After my mom recovered in early 2023, we took a trip to the Maldives. Thereafter I managed to convince her to visit Lisbon more often. The plan somehow became that she was going to fly into Amsterdam and I would pick her up there. The main reason for this was that she got her Schengen visa from France as the Portuguese embassy was really backed up, as usual. So we had to visit France. I thought – why not make a roadtrip out of it!
When I mentioned this plan to my friends Dushy and Millie, they got super enthused and decided to fly into Lisbon to join the roadtrip up to Amsterdam. Of course, juggling the days that Dushy had off work and the days for the roadtrip meant that ultimately we were left with about 5 days to make the trip from Lisbon to Amsterdam. Hectic!
What made it really cool though was that we charted an incredible route for ourselves. Also, we decided to splurge on some really great accommodations so that we could truly enjoy the trip up north.
The first day we set off from Lisbon towards Salamanca.
It was a pretty straightforward day and drive through Guarda, one of the North-Eastern exits from Portugal to Spain’s Castille and Leon region.
Salamanca
We arrived in Salamanca the same day as the sun was setting. We had found a pretty good apart-hotel in the city center. It came with two bedrooms and an underground garage. What’s more, it allowed us to use the electric charger onsite for free. One of the great benefits of leaving with a ‘full tank’ sometimes.
As we arrived pretty late, we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to find food anywhere. Wait a minute! We’re in Spain! Dinnertime starts at 10pm. So out we went to a wonderful tasca to grab a bite and some drinks. And boy did we get fed!
Stumbling back home, we crashed for the night. I woke up pretty late but took Leila out for a walk in the morning. The city looked beautiful and had this cool morning breeze that made everything seem dreamy. Sunlight was streaming in between the stone colored buildings and everything looked just magical.
We had some breakfast and coffee and decided to make the next leg of our journey.
Pamplona
Once again, we arrived into Pamplona pretty late. Another charming city in the North of Spain. This spot is famous for the festival of San Fermín where you can run with the bulls. Luckily we were not there during the bull run season so we saved ourselves some unnecessary impalement.
We checked into a pretty kitsch AirBNB apartment and then went on our way to explore the city. I first took Leila out for a long walk. It seemed like where we were staying was a little on the outskirts of the city since it felt very quiet. I later realized that the entire city is quite peaceful and well laid out. Except for when the bulls are on parade.
No surprise that two days into our stay in Spain we were already tired of fried food. We decided to check out a Peruvian restaurant in Pamplona. This restaurant was very highly rated on Google Maps. I was pretty hyped about it because I absolutely love Peruvian food. When we got there, the service was quite dry and unfriendly. The gentleman who seated us was a bit standoffish. This can mean two things, either the place is going to suck or it’s going to be so brilliant that they don’t care about the service.
Lucky for us, it was the latter option. The service was absolutely terrible and the food was delicious! We had a blast and to be honest perhaps ordered too much food for the three of us. Dushy looked like he was ready to pass out!
After this we tumbled back home and I took Leila out for another long walk. Mostly to burn off the calories and she gave me this look of “Why are you taking me for such a long walk so late at night?”. But as always, Leila is game for any adventure so off we went into the dark streets of Pamplona.
It was now time to say goodnight so we came back home and decided to call it a night. Leila decided to tuck in with me and I had no space to sleep but it was cute and cuddly so I let it happen.
La Rochelle
The drive up from Pamplona to La Rochelle was a long one. Even more so because we decided to stop at San Sebastian for some delicious pintxos. The Basque Country is famous for it’s world renowned cuisine. I had been to San Sebastian on my last road trip so I had to take Dushy and Millie to Gandarias where the food is just to die for.
We had some food there and a walk around the very cute town center. Thereafter we continued onwards to La Rochelle. Luckily August brings us very long days so it was still daylight by the time we reached.
