It was finally the last week of school! Some weeks it barely felt like we were keeping our heads above water, so we’re more than grateful it’s over and we’ve officially earned a break for the summer!
Tuesday marked Ryan’s last day of school, which always feels like a milestone; part celebration, part “how did we get here already?” energy. Another school year wrapped, just like that.
This weekend we were heading to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the most iconic endurance races in the world; where teams race non-stop for a full day, pushing both drivers and machines to their absolute limits. It’s not just a race; it’s an entire city of tents, engines, food stalls, camping fields, buses, and adrenaline. The atmosphere is unlike anything else: part festival, part motorsport pilgrimage, part organized chaos that somehow works beautifully.
We’d been before in 2023 and had such an incredible time that we’ve been trying to make it back every year since. We bought tickets the moment they went on sale back in November, but by then the camping spots were already gone. The best we could get at the time was a parking spot at Mulsanne: about a 30-minute bus ride away from the circuit. Not ideal, but we figured we’d make it work.
Over the months, I kept checking back every so often, hoping something, anything, would open up. Nothing ever did. Tuesday morning I checked again at 10 a.m. and still nothing. A few minutes later, I checked again on my phone out of habit more than hope… and suddenly there it was: a camping spot in the close campsite: Prairie! I told myself not to think and just buy. It was successful and we started getting so pumped! Now that we had a campsite, we could bring our bikes. Instantly, the mood of the whole trip went from “logistics and bus rides” to “this is going to be amazing.”
Wednesday, Ryan spent the day helping a friend with an Eagle Scout project, cleaning up the local training area campsite. A full, productive day before jumping straight into travel mode.
As for me, I was still stuck in the saga of the new car; finally insured, title ready to be processed, but not quite in my hands yet. By the time I had all the required paperwork this week, it was too late in the week to finalize the title. We will try again next week!
Thursday finally arrived. Right after work and school, we switched into full departure mode for our weekend at Le Mans. First stop: picking up the camper van we had rented. We drove 40 minutes north of Stuttgart to the rental place. I dropped Matt off and headed to take the dogs to their sitter. Mid-drop off chaos, Matt texted me that he had forgotten his passport and would need me to go back home for it. I was already mentally preparing for an hour long detour home and delayed departure when, a few minutes later, he texted again; miraculously, they were going to let him pick up the camper without it. One of those rare moments where chaos works in your favor.
Dogs dropped off, passport drama resolved, we regrouped at home and finished packing at full speed. Ryan’s friend Westin joined us, dropped off right on time, and suddenly the camper was filling up with bags, snacks, gear, and last-minute “did you grab this?” questions. Once everything was finally loaded, we hit the road.
Our first destination was Troyes, France, where we planned to spend the night before continuing on to Le Mans. The six hour drive went smoothly; just a couple of gas stops and no traffic; and we rolled into town around midnight and promptly went to bed.
We were back in the car by 8 a.m., ready for the final three-hour push into Le Mans. The excitement was definitely outweighing the exhaustion at that point.
We had to stop for gas one more time; our camper van was absolutely burning through fuel; but it turned into a surprisingly perfect pit stop. We pulled into a station that happened to have a huge selection of Le Mans swag, and of course we all walked out fully decked out for race weekend. Instant immersion.
We arrived in Le Mans around noon and found the Prairie campsite without any trouble. From there, we were promptly escorted to our pitch by a bike-riding assistant weaving through the campsite lanes. Even then, I still couldn’t quite believe we were actually there. I kept waiting for someone to tell us it had been a mistake and we’d be redirected somewhere else. But no; we were in!
The Prairie Campsite has one of the best locations at Le Mans, just a 15-minute walk from one of the circuit entrance gates. While that may sound like a long way, with more than 50,000 people camping around the circuit during race week, there are dozens of campsites spread across the area, and some campers are a 30-minute walk—or even a shuttle bus ride—from the track.
