On my quest to keep my life as fulfilled as possible, I’ve been away from [my second] “home” for 3 weeks now as I traverse Europe. Along with along with my two craziest friends, we partied for two weeks straight in London, Lagos, Lisbon and Barcelona— think jumping from city to city, club-to-airport scenarios, hung-over plane and train rides and constantly thinking about caffeine. It was intense and frisky! Little sleep, but no regrets. I don’t normally do this because left to my own devices, I’d be antisocial and stay home the majority of the time (the partying part), but my I love how some of my friends are so different than me and force me to go out… because I always end up having a blast.
Saying goodbye to the girls, I, then endured a four-day suffer-fest on my rental Cannondale road bike with carbon frame, in and around Spain, the suffering, a punishment for the previous two weeks of insanity (I have learned my lesson). More on that later. Then I rewarded myself with three weeks in one of my favorite places in the world: the French Riviera, hoping to slide back into a “regular” routine— bike rides, gym sessions, healthy-eating (sans bread, butter and wine), relaxing and less partying.
Since my mindset when coming to Southern France was to just to, you know, “live“, I have no inclination for the usual hustle and bustle that comes with travel; that irresistible lust of wanting to see and do everything when you are in an unfamiliar city. That is not normally my preferred style of travel anyway because I like to spend more time in each city so I can immerse myself into the culture like the locals and truly relax. Relaxing to me is as little packing, unpacking and travel days, as possible… and waking up every single day and so as you feel.
I was in Nice two years ago, when I took my first great escape to Europe. I spent the longest amount of time in this city because one of my best friends grew up here and we always have the time of our lives together. It is just so rare to meet someone so different yet same as you. Someone who likes all the same things you do, has the same priorities, has the same views of the world. We are both independent, free-spirited explorers (except on opposite ends of the extroversion scale). J’adore mon amour.
I have been here for three days, yet I feel as if I have already been here for three weeks, not in a bad way, because Southern France really feels like home! It’s as if I never left. I think I can get use to this slow-paced and care-free lifestyle of the French.
