Don’t trust the GPS!

Since the train connections to Eindhoven from Paris were not that great, I took the super-fast-train to Brussels then rented a car with a Parisian postdoc to reach Eindhoven and the Yes III meeting faster. The rental company provided us with a GPS that we activated from the start. However, thanks to a mysterious “simulated drive” mode, the system went on the optimal drive to Eindhoven without paying the slightest attention to the actual road conditions (which, incidentally, were rather horrendous in downtown Brussels). It then took us half an hour to restart the GPS and find the exit out of Brussels, while it would have been obvious to follow the “Ring” sign when exiting Brussels Midi train station! Once in Eindhoven, the system got us rather nicely to the Eurandom building and I was starting to trust this pampered way of driving.

However, since I could not leave the car on the university campus overnight, I had to drive the car to my hotel, downtown Eindhoven, and I thus entered the address of the hotel, as provided by a secretary. Alas, this was the address for the wrong hotel and things started to deteriorate from there: the (wrong) hotel owner was presumably unhappy about having to direct a potential customer to a competitor so he gave me a wrong address and I went back the whole circle to the university and in central Eindhoven. for nothing. There I asked another (wrong) hotel who kindly gave me the proper address, but omitted the (major) detail that it was in a pedestrian district and thus impossible to reach by car. I then repeatedly followed the instructions from the GPS only to hit streets where it was impossible to turn! After going on like that for two more circles and close to one hour, I eventually picked what I thought was the nearest public parking, which ended up being right under my hotel. To conclude my adventures in Eindhoven, my hotel room is right on top of a bar that specialises in big band jazz music, to which I am listening right now and till the bar closes, presumably… Proper punishment for driving, that’s it! (Followed by a chime concert at about 5am, played by workers installing the morning outdoor market under my window..)