When we arrived, campsites stretched as far as we could see. Some fans had already been there for nearly a week, and we were fascinated by the mini communities they had created. Groups had combined multiple camping pitches to build enormous communal dining areas, outdoor kitchens, bars, and even lounge spaces complete with TVs. Every campsite reflected its occupants, decorated with the colors of their favorite teams or their national flags, while many of the cars were covered in 24 Hours of Le Mans stickers. It all added to the lively, welcoming atmosphere that makes Le Mans feel like so much more than just a race.
We got the campsite set up fairly smoothly, the only hiccup being that Ryan realized he hadn’t packed the poles for his tent. That quickly solved itself: he’d be sleeping in the van with us instead.
Once everything was set, we headed down toward the track, which was about a 15-minute walk from the campsite. We only had two bikes with us so the boys rode ahead while Matt, Brooklyn, and I walked. The weather was sunny and warm and it was a nice walk.
We arrived at the gate around 1:30 p.m., only to find that public opening didn’t start until 3 p.m., so we were turned away. As it turned out, even when it did open, that entrance wouldn’t have worked for us anyway with the bikes—but at that point, we just pivoted and started making our way around to the main entrance on the other side of the circuit.
The boys took the bikes, so they made quick progress. Matt, Brooklyn, and I walked—and it was a long walk. It was about a mile down the dusty road side and he were HOT and starting to sunburn by the time we reached the main gate.
Eventually, we made it to the main gate area and stopped by the client services desk, looking for tickets to the museums. There, we were unexpectedly offered an upgrade: full access tickets for just €32 each. That gave us entry to the visitor area a day early, plus access to the pits, paddock, and food village. It was an easy yes!
We went in the gates to check out the Fan Village while we waited for the official public track opening. Brooklyn and I had ice cream while Matt enjoyed a Guinness.
The boys ran off to explore the paddock and pits. They only had child wristbands and yet somehow talked their way into the actual pits, which was not open to the public and walked through touching all the cars. No one even asked what they were doing until they made it to the very last car!
Around 3 p.m., Matt, Brooklyn, and I, headed back to the bike lock area to grab the bikes—but quickly discovered we couldn’t re-enter through the main gate with them. So we improvised: Brooklyn hopped on the back of Matt’s bike, and we set off again.
This time, we had to bike nearly 20 minutes to reach the next entrance. We finally got the bikes onto the circuit; but traffic was moving clockwise only, which meant we had no choice but to commit to the full loop. The boys were already waiting for us, so we pedaled hard around the entire 8.5-mile track just to meet back up.
At one point, we even had to hop off and walk because a massive car show had taken over part of the far section of the circuit, completely blocking the route.
And just like that, our “quick afternoon at the track” turned into a full-on endurance event before the race had even officially begun.
We finally reached the boys at the Goodyear Bridge where we agreed to meet after they patiently waited over an hour for us to get the bikes to them. We took a quick picture and then sent them off to do their own lap.
Then Matt, Brooklyn, and I wandered through the food village and paddock together until the boys were back. We were all starting to get a little sunburned after our long bike ride around the track.
Our younger group was ready to head back to the camper at that point, so we took them back and got them settled before Matt and I made a quick trip up to the concert area, where there was a big set from Robin Schulz, a German DJ who is hugely popular across Europe.
The concert was cool, especially because the sun did not even set until 10:30 so the sky was illuminated with a pretty sunset. They had several zip lines set up over the concert area which made for a super fun techno experience. Then we went back to the camper for sleep.
I expected it to be loud all night, like the field at Nürburgring, and while there were definitely some noisy pockets around the campsite, we were tucked into a quiet corner.
We woke up at about 8 a.m. on race day and made it to the track by 9 a.m. We had scoped out some potential good watching spots the day before and were able to get a trackside seat on the rooftop of the same building we watched from in 2023.
Better for us this time was that a large awning was taken down so we had a better view but worse for us was that there were no speakers close by. We could hear a little but not a lot. Matt and I hung out at the spot all day to keep it while the boys wandered the track . As the time got closer to race time, they came back and helped us hold the spots, people were really trying to move in on them!
While we were waiting we struck up a conversation with some Dutch guys sitting next to us. As time and the conversation we progressed, we discovered that we were actually our neighbors at the campground. They had even been admiring our camper and bikes and had a picture on their phone. What a small world that out of a crowd of 500,000, we would be sitting next to the people who sat up camp next to us!
