< Previous Page
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Post-Delivery >
August 9/10th, 2023 - The Return
The Journey Home
With our two 718 GTS 4.0s safely (hopefully safely) in the parking lot at BLG Logistics in Sindelfingen, it was now time to begin the journey home.

It was a smooth two-train trip back to Paris - the Deutschebahn from Stuttgart to Strasbourg, and then a super-fast french TGV train west back to Paris. We were meeting back up with crew-member Brian (who, as you may recall, had served as crew-member on two separate occasions so far), who was himself returning to Canada with us on the same flight. He had booked a place for us to stay near the airport so that we'd be well-positioned to catch our flight the following day. Fun coincidence: as we were taking a local train to get to the hotel, we happened to run into Brian right on the train platform (completely randomly). Tired but in good spirits, we all walked together (carrying quite a lot of heavy luggage) the last few hundred metres through French suburban streets to our "Greenhotels" room.
Waiting for Shuttle
The hotel was decent, but wouldn't call it fantastic. Our room was pretty cramped and suffered from a bit of a stuffy/overheating problem. We minimized that by doing a nice long fresh-air evening walk to La Renaissance - a sort of semi-diner semi-pizzeria type restaurant. We chose it mainly because it fit in with our walk and was ... well, it was open. Food was decent enough.

After a bit of a tossy-turny sleep, we were up early. We went down to the front desk and requested one of the shuttles they provide between the hotel and the airport.
All that remains
As on the way to Europe at the start of the trip, we were returning via the same very convenient non-stop route offered by Air France between Paris and Ottawa, Canada. The westward flight was quite convenient, having a very agreeable afternoon flight departure time.
Capturing Thoughts
Already I was reflecting on our amazing trip, on the whirlwind of never-ending events that peppered our twenty-three days. The highs, the lows, the unexpected twists, and yes, the missed opportunities. And on that note, I thought this was the perfect time to set up the camera and have Brian do one last bit of crew-work: film Luke and I recounting the experience while it was still fresh in our minds.
A330 back to Canada
Across from where we were sitting, our handsome white Airbus A300-200 awaited, ready to ferry us back over the Atlantic to Canada. All we had left of the Boxster and Cayman at this point were our key fobs (The BLG Logistics person wanted us to keep one of the key fobs). On Luke's phone, we could see two pings from the cars, still sitting in the BLG parking lot back in Sindelfingen.

Our flight back was uneventful, and we arrived in Ottawa late in the afternoon. Crewmember Jenn was waiting at the airport to pick us up, and drive us to Luke's own car, and he in turn then dropped me off home. Back at home, mundane ol' home, after such a completely unique trip. The transition was a bit jarring.
Luke's Thoughts
[final thoughts...]
Given the scale of what we set out to do, without really knowing that that's what we were setting out to do at the outset, and with all the twists and turns it took along the way from way back in June 2020 to this day in August 2023, I think we've done a damn fine job and it has been one hell of an adventure. Truly deserving of the word 'epic' I think!

Many, many thanks to everyone who supported us along the way, and especially to my partner-in-crime, Andrew, without whom I would never have had this experience, nor would be driving my amazing machine today.

(to read more of Luke's thoughts from this day, check out his blog post)


And so the "trip" part of the GTS Chronicles Euro Delivery adventure was over. But really, the delivery journey wouldn't really be over until our cars had made it to their final home, in our respective garages. And wouldn't you know it, there is a fair bit more to tell, until that point was reached. And so, If you'd like to read all the way to that conclusion, then you can continue with the Post-trip.

I put together a final farewell Instagram Post to commemorate the end of the European part of our journey, with an Instagram post called "Prepping for Bon Voyage". You can watch the post on Instagram here, or you can view a wide-format version of it right here below. And remember: the Post-Delivery story awaits you once you've finished watching!
The GTS Chronicles IG Post 092 - "Prepping for Bon Voyage" (wide version)
< Previous Page
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Post-Delivery >
Send feedback or leave comments (note: comments in message board below are separate from those in above message board)
send feedback | homemade custom message board
(Message Board failed to initialize. )
Web Page & Design Copyright 2001- 2025 by Andrew Lavigne. (Privacy Policy)