Who knew that traveling alone can be so much fun?!
I've met lots of new people lately that shared their traveling stories with me. It’s funny how when they start showing me pictures I always assume that they are traveling with old friends, but then they start saying stuff like: “oh no, I’ve met this girl in the hostel room” or “bumped into this group on the train on my way to …”.
This was a new concept for me. I’ve been avoiding traveling alone because I was afraid it might get boring and I’ll be spending too much time and money on something I might not really enjoy due to lack of meaningful human interaction, but all those stories made me realize I’ve been overthinking it and underestimating the experience, so I decided to at least give it a try.
Choose a place to visit
Although top 3 destinations on my bucket list are Japan, Thailand and Brazil there was this voice in my head saying I should go for something close and cheap for my first trip alone (risk management :P)
Without having any specific place in mind I started looking on www.skyscanner.net and they have this cool feature where you can search for flights from the nearest airport to ‘Everywhere’ :D departing and returning in the ‘Cheapest month’. First on my results list was Cologne in Germany, but doing a bit of research like: looking for accommodation on www.airbnb.co.uk, things to do on www.tripadvisor.co.uk and the weather, it didn’t excite me
… or at least not like Béziers did (2nd on my results list) … something felt magical about this place:
Make a plan
Booked my flights, the bus rides to & from the airport and a nice room … the only things left were to plan what to do/visit there and where to eat French specialities
I had my TO DO list ready in no time:
Finally the big day came :D
Packed my backpack, made sure I got the camera and headed to the bus station still thinking about work :|
Had a great time listening to ‘Total Recall’ by Arnold Schwarzenegger the whole way to Beziers.
When I stepped out of the airplane and felt the sunshine alongside with that perfect temperature and saw the mesmerizing blue sky I started grinning like a silly kid. That might be normal for some of you, but I’ve been living in UK for the last 18 months.
Anyway, everything goes well until I get on the bus to Beziers city center and I show the driver a 20 EURO note. I swear, she looked at me like she wanted to throw me under the bus and run me over a couple of times :D She started saying something like: “Tu es malade dans ta tête” pointing at her head and then showing me the way out. I heard somebody say “they only accept coins” and was lucky to find change in one of the airport’s sandwich shops just in time to hop back on the same bus.
We stopped right in front of one of the places I wanted to visit: Plateau des poètes.
The Cathedral in Beziers
Fonserannes Locks
I was always postponing food because I wanted to visit as many things as possible and didn’t want to settle for a sandwich either. I was craving for the real French restaurant experience … and by now (3:30pm) I was starving, the backpack felt heavier and due to the temperature I was daydreaming for a cold beer. Found a great restaurant on tripadvisor and headed towards it only to find out when I got to the door (after a 25 minutes walk) that most restaurants close at 3pm and reopen at 7pm. So I had no choice but to settle for a Brasserie.
Talk to people
I was lucky to have the most welcoming host in a homely, with lots of character and artistic apartment in the very centre of Beziers.
Something wonderful happened: people must have felt in my voice the excitement I’ve got from being there because despite of the language barrier it seemed like I and the locals resonated well.
Still craving for a cooked meal I went to a restaurant recommended by Sylvie (the host) and asked for the specials. I can’t remember the name of that dish but it was delicious: chicken breast with boiled egg wrapped in bacon in a white mushroom sauce with a baked potato.
They must have heard me talking to the waiter complimenting the chef and asking for the bill because just as I finished my wine and was thinking of leaving these two lovely ladies sitting at a table right next to mine invited me over. How could I refuse?! ... especially in this circumstances. Pulled a chair to their table and started talking about all sorts of things, but the main theme was the cultural differences between France, Romania and UK. What made the situation funnier was the fact that only one of them was fluent in English and at some point she “forced” me into speaking French and the other girl into speaking English. Although we both studied for at least 4 years the foreign languages, we were struggling to put together more than 2 words in between those funny long pauses :D. I probably didn’t even make sense either and I remember saying things like: “omelette du fromage”, “je t'aime”, “Lara Fabian” and the classic “voulez-vous coucher avec moi?” :).
I wanted to get a taste of the night life in France so I started pushing for taking that party on to the dance floor, but apparently nobody wants to shake their tail feather on a Wednesday night in Beziers therefore we had to settle for some more drinks and a game of pool.
Violette didn’t have any plans for the next day so she kindly offered to join me and visit Cité de Carcassonne, the most impressive citadel I had the opportunity to visit
Cité de Carcassonne
Because we woke up early in the morning we even had time to spend at the beach that evening. Perfect opportunity for some salsa dancing in the sand followed by a relaxed conversation about the past, present and plans for the future. Funny how it feels like I’ve connected better with her in 24 hours than I did with most of my current colleagues in 18 months.
Valras beach
My last day in France was quite a busy one, but somehow I’ve managed to find 2 hours to visit Montpellier and luckily everything I’ve planned to see was very close to the train station.
Montpellier
Thanks for reading!
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