Update II - Paris

This could actually be pretty good.

I've been trying hard not to get a pessimistic attidute on this trip, and believe me, it has been a challenge many times. Like today, for instance. I wake up in Nîmes, France this morning, having spent the previous evening in a beautiful Roman colloseum seeing Arctic Monkeys and Arcade Fire perform. Naturally, my spirits were high as I went downstairs this morning to collect the breakfast I had paid 4 euro for the previous day. Oh, did you say breakfast was over at 9:30? Hm, nobody told me that yesterday. Well, is there anything you can give me? Oh, OK, a piece of bread and some weak coffee. Boy, that was good. Totally worth nearly $6 US. May I use the internet now, so I can get directions to my next hostel? Oh, 1 euro for 15 minutes? OK, let's see where this next hostel is. Oh, I have to call somebody to let me in because you don't post the address? OK, let me write down a page full of instructions first. Oh, you say I need to bring my own sheets? OK, that'll be a problem.

This was all before noon.

I've had many days like that, where it seems like every move I make is an overpriced fiasco. Maybe I'm not suited for travelling like this, or maybe I need another person or two with me to share some of the responsibility. Who knows. At any rate, I'm here and I'm not giving up. You think I'm going to let France get the better of me?

Anyway, this morning made me grouchy all over again, as I took the high-speed train north to Paris. I got out of the train station and called the number of this hostel. A nice woman picked up, gave me a few directions for the subway, and said two guys from Finland would meet me at the station to show me the apartment. Wait... apartment? Turns out I'm not going to a hostel, but one of several little apartments all over the city, each with 4 to 6 beds, and a full kitchen, bathroom, and living room.

So fast forward one hour, where I am sitting in my cute little Paris apartment in Montmartre. I've got ten days in this city, and this could actually be pretty good.

Update I

I am sitting in the sweaty internet lounge of my "hotel" in Nice, France right now. It's about a quarter to six. I've got time to kill, because I realize now that I committed myself to more days in Nice than I really needed. Before I came to Europe, I thought that situations like this wouldn't be a problem. Finished with a city? No big deal. Use my Eurail pass to hop on a train to another city, blow into some hostel that I found in my guide book, and spend a night or two somewhere new. But in reality, when I say "committed," I truly mean committed. I've had to make reservations for every night of every hostel, and most of them have a 48-hour cancellation policy. You don't let them know in time, they charge you for the first night's stay. No excuses. And forget about trying to make a new reservation somewhere with less than a week's notice. This being the high season, everything is full. So at times like this, when I'm ready to move on from Nice, I'm locked in. I can't find anyplace else to stay in a new city, and even if I could, I can't cancel the reservation I already have here.

This trip has been the most stress I've had in a long time. The first week especially, when I realized that my vague itinerary wasn't going to cut it, and I began having to plan my entire trip around which cities had places to stay, rather than which cities had interesting things I wanted to see. The lack of space in hostels and on trains means that I won't be going to Spain and Portugal like I had hoped. It's a scary and vulnerable feeling to walk out of the train station in a new city without a place to stay that night and have to go around asking hostel after hostel if there's any room. You may gush breathlessly, "Well Dave, that's the beauty of traveling. That's fun!" Don't give me that bullshit. Your idea of traveling is my idea of being a bum.

It hasn't been all bad. I've been to some nice cities and seen some truly wonderful things (eg, the Sistine Chapel, the ruins of ancient Rome, Michaelangelo's statue of David) and I've got more wonderful things coming up with the concert in Nimes and all that there is to do in Paris. I've met some good people and discovered I love falling asleep on night trains. But I find myself asking if it's been worth all the stress and worry. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble had I done a lot more research back home and made hostel reservations before I left; don't think I don't regret that now. And things would have been a lot easier if I weren't by myself right now, too.

But hindsight is 20/20, right? I haven't lost hope yet, and I am looking forward to the things I have yet to see. But I miss being home right now, too.