A spontaneous trip indeed...On Tuesday, I was sitting in my room analyzing my abroad experience so far. I am quite pleased with how much I’ve done, even though it doesn’t feel like I’ve made a dent in what I want to do. My favorite past time right now is watching SkyScanner for cheap flights to my top destinations. Sometimes I like to click the “Search Everywhere” button just to see what pops up. I had been wanting to somewhere the weekend of December 1st for a while... I had looked at Milan, Rome, Madrid, Krakow.. but didn’t commit to any of them. Partly because I have a huge trip coming up in December already, and partly because I wanted to save money.
Tuesday was the day after cyber Monday and I had noticed some airlines were still having good deals. I clicked the search everywhere option and looked for some future travels. It was then that I noticed Nice, France was was only 10 pounds each way for the upcoming weekend. That’s right people, a round trip flight for 20£ (28$)! I added it to my cart, filled out my name, got to the payment page and exited the window. I was having this crazy adrenaline rush. “Was I about to book a trip, alone, that quickly?! What are you thinking Maddi?!” Is what my brain was yelling at me. I sat there for about an hour, contemplating, thinking, wondering if I would regret not going if the weekend approached and I hadn’t bought the ticket. I eventually convinced myself to buy the ticket. “You won’t be able to book spontaneous travels like this forever so you might as well take advantage of it!” Is what I finally said to myself. I bought the ticket, put a down payment on a hostel for the weekend, and let out a deep breath. I had done it. I had booked my first solo travel and I couldn’t be more excited and proud of myself. My inner turmoil has subsided and I was feeling anxious to research Nice as much as possible. The first thing I looked up was what the weather might be. Drizzling on the day I arrived, but sunny the next two days I was there! And the temperatures! There was a time I would think 60 degrees was too cold to enjoy but after living in 35/40 degrees for the last few weeks, I was more than excited to walk around in 60 degrees. I know England is going to keep getting colder, but I needed a break from this chilly weather. I started playing with the idea of Couchsurfing too, to save some cash and meet some locals. For those that don’t know, Couchsurfing is a website (but more of a community) where you can contact local people in the area and stay with them free of charge. Most people on Couchsurfing ask you to prepare a meal from your culture, and they’ll make one from there’s, and you share experiences with eachother. A lot of my friends have done it and had great experiences. I figured there was no harm in looking into it, so I sent out a request to some hosts. I was mainly looking for a female host, since I hadn’t done this before, and it was my first time traveling alone, I felt this was my safer option. I received about 6 offers, most from men, but one lady offered! I chatted with her a bit and decided to accept her offer. She unfortunately had to cancel the Thursday before my departure, so I was thankful I hadn’t cancelled my hostel reservation yet. I considered the other offers, but had a gut feeling that I should stay at the hostel. I booked my bus to the airport, packed my bag, and started my journey. My flight is at 1pm, but I had to leave my place at 7:30am to catch the bus into town, to get the bus to the airport. I could either get to the airport at 9:30am or 12:00pm... I figured earlier the better. So here I am! Writing this post, with a coffee in hand at the Stansted airport awaiting my flight. I had about two hours to kill here so I downloaded the weebly app so I could update my blog on the go! Stay tuned for updates on this post, if I have time over the weekend I’ll write then, or early next week. Here’s a picture of the sun rising this morning and my delicious latte. Much love, Maddi
2 Comments
3/12/2017 02:16:08
Hi Maddi,
Reply
Betty Fink
4/12/2017 00:01:11
Well, what can be said, you are outstanding! I so enjoy every word! Keep writing! We are there with you!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
MadeleineMy name is Madeleine Sarner, and I am an American student living in Britain's oldest recorded town, Colchester. After many months of saving, extensive planning, and a few break downs along the way, I have finally started my journey of living abroad. On this blog you can keep up with my adventures, my culture shock, and my new and exciting experiences! Archives
December 2017
Categories |