Tag Archives: travel

My European Interail Diary Part 1 6th April 2015

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Well,I’m feeling a pretty strange. I’m writing this on a train heading for Montpellier where I have a bit of a wait before I get a  train to Barcelona. A month ago it seemed like a good idea and I’m sure it will eventually be one (idea that is). It’s good to do something different! I flew from Gatwick to Nice yesterday and everything seemed fine. Monarch Airlines were a bit odd and their baggage policy is even worse than Ryanair but they eventually let me on to the plane after queuing for about an hour.

When I got to Nice Airport everything was good and there was even a bus waiting to take me to the centre of town. I thought it would take me all the way to the railway station where I had booked a hotel, the Elvira, but it stopped way before then. Panic!! It was also pouring with rain and cold. This wasn’t supposed to happen! This is supposed to be the sunny Riviera!! I asked the driver in atrocious French how to get to the station and I managed to understand that I needed to get the tram. Somehow I stumbled upon the tramlines and walked along until I found a stop. Fortunately, my bus ticket was okay for the tram and I eventually arrived at the station at about nine o’clock. Another half an hour of getting wet and lost I was standing outside the hotel with the door locked and no-one at the reception. At this point a certain feeling of misery and panic crept in. Eventually, I was let in and finally got into my room with the sound of rain dripping on my tiny balcony through an open window. A dim, single light dangled from the centre of the ceiling. I slept badly and was afraid I would miss my train the following day. I set two alarms but didn’t need either of them.

Hotel Elvira, Nice where I spent my first night!

After a strange night of weird dreams and feelings of disorientation I had a nice couple of hours looking round Nice and am now on the train writing this, still feeling strange but adjusting to the little adventure I have set upon. The weather’s better now as well. Another eight hours and I will be in Barcelona. Can’t wait!!

Nice station. Off to Barcelona!!

Some Pictures of St. Albans

This is a gallery of pictures of  the town of St. Albans, U.K. mainly the Cathedral and Abbey Church.

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Feeling nervous!

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Am sorting out the details for my trip. Feeling kind of nervous and excited. Not sure what is going to happen or even if I’m going to get there, but I’m sure I will!  Have practiced being a lone visitor in Berlin and it was weird but worthwhile. It’s not just about going somewhere far away to see what’s there but also about finding things out about myself which you can only do when you’re far from your comfort zone.

Why New York? Well, it’s the home I never knew apart from blasts of beat poetry, jazz and the folk scene. It was the sounds of the Velvet Underground in my suburban home in Leicester. It was the skyscrapers and Superman. It was the abstract expressionists and the weird goings on in the Andy Warhol factory. It was the complete fantasy. It was Positively 4th Street, where I am staying just round the corner in the Jane Hotel. It’s the Statue of Liberty and countless black and white movies from the 50s. In short, it was a dream of an alternative reality that I had always been part of but had never been to. I am going to pursue a dream. Is this wise? No, but I am driven to it like a moth to a flame.