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.
2 comments:
I know what it's like to be in a city for too long--not fun. But, Paris is just amazing. If you want any information at all about Paris at all, please ask me! I know places the guide books won't tell you about :) For now, I'll tell you about my favorite falafel place in Paris--L'As du Falafel in the Marais (3rd arrondissement). It's cheap eats for Paris, and the falafel is by far the best--Lenny Kravitz eats there when he's in Paris. It's on the Rue des Rosiers, metro St Paul (line 1).
Don't stress too much do. Remember, focusing on the positive.
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