The big question then presents itself: Should I drive to Montreal and back in my own car, or should I fly to Montreal and then rent a car for the few days I’m there. Wanting a car to drive around in while in Montreal is not a question. I definitely want a car while I’m there. It would definitely be cheaper to drive there and back (diesel is awesome like that) than to fly round-trip, however I would obviously save time, save paid-time-off hours from work, and save the wear-and-tear on my car.

However, I have been wanting to make a cross-country road trip since I got this car, and this would be a great opportunity to do so. That said, I’ve already seen a majority of the country along the preferred route (mostly I-90, before turning north). I could drive straight up into Canada and then head east from there, but this path would add time, miles, and cost to the overall trip very quickly.

Another option is to rent a car, one-way, to drive to Montreal, and then fly on-way back home. To me this seems the most practical option, but it is also the most expensive by far. All of the car rental quotes I have seen for such a plan would be astronomically high, and the single plane ticket would be higher than two for the round-trip as well. With these things in mind I have given up on this possibility.

I think I would prefer driving over and back if possible. The biggest negatives are the wear on the car and the extra time away from work. I can try to make the drives as quickly as possible, but that sort of defeats the purpose of a cross-country road trip for me. So, in the end, if I do decide to drive both ways I will need to take off around 5 – 7 days of work, similar to the time I used while in Germany this year. That is nearly half of my available time off for the whole year, so I will need to consider this choice carefully.

The least fun option, but still the cheapest, is simply to fly both to and from Montreal. I would only need a few days off from work, I would avoid putting the six or seven thousand extra miles on my car, and I could completely avoid the monotony that is driving through parts of Montana and the Dakotas.

The more I think about this the more I move toward the ’safe’ choice of simply flying both ways. It isn’t too much more expensive than driving and it avoids a lot of other ‘issues’ involved in driving across the United States.

I would certainly still thoroughly enjoy my time in Montreal, and I might even be able to squeeze some sight-seeing in when not enjoying the grand prix weekend events. Then the only concern is the large expense required to properly enjoy one’s first F1 Grand Prix weekend.

You can count on updates as June grows closer.

I missed my car quite a bit by the time the 10 days had passed. I also severely missed the mountains and the water. There are few places in the world like the Pacific Northwest. I can’t wait to go for a drive (yes, more driving) around this area again.

Coke tastes different. HFCS…

I’ll try to work on the photos and reports from Friday through Monday over the next few days so I can get them posted here.

The Lufthansa plane on the tarmac where we disembarked. We rode a shuttle to the terminal. I had never gotten off a plane like this before.

in the friend’s apartment in Griesheim

umts usb stick for my mobile internet..

bought some chocolate at the Penny Market.. bought the cheapest bar I could find (.35 EUR), Milka, and the larger “fine” box of different chocolates..

The cars are freakin’ awesome here. The first K on the autobahn had a mercedes and ferrari speed by at 100+. I saw an R36 wagon today… several modified vw’s, tons of mk2’s, etc. It’s crazy how almost everything seems to be diesel here.. all taxi’s are Mercedes.. and it’s kind of fun seeing Fiat, Alfa, Renault, Citroen, Pugeot, etc.

I was shuttled around by my friend today in his Smart Car.. all around the Darmstadt area. We also met up with a guy we know from Sweden.

I didn’t take these..
(ugh)

We climbed the top of this tower in the middle of town. The stairs inside were like a nightmare.. constantly turning & climbing with no change.. 150+ steps.

tomorrow I get my rental car (hopefully it can be a golf and not an A class or new beetle… which are the other cars in the ‘class’. After that I’m not yet sure what I’ll do. I just know I need to be in the Eifel region by Tuesday evening.

I had a crazy work night tonight, so I’m hoping this will push me over the edge toward being able to sleep easily on the plane. I arrive in the morning on Saturday and have the full day ahead of me.

I can’t wait to land and start taking photos of every thing that normally amazes tourists like me. Hopefully I’ll get over the small things quickly enough so I can enjoy the larger picture, and take lots of awesome photos!

I’ll catch you all on the other side.

I leave on Friday afternoon and arrive on Saturday morning in UTC +2. I’ll be there for 10 days, mostly just driving around the country and taking photos.

Can’t… wait…