My campervan in the mechanics, my phone reception not working, I gave the hotel instructions to take a message if the AA called, and gave AA instructions to call the hotel if the mechanic called. I set about exploring the little hilltop village in the hopes of taking my mind off the breakdown. But I seemed to keep circling back to the Office de Tourisme (wifi) and the hotel (a working telephone). It was a pretty crappy day really. I kept calling the AA and they were so unhelpful every time - no one could tell me what was going on. In the end, I started emailing Getaway Campers, who owned the campervan. That was actually the best decision that I made throughout this whole mess, since they were much more helpful than anyone else had been! But there's more...
At about 4pm, I called the AA for what was probably the fourth time that day. They told me this time that, because the hired camper was more than 15 years old, they couldn't do anything more to help me and that they were closing my case. At that stage I legitimately almost lost it. I told them that it was a bit late in the day for me to try to sort out accommodation, since the van WAS my accommodation and it was still at the mechanics. I pushed the customer service person on this so they eventually said that they would cover the cost of a second night since they were informing me so late. That sorted, I proceeded to lay into them about how they can take money for insurance knowing full well what kind of car they are insuring and its age and THEN tell you that they can't cover you because its over 15 years old. What a ****ing joke. They also said that they would no longer provide interpretation between myself and the mechanic, as this was no longer their problem. So I was on my own.
I admit it, I had a bit of a cry when I got to the hotel that night. Stranded in France by the absolutely worthless AA without being able to speak French. I almost decided to ditch the van and catch a flight home from Avignon, which wasn't too far away. But no, I am adventureali, and I could do this.
I got in contact with Getaway to tell them the conclusion and they were so helpful - I told the mechanic that I would go to the camper tomorrow and work out what part they needed to fix it and he would post it over to the mechanic in France. In the meantime, they told me to stay in a hotel if I needed to for another night and they would reimburse me straight away for it. So I was sorted for another day and had a plan for going forward.
Below are the photos I actually took that day, in between trying to communicate with the rest of the world and stressing out!
