Mon aventure du jour…..(Nice, June 28, 2009)

This morning Renée and I got up at 4 :30 a.m. to start our trek to the Côte d’Azur airport. With her 100 pounds of luggage (not kidding), we walked about 6 blocks to the bus station to catch the 5:35 a.m. bus to the airport. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time. There was a small ACIS group checking in on the same flight, so we met Adrian, another ACIS tour manager, and talked business for a bit. Renée got checked in (no penalties, thanks to Air France’s liberal weight policy) and we parted ways amicably after three weeks of wonderful travel. We are certainly good travel mates!

Here’s where the interesting part starts. Renée and I left the hotel with fifteen euros. She gave me five, and then two more just in case I needed them. (That part is important to my story!) The direct bus from the bus station to the airport costs 4 euros ($6), and being the frugal traveler that I am, I decided to try to find a local bus back downtown for 1 euro ($1.50). I took the free shuttle bus to Terminal 1, to try to catch a local bus. When I arrived there, I found that the bus I wanted didn’t run on Saturdays (probably because they want people to pay for the 4 euro bus). I decided to walk a ways towards Nice, and try to catch a bus on the main road. Of course, I wasn’t thinking that it was 6:30 a.m., and not many buses were running yet! But it was nice and cool and walking wasn’t too bad.

I came upon a small train station, which I recognized as one stop from the main Nice station. After detouring through some road construction (reminds me of home), I found the station. Most of the people waiting there had tickets, and the ticket window wasn’t open, so I figured I might just have to ride the train illegally. A young French girl came to ask me where to buy a ticket, and together we asked enough people and finally found the automatic machine. The machine only took coins and credit cards. The young girl only had a ten euro bill, and I just gotten money from an ATM at the airport, but of course it was in bills. Except for the three euros I had left over from what Renée gave me. The young girl had been on her way to work and she had a car accident, totaling her car. She was trying to get back home to Nice. I bought us two tickets on the train, and she said she’d pay me back when we got to Nice. We rode the train together and I learned that she was from Morocco and works in a salon doing everything but hair. She was also cleaning houses, trying to save up enough money to open her own salon. She was really rather calm when I saw her, but she said she had been very upset after the accident. She wanted to pay me back for the ticket, but I told her it was a gift. She was the sweetest young lady! We walked a ways from the train station (she to the tram line and I on my way back to the hotel). We exchanged names, she told me I should visit Marakesh and that my French was excellent, much better than her English. When we parted, she gave me the traditional “bises” (a kiss on each cheek)!

Renée’s extra two euros led me to a special encounter with a beautiful young girl in need!

(I returned to the hotel @ 7:30 a.m, and now get to go back to the airport this afternoon to get Mark!)