booked! All for £1 and more Avios points than I care to think about. Only pain point is that I need to get up for the 4:47 train so I can be at city airport for 6am, but still, I used to do that all the time for flights.
A little bit of research has led me to a co-working space in the city, called HubFlow where I’ve booked a desk for £18 including free coffee. So I’ll hopefully head there, setup shop for the day and make the most of it all. Looks like a smart enough place and means I’m not a hypocrite when I hate on the people that sit in Pret for an entire day. Working means I don’t waste a day’s annual leave which I have been trying to save for when the baby arrives.
Plus! The airport lounge is open at George Best Airport and I’ve never been to Northern Ireland so I can cheekily tick it off the list.
Now I just have to pray to the travel gods that the house of cards that I’ve managed to build for myself doesn’t come tumbling down. Fingers crossed, it’ll all be fine. I shall report back.
It’s new gadget Tuesday! Giving the new Poly SY40-M a test drive. Fully Teams complaint with lots of bells and whistles. So far, so good, it’s a big step forward compared to my trusty Sennheiser saucer 😂
Tent lights arrived! These are great, should just hang from the loops on the tarp and in the tent. £12 on Amazon for four, take three AAA batteries. Don’t look fully waterproof but there’s not really much to go wrong and the design should keep water out.
Off to Birmingham next week. £43 quid return leaving Euston a peak train. Can’t really argue with that. Can’t remember the last time I went north of London, but it was a long time ago!!
Next week is turning out to be a bit of a travel-fest. Bring it on!
