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Published: September 1st 2007
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I'm behind on my blogging already. To catch up...
The flight from the states was interesting, to say the least. My transatlantic flight was out of Detroit, so I had a connecting flight from Chicago Midway. When I reserved the flight, I had allowed 1.5hours between flights. So, a few minutes before boarding, I discover my Chi-Det flight is delayed 50 minutes. then an hour. then an hour 5... we finally board the plane at 7:15 central time, only to be told that all Detroit incoming flights have been grounded due to bad weather. Unfortunately, this bad weather somehow didn't delay my flight out of Detroit... but we'll get to that. Eventually we're allowed out on the runway, only to be told that there is too much air traffic over Ohio for us to be allowed to leave. So we wait. and wait. Eventually (sigh of relief) we get off the ground, and have a quick flight to Detroit. Unfortunately, when we arrive in Detroit, there's still a plane at our gate. So we wait... again... for another ten minutes. The wonderful guy next to me on the plane had a nice internet-enabled blackberry, so he sat by and literally
watched his connecting flight take off in front of us. He also informed me that my plane was delayed "waiting for incoming passengers"-- Thank goodness! So at 9:58, I finally got in the airport, ran through the terminal, and was the last one on the plane. The flight attendants shut the doors as I was sitting down. That flight was actually really nice, once we got going.
Greg and I arrived in Gatwick at ~10:30 am UK time. We hauled our luggage across trains, etc. from Gatwick to Stansted, where we hailed a cab to our B&B, the Little Bullocks Farm. The owner, Julie, was a wonderful woman who knew everything about the area and was very welcoming (and willing to keep our semester luggage). We relaxed for a few hours, then Julie drove us a couple miles to the nearest pub-- The Lion and the Lamb. Whoever said pub food isn't good was terribly wrong. My dinner was fantastic! Apparently pickles are brown and taste GOOD in the UK. Excellent. I'm convinced I'll find food just fine at UEA.
After the pub, we explored the 'farm' for a bit, then crashed for a solid 11 hours of sleep. I'm officially on Europe time now. Mostly.
We caught a flight with RyanAir (advertisements the whole flight there...) to Toulon, France on Aug 31. I sat next to a nice, but quiet woman on the flight there. The plane landed rather abruptly, and the 7-year-old British boy behind me seemed to think he could have landed it better ('That was a bit rough!'). I agree.
We arrived in the Toulon airport just in time to... miss the bus to city Toulon (45 min away). While we were waiting for a cab, we got to chatting with the lady next to me on the plane, Nicole, and two Brits, Martin and Will. The cabs were so slow that we decided to save 40 euro and just wait for the bus. So, we all spent the next 1.5 hr exchanging stories and learning about one another. Nicole was the most interesting of all-- she'd traveled all over the world in the 60s and 70s, and had lots of stories. It turned out that while she lived in London, her hometown was in Toulon. So... she gave us wonderful advice on what to see and where to eat.
Later, after we'd located our *darling one star hotel, we bumped into Nicole again on the street! What a night that made! She gave us a guided tour of the port, we found a great restaurant, ate wonderful food and drank local Rose wine, and chatted the evening away. To top it all off, around 22:00, the sous-chef came out, grabbed our waitress, and threw her into the port! Wine glasses, clothes, and all! She was followed by the rest of the staff, and finally, the head chef. Apparently it's a tradition on the 31 of every month. Whatever works!!
We parted ways with Nicole, who invited us to come visit her any time in London (excellent), and made our way back to the Hotel, where we crashed for the night.
Early this morning we had a breakfast of croissants au chocolat while overlooking the port... amazing...
Then we packed up and caught the train to here, Cannes. We sat across from a nice couple who had just met up again-- they're from Australia. The man had just been biking for three weeks across France... and broke his bike frame. Oopsie. But they were nice to chat with in English!
We did a bit of exploring to a hostel that (apparently) isn't open during the day... so we're waiting here, for now. The tourist office opens up again in a few minutes, so hopefully we'll find a translator and catch a couple beds in the nearby hostel.
It's been wonderful so far!
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Emily
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What Fun!
It sounds as though you are having a wonderful beginning to an amazing adventure! So sorry I couldn't chat with you longer before you left but those darn parents wanted to see my classroom in better state than it was at that point in time :) Keep meeting new people and staying safe! Love you!