[Roadtrip] The BIG One Part II - Return to the Island

[Superully]

those of you who followed my annual school's out for summer thread this year might have noticed that i didn't "complete my mission" in summer.

i'm talking about this one



it's been over a year since i had been to the island for The BIG One and although i promised myself lately to limit my "cab income", there were still a couple of cabs waiting for me which i had bought quite a while ago, so i thought it was time to return for one more round of arcade fun. and because i have to wait for additional pictures to arrive from my first-time travel companion, i might as well tease you a little bit before getting this report "on the road" ...







to be continued ...

[Muerto]

I hate teasing!!! (when im not the teaser) 

[Reinhold]

I hate teasing!!! (when im not the teaser) 

+1

[Q*ris]

If I may add to the teasing:

[Superully]

enough teasing - here we go! as always, let's start with a map of what's coming up



DAY 1: GERMANY - BELGIUM

some nice statistics to begin with





once again i had rented a van from my favorite local car rental company AUGE, but this time i wasn't travelling light, because i was going to transport three games across the border: rav had bought an adam's family pinball in germany (which i had picked up for him), on another roadtrip (still unpublished) i had picked up a berzerk for chris and the pole position ii comes from this for sale thread (it goes to another forum member)!





the roadtrip started out to nice, calm autumn weather, ...



... but it soon got extremely foggy (be careful, bigtrak on the right )



after some hours on the road, things cleared up again in the evening ...



... to some dramatic skies!



upon entering belgium i enjoyed the luxury of illuminated highways all the way through ...



... until i finally reached my destination town





perhaps you already know that gameroom by now, it has been nicknamed The Base by its owner



inside, someone's already waiting for me: chris "chrischris"



over the last few months, chris has managed to gather a nice collection of games!



and now, one more has joined the ranks!



after a delightful delicious meal with "the chris family" it was time to go to bed - doesn't this look comfortable?



chris had prepared a nice collection of reading stuff for me - under the watchful eyes of mr godzilla himself!



to be continued ...

[Q*ris]

Now that I see my gameroom from someone else's point of view, I cannot believe that I dared to say that the eurocade needed some background decoration improvement 
To my defense it's still under construction and as you can see many of the giant robots are waiting patiently to be restored.
Watch out 2012! 

@ Ully: yes, I forgot to mention it but Godzillas are very common in Belgium, for instance here's another one spotted in the area of Mons (Belgium).


...and also you uploaded the wrong picture for my gameroom, here's one from the party when I plugged in the Berzerk, too bad you weren't there anymore 'cause you had to leave to bring back that van to Germany...

[TimePilot]

 

[Q*ris]

Each day that passes, I'm more and more impatient to read all about this Long, Tall and Cool Roadtrip! 

[Superully]

sorry guys, i'm afraid you'll have to wait until the weekend for day 2

[Rorsach]

Tease...

[level42]

Everyone knows I'm the only one with a a working Berzerk AND Centipede in these areas, so you know all too well that pics was shot in my game room......














 

[Superully]

found some time to continue with the roadtrip report for a little while ...

DAY 2: BELGIUM - ENGLAND

an early wake-up call



chris is taking forever in the bathroom (like a lady), so i'm falling asleep again in the kitchen (sorry for the shaky picture, it isn't easy to take a good photo while sleeping )



this one is for charlotte (and all the other bachelor fans out there): i had waffels in belgium (sorry, that's a total insider)



after a short night, the van is still waiting for us right behind the tunnel



one hour after getting up, we're ready to leave for england (note that the "onboard clock" is still set on summer time)



here's what's coming up today



on the road, chris immediately pulls his camera and starts shooting



tunnel s/s la manche - that's our exit



arrival at the french eurotunnel port







we are a little bit early (letter K still waiting for call) ...



... which gives us time to take some more photos (of each other taking photos)



still life



inside, chris spots this wonderful teletubbies kiddie ride ...



... and because his son is the biggest teletubbies fan in the world, he can't resist to have a little chat with tinky-winky. unfortunately, i couldn't convince chris to actually ride this thing



the terminal offers some surprises for myself as well



the moment we are called, it's starting to rain



boarding procedures





because this is chris' first time on the shuttle, i have to explain to him what he is not allowed to do



chris seems to be a quick learner and he immediately passes the demonstration procedure himself



after passing the exam, i'm calling the train captain to signal our OK for departure ...



... but my french is so bad that i just don't understand what he is trying to tell me!



time to take a short nap



chris uses the time on the shuttle to empty is mailbox



after a pleasant journey, we arrive on the island



chichester is where we have to go



who needs traffic signs when you have the lovebus leading the way?



after receiving so much love, we're extremely hungry, so we're taking a break to grab some great burgers (i love the following series of photos)







enough love and food, let's head out again



the public footpath ...



... leading to rav's home



dominic (aka rav / ravage) almost manages to steal the adam's family pinball from right underneath our nose, but chris manages to snap a picture of him just in time!



over at the unit, rav has installed a brand-new parking sign for his guests



here we are, let the retrokade fun begin!!!



to be continued ...

[DarthNuno]

I know well that place 

[Etienne MacGyver]

I did'nt know chris went with you, he never mentioned it 

What a surprise !, any way, nice report so far!

[ckong]

nice report so far, please continue quickly.