By James Gurney
December 9 2003

Drunken Wasps Tour to Perpignan Friday 30th Jan to Sunday 1st Feb 2004

Updated 9th December 2003

Get on the trip to Perpignan

For those who read this before, the changes since the last time are the outward flight time (now 10 mins earlier at 15:05, and the second hotel

The weekend for the away game in Perpignan has been anounced. So we can start making tentative steps. It is still quite a way off, but securing hotel and flights sooner rather than later may make things cheeper and less hassled. Question marks over the actual kick off time, so we will have to give ourselves some flexibility. We will get as much info and guidance from the clubs as is possible before actually commiting money. With that in mind......

The disclaimer. THERE IS THE CHANCE that by mutual agreement of the two clubs involved, or more probably at the insistence of the television company involved, a game may be rescheduled to a time when we are in the air either to or from the country involved. THIS IS YOUR OWN RISK. We clearly attempt to get guidance from the Club that this is not the case when booking flights, but we cannot be held responsible if it happens.

Right. The basic plan is fly out Friday afternoon to Gerona airport. Ryanair call it Barcelona-Girona on their website, a litle confusingly. Thankfully they do use the international reference GRO to remove the confusion. Although there are flights to Perpignan, as this would involve getting to Stanstead for a 7:15am flight, DWs would not appreciate it.

There was a flight from Gatwick. B.A. have cancelled this, so there is only one DW Tours flight, from Stanstead to Gerona. Also, the Stanstead flight was put back a couple of hours when they actually started taking bookings. Current timetable times as below.

Flights	Fares vary like the weather on these economy flights. Budget £150
WaspairOne	Ryanair. London Stanstead (STN) to Gerona (GRO). Outward: Dep STN Friday 15:05 arr GRO 18:10 Return: Dep GRO Sunday 12:05 arr STN 13:15

WaspExpress Coach from the airport to the hotel in Perpignan. £20 return for this.

The first hotel is the Hotel Mondial, selected for looking nice on its website, as well as being very central, all rooms ensuite,and a 24 hour bar in the hotel. It's a 2* hotel. Generally quite a good level. If you want to book your own, that's fine. This is now full. So, following a recommendation from the chappie at the the Mondial, the second hotel is the Hotel l'Eolienne.

Hotel Mondial's website

Hotel l'Eolienne's Website

Your choice of accommodation	Buget
Single, with bath/shower and WC. Breakfast included.	£32
Double, with bath/shower & WC. Brekkie inc. (Depending on availability, you may get a twin room)	£20 /person
Twin, with bath/shower & WC. Brekkie inc.	£20/person

Again, budget a little spare, just in case.

There's no excursion booked yet. From all accounts there is more than enough to do in Perpignan itself. If there is an Saturday evening kick off some intrepid types may head off to a nearby ski resort - but this is very theoretical at the moment.

The Glozzer boys recommend a bar run by a former player. I quote a chap called Ian, who goes by the name of "Thailand" for some reason

The veteran French second row Jean-Francois Ibernon who played in the early to mid seventies owns a bar/restaurant on the main boulevard.He really is a Gent and serves some great food with loads of rugby stuff in the bar.

Sounds as if Jean-Francois has been preparing for us for some time!

Please email me as soon as possible to let me know if you are interested and what you will be needing in the way of flights and beds. I'll then be able to keep everyone informed.

IMPORTANT: I'll need your proper name (i.e. not "Badger-Wasp" or "MegaStinga" or whatever), when booking flights they want names up front. Also include your home address.

Ta muchly

James (Your friendly DW Perpignan Tour Manager)