We checked into the most extra apartment we could’ve booked on AirBNB. The place was a loft style setup at the top of a building. The streets were very quiet and I decided to take Leila for a walk by the ocean. I didn’t find the beach but we found some very nice cliffs to walk along. What was really interesting was that there were so many snails on all the plants. No wonder the French need to eat them! It’s population control!
The walk along the cliffs at sunset was very beautiful and charming although the breeze was a little cold. Leila enjoyed all the new smells and after this we decided to chill at home with some take away and a movie.
The place we had was so cozy that it would’ve been a shame to go out. So stay in, we did!
Paris
The drive up to Paris from La Rochelle was pretty uneventful. We had booked a really nice apartment a little bit outside the city. Another loft style place with great views all around. Also, the apartment included parking which is a must in Paris. However, the parking ended up being quite funny. It was a garage with a tiny room – kind of like self storage – and you had to raise and lower the metal shutter manually.
I did manage to get the car in there but it was so difficult that I decided I would not take it out until it was time to leave the next day.
We decided to go into the center for dinner and for this, we had to take a train into Paris. This was Leila’s first train ride ever! I’m not even sure if she was allowed on the train or not, but we went on anyway and everyone was really chill about it. The upside of Parisians being so busy and self involved is that they rarely have time to care about what other people are up to.
We reached the center of Paris and went to an incredible Korean restaurant. I wasn’t sure if Leila would be allowed inside but apparently in Paris almost every restaurant will allow dogs. It is up to their discretion of course but we had another good experience the next day. The servers were absolutely in love with Leila and said that they really missed having dogs because they could only have a tiny apartment in Paris and worked all day long.
The next day as we headed out, I took the car out of the box and we drove down to Chennai Dosa. This is an incredible South Indian restaurant in Paris. We met up with my friends Anand and Baghee for lunch. Now, South Indians – or Indians in general aren’t known for being super dog friendly. So I was pretty sure they would NEVER allow Leila inside this restaurant.
But once again we asked and they said “Oh if she sits under the table and is chill, we don’t mind”. What? A South Indian restaurant is going to let a dog sit with us inside? Oh La La!
Needless to say, we had the best dosa ever and with our bellies full and our hearts happy we set out North again, this time for Amsterdam and further afield!
Amsterdam / Egmond aan den Hoef
The drive up to Holland is pretty scenic but the highways usually prevent you from getting great views. Generally it’s always better to take the slower national roads if you have the time. We didn’t, since my mother was going to arrive from India the next day so we had to get to our destination asap!
We set out driving North and made a few stops along the way to charge. We also stopped in Antwerp to have dinner with Millie’s friend who was in town. After a final stop south of Amsterdam to charge, we arrived at our destination.
Our AirBNB in Eggmond Aan Den Hoef was a repurposed monastery. It was a beautiful building with stained glass and creepers everywhere. A three floor house that looked pretty haunted in the dark as we arrived.
We found our way in and settled in for the night.
The next morning I drove back to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to pick up my mom. The airport has multiple exit gates so I had no idea where she would come out. We lost each other and wandered around for about an hour before I finally ran into her in one of the corridors. Since she had no phone network we couldn’t communicate so we had to look for each other the old fashioned way.
Once I found her we laughed and hugged and we went to have some coffee in the airport since it was going to be a 45 minute drive back to Eggmond. We drove back and I was very emotional as my mom arrived as this was the first time she was meeting Leila. As she arrived Leila burst out through the door and wagged her tail off at her.
When my mom was in the hospital with COVID I thought that she would never get to meet Leila. Being on the ventilator for 80 days is no joke. Your chances of survival are slim and the chances of making a full recovery to the extent that you’ll travel internationally are very low. But with great care, lots of love, and rehabilitation – she made it.
There were tears in my eyes as we sat down for Chai and Samosa (that had been brought fresh from Delhi) and all of us were around the table laughing and having a good time.
That one moment made the whole trip worth it!
Thereafter Dushy and Millie headed back to Berlin by train from Amsterdam. My mom and I started driving south back to Lisbon. More adventures to follow in a different writeup about the return journey.
