DAY 1: Last night wasn’t as bad as the night before. I wasn’t so miserable, but I still didn’t sleep. Up at 430. Just laid in bed trying to rest. Got a shower about 7, packed, called a cab (no way I was going to walk with the pack), and headed for the airport. I’d been hearing a lot of stories online that it was taking people every bit of two hours at the airport. Took me 20 minutes, leaving me with another 2 hours to wait. Oh well, better early than having to rush. As the morning went on, I started feeling better. Coughing wasn’t so frequent and heinous sounding. Sinuses were working better. And, there was Diet Dr Pepper! Plane sat at the gate for an hour past departure time. Which was super fun, because apparently Air Lingus was having a kids under 5 fly free special or something, because the flight was PACKED with little kids. And they were getting restless… Finally we took off. As the plane started that initial acceleration down the runway, the flight erupted with the oooo’s and weeeeee’s and giggles of our wee passengers. 🙂 Remember that joy guys, hold on to it for the next 2.5 hours! 🙂 The good news? I only had a couple of coughing fits, and no one decided to eject me! Slán leat, Ireland!
2.5 hours later, I landed in Nice! Ah, France! I love you so! Other than Mexico, France is the country I’ve been to the most. Two trips to Paris and now down south. It will be nice to be here in the summer (both Paris trips were in December), and to see a different part of the country. Plus, I teach French history (the monarchy is my specialty), so it will be interesting to see if I can find anything related to my kings here! I had been feeling so awful those last couple of days in Ireland, but things changed when I got to passport control. The officer said, “Bon jour!” and I said it back. He then went flip, flip, flip, flip, flip….flip (that made me feel better already!!)…finally found a page to stamp, stamped me, said “Merci!” and I didn’t even say “Gracias!” back (which is what I normally do because I’m a weirdo who thinks I have to answer every foreign language in Spanish 🙄). I walked past that window and immediately felt lighter. Seriously, it was like a damn burden was lifted off of me. I don’t know if it was because deep down I was just not enjoying Ireland, or if there was pollen, etc… in the air that were causing my illness….all I knew was that I felt healthier and more relaxed immediately.
Went out of the airport, found the bus ticket office, bought a return ticket for 16.50 euros on the 250 bus to Antibes. And I was super proud of myself for knowing to say it An-teeb instead of An-tee-bees. If there’s an S in French, general rule is to knock the last two letters off the end as they are silent. Because the French like to see letters, not pronounce them. 🙂 The lady said the bus was leaving in 30 minutes. Ok, that kinda sucked, but no worries. I walked down toward the buses and saw one that said 250 on it. I asked the guy if it was going to Antibes. YES!! Woo-hoo!! Super lucky!! Got on the bus, opened my Trusted Housesitters account on my phone, and it wouldn’t let me in!!! What the hell?? Ok, whatever. I just looked at the email the homeowner had sent me. “Get off at Gare Antibes”. Sat on the bus for about 40 minutes. It was now down to me and one other person on the bus….I asked the driver where the stop for Gare Antibes was. I had missed it!!! UGH!! It wasn’t named the Gare Antibes stop… Now, instead of a 7 minute walk, I had a 20 minute one back to the house. In 87 degree weather. With a pack. But fortunately I was feeling better. I texted the homeowner, told her I was on my way, and headed in the right direction.
By the time I got to the Monoprix (grocery store) by her house where I was supposed to meet her, I was DRENCHED in sweat. The homeowner, Becki, was right down to meet me. Went up to her lovely apartment on the 6th floor that would be my home for the next 5 days. Met my charge- little Molly the ferret! OMG she is so tiny and cute!! Becki and I went out to walk around the neighborhood and to have dinner- we hit it off immediately! Seriously, it was really nice to have such a long conversation with someone. We have so much in common, and I haven’t talked to someone for over an hour straight since I left home 5 weeks ago (except for Mikey, and that was just one topic)! She so kindly took me out to dinner at an amazing restaurant. I had seared thun (tuna) and oh my god, it was soooooooooo good. This is also the first time I’ve cut meat with a knife instead of using one to spread peanut butter in over 5 weeks! Came back and went to sleep, loving France…
Molly- the cutest and sweetest ferret in the world!!