I know this is a little backward, writing about the days leading up to my return to Canada, but oh well, deal with it!
I spent the afternoon of the 6th lying on the beach, just soaking up the sun and swimming every now and then. There were a decent amount of people there, and being Europe, alot of women were topless. Can't complain about that.
It got a bit cloudy by 5:30, so I decided to head back to the hostel, grab a shower, then head back out get some food and surf the net. Well, I made it to the hostel, took a shower, but before I left, this chinese guy starts talking to me. He asks me whether I could wait for him and show him around. I didn't want to be rude, so I figure I might as well. While I waited for him, I just talked to some girl from Winnipeg, and killed time. I also talked to this Irish lass who worked at the hostel to see if they were going to do anything, and they said they might head to the pub and asked if I wanted to come along. I figured I might as well, since I didn't have anything better to do anyways.
So, I take the Chinese guy around, and show him the beach and the place where they have the film festival. He flipped upon seeing Sharon Stone's handprint in the ground. Apparently he loves her off. Which gave me some relief, cause with the way things have been going lately, I wouldn't be surprised if he hit on me while I showed him around or anything. I showed him the beach, and we just chilled and talked for an hour or so about our lives and what not. He grew up in China but went to school in Vienna for the past 4 years. It's impressive, cause he knows Chinese, mandarin, and a little bit of english. Anyways, I look at the time, and figure we should head back to the hostel cause the girls were waiting for us to go out. However, he apparently doens't drink, and suggests that we instead go to the mountain top to look at the sunset, cause apparently (according to a postcard he's seen), it is very beautiful....yea...anyways, I politely decline, and we head back to the hostel.
he decided not to come out, so this chick from cali, the Irish girl, and I head out to an Irish pub and grab a few beers. It was expensive, at least compared to most places I've been to in Europe. nevertheless, we chat over some beers, then we head over to another irish pub down the street cause it had a pool table.
Played two games of pool, and one game of fooseball. Won all 3, which I was happy about. Gotta represent Canada. The rest of the night was more or less just chatting over beer with the Irish girl and some other Irish folk in the bar. The cali girl left us to hit up some gay bars, I don't know, maybe she misses San Francisco or something.
Woke up the next day, left the hostel, and went to Antibes to meet up with Jenn who was staying at her great aunt's place. Her aunt was really cool, and so was her husband, although he only spoke french so, it was a bit hard communicating at times. Still, they were really nice and hospitable. they picked me up from the train station, took us to the beach, made us lunch, and even drove me back to the train station. The day was beautiful and we spent most of it just lying on the beach, just soaking up the sun. it was great.
After saying my goodbyes to Jenn and her great aunt and uncle, I was on the train for Nice where I had to catch a place to Stansted airport in London. I accidentally got off one stop too late, which wasn't my fault. I should have gotten off at Nice-St. Augustine, instead of Nice-Ville, but come on, you would think the airport was in the ville right? right? Anyways, I cause a bus for 4 euros, and it took me to where I needed to go.
The plane got into Stansted at around 10:15, which is a good 30 minutes earlier then scheduled, so that was good. However, the only bus that goes to Heathrow Airport (where my flight to Toronto was leaving from) wasn't leaving until 11:59. Not only that, but it cost 25 pounds to take it!!! Which is like $70 CAD!!!! so on top of the flight which was 141 Euros, it cost me about $270 CAD to get from Nice to Heathrow in London. ridiculous!
but what could I do right? so I take the bus, and it gets into Heathrow at around 1 a.m. I wander around, looking for a bench in the airport to sleep on, but they're all already taken by other travellers. Finally I find a set of empty benches in the arrivals area, but guess what? they had just finished vaccuming it or something, cause all the benches were moist and damp. But I'm a trooper. So I just sucked it up, took my travel pillow out, the blanket I took from the plane, and slept on the damp bench. a couple of other people were doing the same as well, so it's not like I'm the only moron.
Woke up around 6 to the sights of arriving passengers and the people that came to pick them up. I brushed my teeth, grabbed some food from one of the stores, and went to check in. I did this all very slowly and I wandered around the airport a bit so I didn't check in until 8:15.
The next 3 hours went by rather slowly. I walked around all the shops, and the duty free stores, before settling down on a chair and waited for them to show which gate I should go to board at. a couple of times I slept, but for the most part, I was awake and just staring at the board. It wasn't until 10:53 that it showed the gate I was supposed to be at. Considering my flight was scheduled to leave at 11:05, it didn't look good. Indeed the flight was delayed, and didn't take off until 12:05.
the plane ride was more or less uneventful. I slept through a third of it. I ate, read, and watched the two movies for the rest. I was able to get them to give me an extra meal at the beginning which was sweet, cause I was starving! The movies shown were "Because of Winn-Dixie" a very overly sentimental movie that lacked depth and flow, and "My favourite Year" an old 80's film with Peter O'toole which was actually pretty good.
The girl who sat beside me was a bit annoying, cause she seemed really ignorant. She asked me if I was from Thailand, which was really wierd, cause it seems so random. But I spoke to her for a bit already, and we're headed to Toronto, and I havea maple leaf on my bag. So, naturally it would make sense to assume I was Canadian. Then she asked me if there were many asian people in London. Like how the hell am I supposed to know? just cause I'm asian? the best was when I took out my ipod, and she goes to me and asks "how much did you buy it. is it cheaper in China?". honestly! I shoulda asked her if she was from Jamaica, or how she must miss chicken and rice and see how that goes.
Anyways, got into Toronto an hour later then expected, but all is well. I got back in one piece, safe and sound!
