So, the girl at the car hire desk offers me a choice of cars. This is pretty unusual. Usually they just look at you and try and work out what they can foist on you - and bear in mind that they aren't going to get this car back because I'm leaving it a long way away in Malaga... So, they really could have tried anything... But maybe they recognised that I don't take rubbish or maybe they just had loads of cars free - figure... The net result was that my booking was for "Seat Ibiza equivolent" and the girl asked me whether I would take a Nissan Micra or an Audi A1. Now I have to say that my first thought was "I've got 2 cases and both cars sound a bit small so I just checked that those vehicles equated to a Seat Ibiza (which sounds bigger). Unsurprisingly the girl said that they did. After that there really was no contest. I mean,come on, would you choose a sad little Japanese model over a brand new entry level Audi? The choice between on of these
and this
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| Sorry little A1, I seem to have squashed you a bit... |
To be fair to Nissan, the Micra in the pic isn't a current model and the A1 pic is of the actual car we were given, but even so, it's pretty much a no-brainer. So, it was "an A1 please" from me. Paperwork got signed, credit card swiped and off we went to the car. Now to check for extra dings and scratches (don't get caught out folks) and I found one. Nothing major but I thought I'd get it checked. I went to find someone to do it but there was one bloke who was dead busy so I thought "no big deal" and went back to the car. Time to go. Turn the ignition key. Dashboard lights up OK but nothing happens engine-wise. Hmm. Obvious solution - turn the key again... Still nothing. Time to look around the dashboard for something to push - these new fangled cars like starter buttons don't they? Very retro. Nothing. There's some Spanish on the dashboard read-out but I don't know enough to work it out. So now I HAVE to find someone. As it turns out a young lady is available and she comes to help out. First the scratch - too small to bother with she says. Then starting the car - you have to press the clutch pedal she says... Oh, Right, Bingo, off we go.
The car is only a 1.2 and we will be doing something in the region of 1000 miles in it... I get a "you will always go for the cheap option" from AJ but actually the car has a little secret - as well as being fuel injected it is also a turbo so it actually goes pretty well. Speed is limited to about 70 on the Spanish Autovia so I'm not caning it and all in all I have to say that it's a very competent and comfortable motor. More competent and comfortable than me anyway (damned with faint praise).
Our Sat Nav is working (today) and the air con and cruise control all do their respective jobs. So, in fairly swift time, and having avoided all tolls (stingebag strikes again) we arrived at our hotel in Segovia. On check-in the young lady at the desk told us that the car park is available in the hotel at 14 Euro a night. However, she also told us that we can park around the corner at the on-street pay and display parking for free on Saturday afternoons and Sundays (it's already Saturday afternoon). Off I went around the corner and (finally) found a space. By the time we left on Monday I'd paid 1 whole Euro for parking. Result. Our room was very nice and had a view of Segovia's aqueduct - the best preserved piece of Roman architecture in all Spain. A room with a decent view is effectively an upgrade for us. Another result. All in all this probably ended up being the best first day's holiday on record from the persepctive of everything going completely right. This cannot continue, surely...
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| View from our room |
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