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We Brits, whichever way you look at it, however undeservedly, don't have the best reputation for travelling well. If you believed all the media hype, you might think we were responsible for causing more holiday accident claims than we are sufferers of holiday accidents.
And it seems that whenever the stereotype of the hooliganistic Brit is invoked, there are two common denominators: sport and alcohol. I'm afraid to say that I recently became yet another casualty of this deadly combo of alcohol and sport while abroad.
As my father works for one of the major Rugby World Cup sponsors, I was lucky enough to get two free tickets to the Rugby World Cup quarter final between Australia and England. It was a real belter of a match, one of the best I have ever had the privilege to witness live.
We were underdogs, up against our old antipodean foes, who seemed to think that all they needed to do was turn up. But how wrong they were, our British Bulldog spirit was alive and kicking (the Australians).
Our heroism was a real lesson in how to achieve. We took that tired all adage that genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration, and shed new light on it as we proved it true on the rugby field.
Through sheer sweat, grit and teamwork, we succeeded in nullifying the technically superior and more expansive game of the Australians.
Once again it was that man Johnny Wilkinson who kicked our way to glory. And surely there was another lesson there.
Clearly below his best, it was his sheer persistence that made the difference. Kicking well within his usual standards, he was a really refreshing role model unlike certain drunken cricketers I can think of and once again breathed new life into another tired old adage: if you fail at first, try again and you might succeed.
It was a brilliant crowd to be part of, at times "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" was sung with such volume and gusto that I almost forgot I was in Marseille, thinking myself instead in Twickenham.
It was a really non-segregated crowd too. I even brushed shoulders with the enemy a bit and watched with joy the look of dawning incredulity on the face of Wallaby supporters at the final whistle.
Celebrations
After the match, my friend and I went to the La Caravelle a brilliant bar and restaurant which faces the old port for a bite to eat and a few (OK, an uncountable number) of drinks.
Just after 2am we staggered back to our hotel, with me only narrowly avoiding a trip and slip holiday accident several times as I struggled to negotiate the ancient cobble stones.
What happened next I can probably call a holiday accident, though certainly not one I could make an actual holiday accident claim for.
Ben and I managed to enter the hotel lobby without drawing too much attention to ourselves, got in the lift and climbed to the fourth floor (what we thought was the right one).
Next we arrived at what we thought was our room, singing the familiar refrain "En-ger-land, En-ger-land".
In our inebriated state we had failed to realise that we had actually turned up at the wrong room. Turning the light on, we were horrified to discover perhaps the largest Australian I have ever seen coming towards us, bleary-eyed and salivating, in nothing but his Wallabies jersey and underwear, saying, "Bleeding Poms. Bleeding Poms. I can't sleep and I was just thinking about how I'd like to crush you buggers."
Needless to say, we ran. More like a pair of lapdogs than British Bulldogs, but never mind, we didn't get hurt and didn't have to make a holiday accident claim.
Talking about it on the Eurostar home, Ben and I shared the reflection that if a person must get drunk (which, let's face it, is never advisable), it is always best to do it in a familiar environment.
Having too much to drink when abroad shows not only a lack of respect for one's hosts, it also risks your own personal safety and certainly increases the risk of suffering the kind of mishap that can lead to you needing to contact a personal injury solicitor in order to make a holiday accident claim.
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