The opening ceremony kicked off at 3pm and while it looked really cool on the big screen across from us, we could barely hear the ceremony. There was also a jet flypast but the big majestic French flypast with colors was reduced to just two jets due to the raised fuel costs. The experience was still super cool though!
Once the race kicked off at 4pm, we watched for an hour before the heat was getting to us. The temperature had gotten up to about 90F and the UV index was so high, our skin was really burning! We covered ourselves with towels and an umbrella even though that made us even hotter. We decided to take an early nap and comer back later after the sun was down.
Our quick nap after returning to the van turned into a much longer one than we expected! We woke up around 9:00 p.m. and made our way back to the track, arriving just before 10:00. With the sun setting so late this time of year, it hadn’t even dipped below the horizon yet, and we were treated to a beautiful sunset as we walked through the race circuit.
This time our destination was the grandstands overlooking the pit lane at the start/finish line. The cars are unbelievably loud as they roar past the grandstands, making it one of the best places to experience the race. We spent a few hours soaking in the atmosphere before beginning the walk back to the campsite shortly before midnight.
As we walked, the race’s fireworks and drone show began, giving us an incredible sendoff for the evening. When we finally reached the spot where we had left our bikes just outside the gate, we discovered that one of the inner tubes had failed and one tire was completely flat. Instead of riding back, we had to walk both bikes the rest of the way to the campsite. By the time we finally made it back to the van, we were exhausted and fell asleep almost immediately. Surprisingly, we still managed to get a full night’s rest despite the noise all around from the race cars, helicopters, and partying campers.
We woke up around 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, cleaned up the van and campsite, and then headed back to the track one last time. We spent a couple of hours between the Karting Fan Zone, which was closest to our campsite, and the rooftop viewing area where we had watched the race the day before. We did a little more souvenir shopping, and, of course, we couldn’t leave without grabbing one more burger from the food trucks.
Le Mans was amazing! The French really do it right. Let’s start with the food: there was an incredible selection on offer—burgers made from high-quality French beef, poke bowls, cheese platters, crêpes, roasted ox, and a wide variety of wines. Add to that the entertainment: concerts, fairground rides, and racing simulators, all spread across the site.
And then there’s the camping. It’s honestly part of the experience and so much fun in its own right. On their own, each element would be enjoyable; but combine it all with the racing and it becomes something completely different altogether. Matt and Ryan have always been into it and followed it closely, but I’ve been fully converted. I could come 100 times, and that’s saying something given I’m not usually someone who likes repeating destinations.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end and we needed to work the next day so we had to leave a little early and listen to the remainder of the race in the van radio. Right on schedule at noon, we climbed into the van and were ready to head home. Unfortunately, it seemed like everyone else had the exact same idea. Traffic leaving the circuit was bumper-to-bumper, and it took nearly 40 minutes just to get out of the race grounds. Once we reached the motorway, though, it was smooth sailing all the way back to Germany.
French autoroute tolls are certainly expensive, but they do seem to serve their purpose. The roads are exceptionally well maintained and there are never traffic jams. Despite the massive crowds leaving Le Mans, traffic flowed effortlessly once we were out of the immediate area.
We stopped in Reims for a Pitaya dinner on the drive home before continuing on to Stuttgart. We picked up the dogs from the sitter around 8:30 p.m. and were back home by 9:00.
When we were about five minutes from home, one of my German classmates texted me excitedly and told me to log into the exam portal to check my score. I wasn’t expecting the results for another two weeks, so I was surprised to see they had been released so early.
I was thrilled to find that I had passed and that my B1 certificate was waiting for me! I actually scored quite well, despite having worried about my performance after the exam. While I didn’t receive the highest mark of “sehr gut,” I earned “gut,” the second-highest rating, which was still something I had been hoping to achieve. It was the perfect way to end an already memorable weekend.
We quickly unloaded the van, cleaned everything out, put our gear away, and started the laundry. It was a busy end to an incredible weekend, and with another trip beginning on Thursday, there wasn’t much time to rest before our next adventure!
Gilcrests Abroad 