A litle bit more of Europe and coming home

I suppose we can start in Bordeaux. What can I say about Bordeaux? It's an amazing city, seriously. I loved my time there and ended up staying so long that I forfeited the rest of time in Europe just to stay there. I'd been meaning to go to Spain and Portugal still, but when you're having that much fun in a place there is absolutely no reason to leave at all! No rush and no worries, I'll get around to Spain and Portugal eventually. It's not the most important thing in the world that I follow the plans I set down for myself because I know that's never going to happen!

I'd found a couple couchsurfers in Bordeaux and last minute decided to stay with Melina and her friend. They were two German girls studying anthropology there in Bordeaux for a term or so. All I can say is they are amazing. Absolutely incredible. So was their French roommate Arthur. I had a ton of fun going out with them and meeting all the friends they'd made here in Bordeaux. I drank immense amounts wine and holy hell was it incredible. I don't drink wine, but this wine was the best I have ever had. It was so good. It was so good that one night I decided to just stay in and I drank three bottles by myself. Started with white, then blush, and finished off with a red. It was a night well spent. Plus a good bottle is only three euro! Who could refuse such a golden opportunity? Other nights were spent staying in or going out with them. Some were spent goin' off exploring and I spent one night out with some people I'd just met in town. Melina drove me out to a giant sand dune that's famous around there where I was reunited with the ocean. I spent over a week in Bordeaux including my birthday. Bordeaux is clas, such a good city and I'm sure I'll stop back by sometime.

Anyways, since I spent so much time there I'd knowingly skipped my flight from Portugal and instead got a different one flying out of Madrid. Since time was running out I got a rideshare and made it down for one night in Madrid. I didn't really do anything there but explore a little and I managed to stealth camp near the center. One day I'll come back and do Spain right. And then I was back in Ireland for a few days before I left for home.

Ah. Ireland. My new home away from home. My darlin' lover. My youth well spent. I hadn't realized how much I missed Ireland until I was back there. Wow did I miss it. I came back and immediately went to Galway because, well, because apparently all roads lead to Galway. And rightly so. I got to Galway and immediately met up with Shauna, we met up with the twins, and then we all met up with Rob and everyone else (All this is a loose sort of speculation because I'm not quite sure of everything that went down). And we all proceeded into a night of debauchery and shenanigans. We went good all night. All night and into the morning. And then all day. And then all night again. It was steady and true. It was bonding like the kind you can't find in America. As far as I can tell it was just pure Irish. I miss ye already Ireland....

And then it was all over and I was headed back to the airport skagged and hungover (neither of which left me for days). Met some awesome people on my flights back to America. Had a nice layover in Norway. Then arrived in NYC where I got to see Sierra and Lauren, two of my favourite people to visit while I'm out and about. It seems I only ever see them when I'm traveling. Had a grand time there and then it was back home to visit the fam and the dog. Which is where I am now. And ye know what? I miss it already. I miss it all. I miss the unknown and the adventure and people who don't know my language. I miss the food and the simple life of the vagabond. The generosity and the love of strangers and the bonds made while out traveling. I miss likeminded people, the likes of which are something of a rarity it seems. It's all just so liberating, it's all so satisfying. It puts you at peace in your soul and you're scratching that itch that never seems to go away. I do miss it, but it's still nice to be home for a little while. Nice to veg and play some video games and be a normal person for a short spell. See some friends I don't see very often, cuddle up with my dog, and maybe do a bit of running. It's refreshing because ye always gotta go recharge yer batteries for a bit before the next adventure. So you all know the nextadventure happens to be Peru and it starts Jan. 13th. So you can look forward to that at least, maybe I'll blog some of my life back home. But it's not always exactly PC so we'll see ;)

Keep being happy and have a good holiday season!

Beacon

Hows about some hitching?

I feel like I haven't given a good post about hitching very recently. So I'll dedicate this post to the generosity of the French and how culturally different hitching is here compared to America.

I was going to Boredeaux. I left Nantes really late (around noon) as the night before had more festivites than I'd planned for. There was no way I was going to make it today, Bordeaux was a good little bit away and it gets dark around 5 or 6 depending on how overcast it is. I had some applesauce tucked away in my pack for the inevitable night of camping somewhere in the French countryside. But I got to a fantastic spot outside of town and had two people stop in the first 10 minutes though they weren't going the right way. I wasn't too worried about getting out of town after that. 

While I was thumbin' it there a guy from Romania comes along also hitching down to Bordeaux and we join teams for a little while. Another car stops for us, but they aren't goin' the right way. The next car is a middle aged woman and her 10 year old son and they happily take us up to the next petrol station. Sometimes in America you'll get rides from people with kids, but not often. But it has happened so much over here it's shocking. But awesome, I think over here hitching is just not as looked down upon. 

So we're at the next petrol station for maybe 15 minutes before an older guy and his son give us a ride. They're going to an ultimate frisbee tournament and really just want to practice English. They drop the Romanian guy at a huge petrol station on the way to Bordeaux, but I decide to go on to La Rochelle with them. I always feel better when I'm by the ocean. We have a good ride and they drop me at the public bus stop to get me through town. I get a free tour for a euro and a half vis public bus and then I'm on the other side of town walking towards the highway I need with my thumb out.

I was just holding out my thumb while walking, not really expecting someone to pick me up as I was still in town when a car pulls over anyways. She's a young girl of 26 and headed about 50km up the road. She hardly speaks any English, but we do a really good job of talking regardless. I have to say she had the most gorgeous eyes and it was a good ride ending me up a good bit closer to easy hitching!

I had two choices of roads to go down at this point and kind of alternated between the two. I had 6 people pull over before I took a ride to Saintes. It was crazy, a car every 5 minutes!! The guy who picked me had a cat in his lap and he was on his way to drop it off at a shelter. He was really fun and dropped me where I presumed I would be camping for the night since it was nearly dark. But I wanted to try until the bitter end!

That's how I got a ride from a French fisherman who grows weed and scuba dives in his free time. He spoke less Engliah than anyone by far that day, but through pantomiming we talked for the full hour and half car ride. It was fantastic and he dropped me in the centre of Bordeaux. 

And there we have it, no problems whatsoever. The rides were awesome and so much fun. Simple as could be. I love hitching in France :)

Be happy,

Beacon