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It's been a week since we left Glasgow, and we've spent entirely too much of that week in the car. I suppose we have to get used to it though. One thing I forgot to mention before we left is that we did finally get our last sponsorship package, and believe it or not, no porn! I was shocked. Apparently since the package didn't have "no commercial value" written on it, even though it was listed as a gift, customs decided to put a huge tax on it. They also charged us as if the value of the package were in pounds, even though they were in dollars. Then the shipping company which had to pay the tax charged us for that, and then double what they paid for their own fees. We tried to get the money back, but we're not in a position where we can jump through the eight hoops they put before us, so those were the most expensive tshirts and stickers i've ever seen.
http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/e... Our journey began with us trekking down to Stonehenge for a big basket of disappointment. It's just not that impressive. And they want 8 pounds just to get into the gate, so that you can walk on the pathways well away from the stones themselves. We opted out of that fee, and instead stood outside the fence to take our pictures. We were shocked by the people that paid to get in; they were literally five feet in front of us, but with a fence in between. From there we hopped back into the car and trekked to London where Andrew put on a display of some of the most intense driving I've ever been a part of. We drove all through central London during rush hour (and had to pay a "congestion fee"). We wanted to meet up with Andrew's Nigerian friend, but alas, he was busy, and so we shoved on out after resting in a Tesco parking lot for a couple hours (we had been driving for 10). After that we made it to Dover where we jumped on our Ferry across the channel at 2 AM.
http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/e... After our lovely ferry ride, I jumped in the car to drive for a good 10 hours I believe. I woke up Taz and Andrew in Brugges where we parked next to a Delorian! That stop was worth it for that reason alone. We walked around the city in the wee hours of the morning and got some paninis before setting out on the long road to Amsterdam. I woke the guys up there, and we opted out of staying in the city, and instead went to Noordwijk which is just south and on the coast. We had quite a refreshing swim in the sea to wash away the stink from our journey, and spent much of our time on the beach. We managed to meet up with two of Andrew's friends in the Dam, and spent a couple days looking at the sites. On our way to meet up with them though, our gearbox managed to explode on us, and we were unable to get into 1st or 2nd gear. We got the car to a parking space and put it up on jack stands to discover that somebody had jerry-rigged our gear box before we got there. It was being held in place by zip ties, and one had snapped. There was also a ball bearing that was replaced by a piece of hose. Andrew managed to fix it up with Duct Tape and zip ties, and now she's working good as new. She handled another thousand mile journey! But in terms of the Dam, I believe it's the only place in the world where I can stand window shopping. In reality the atmosphere of the city is rather ridiculous, but I believe it is for that reason that people should make a stop. We decided to camp on our third night, and it was nice being away from the rush of the city and outside. When we left the next morning we headed down south towards Dijon. We stopped in some random Dutch town along the way and we happened upon an enormous Michael Jackson statue in a McDonalds parking lot. At first we were amazed at the speed in which the Dutch could make an effigy, but apparently MJ just played a show in that city at some point and they decided they needed a massive statue to dedicate the experience. We then made a stop in Luxembourg to have a quick beer (just one, and small), then I hopped in the driver's seat.

We decided that none of us had any real pressing business in France, so we decided to just drive straight through the night onto Barcelona. This began a 12 hour drive of mine while the other two slept for the majority of it. I'm not quite sure how I can manage 12 hours straight in a car, but I made it safely. We made it down to Lyon on a toll road, and since it cost us 27 euros just to drive on the main motorway, we decided to take the smaller route parallel. It was free, but it took us about twice as long. I managed to get us to Montpellier, then finally handed over the keys so that Taz could have his first shot at driving on the right hand side of the road. I slept for several hours, then woke up somewhere on the Spanish coast.

The side highways that go through the small towns on the coast were quite interesting. All along the road there were prostitutes sitting in chairs to give the drivers a nice respite on long journeys. They were literally lining the highway, with teams of two or three every couple miles. We stopped in a small town outside Barcelona called Mataro, and decided to camp one more time. We paid more than I believe you should pay to camp, but it was still cheaper than a hostel. They also had a pool and showers! Bonus! We packed up this morning and now we're getting ready to head off toward Pamplona; Andrew wants to do a little bull-running. I'd say he has a death-wish, but we're already going on the Mongol Rally. The car is holding up decently well. It's gone through puberty though. Apparently our exhaust is starting to come apart. No big deal...it's only need legally, not functionally. We're probably going to have to replace the front strut though. It makes a rather menacing noise when we accelerate around corners, so let's just hope our wheels don't pop off in a roundabout. We'll try to update a little more frequently, but I can't make promises. Our twitter hasn't been operating properly, so about 6 posts never made it to the public. Alas, what can one do in this technology-driven age? Thanks for staying tuned, and as always, look out for more on our next exploits.

---Team Flatlanders---