i am now on a 10 days trip in the bordeaux and la rochelle region and pretty much everything is organized but, franco will not believe it when he will read this, last night, i did not have a hotel booked anywhere.

yes, when i travel, i normally like to book everything well in advance, including where i will have lunch and dinner. you can imagine that maria and franco, being the quintessential laid back italians are always laughing at me before i go anywhere.

my theory is simple: i want to optimize the opportunities. by studying the situation in advance, i want to make sure i don't miss out and i normally organize my trips around food i want to eat and things i want to experience.

and so yesterday, i decided to keep it opened. i did not know at what time my meeting would finish and how long it would take to drive back to la rochelle so, i decided to drive and drive and drive until i would find something suitable.

here is the rub: each time i saw a lovely place i could stay and where food could be interesting, i always came back to 2 thoughts: 1) too lovely for going without maria; 2) perhaps there is a better place if a drive a few more kilometers.

and so after 3 hours of driving (1/2 of it in pitch darkness), tired, jet-lagged, hungry, i reached st-émilion where 4 out of 5 hotels were closed for the season. it is by sheer luck that i found the only hotel that was opened. in fact, it found me. the gentils hotelier saw me driving by 2 or 3 times and so he stopped me to inform me that he is the only one openned at this hour and that he is about to leave and so i should make up my mind now or else drive for a another few hours.

go figure. i think i will stick with my plans for now on, i am not too good with a ''no-planning let's go on a no-where type of situation''...