Travelling out to see Alan in Germany.
Day One.
FIRST THE MOAN.
We made a 02:15 silly O'clock start down to Malaga airport and caught a flight out to Cologne in Germany which all went well until we arrived and had to rely on instructions given by EASYCAR.COM. From the start things went totally wrong, directions said wait in arrivals for their representative. Half an hour later we moved to step two and called the phone number and got a does not exists message, we thought this may have been our Spanish phones not working in Germany but a very kind German gentleman rang the number three times with the same response so by now we were wondering if we had been stitched by some scam. I next tried to find an information desk but before I managed that I asked for direction at an airlines desk and was told that the company I was looking for actually have a desk in the airport. So armed with new direction I found the car hire company and was told by the guy there that they have told EASYCAR dozens of times that all the information they give out is a load of garbage. Any way then came the second shock, the car was ready and the chap agreed that I had paid in full and had taken out the extra insurance to cover my excesses but would still have to pay them a €1000 deposit for excesses as the insurance was with EASYCAR and nothing to do with them and if I lost the €1000 to them I would have to try and claim it back from EASYCAR when we get home. I did not have the time or will to argue so I paid and went on our way. OK the car was very nice and served us well for the week but we were both well stressed and had waisted over two hours sorting it out. All in all booking through EASYCAR was a nightmare and I would not recommend any one to use this bunch of incompetent pillocks.
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The Hotel. |
Once we were on the way the printed direction we had down loaded from Google earth worked a treat and we were soon out of the airport and on the motorways heading for our hotel in Offen near to where Alan is working. On the way I recorded a few species from the car including
Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo),
Carrion Crow (Corneja Negra / Corvus corone),
Rook (Graja / Corvus frugilegus),
Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica),
Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula),
Jay (Arrendajo / Garrulus glandarius),
Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus),
Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea),
Mute Swan (Cisne Vulgar / Cygnus olor),
Pheasant (Faisán Vulgar / Phaisanus colchicus),
Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus),
Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus),
Black-headed Gull (Gaviota Riedora / Larus ridibundus),
Herring Gull (Gaviota Argéntea Europea / Larus argentatus),
Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo) and two
Great White Egret (Garceta Grande / Egretta alba).
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The back entrance from our room. |
Mid afternoon and we arrived at our hotel which was on the edge of a very small village called Offen, we checked into the Michaelishoff and sorted out out stuff as we were going to be here for five nights. Later we met up with Alan and went for a nice Greek meal in Bergen.