On Travel
26 Oct 2020
After traveling for a week in France during a pandemic, with a total stranger, in a rental car, I have a lot of things I’ve learned and observed. It was a very fun and fulfilling week, but not necessarily the easiest week. I love traveling and cramming in as much as possible into every day because there truly is never a shortage of things to see and do in France, but this week also reminded me of the importance of slowing down. Since I have so many things to share, I thought it would be easier to just list them.
- French people really mind their own business. I was very apprehensive going into this week due to traveling not just during a pandemic, but as France’s cases rise. I was very safe and we took precautions, but I was worried les français would shame me for traveling at this time. No one cared, and I honestly appreciated it. There’s less shame and judgment here with respect to how everyone conducts themselves during COVID. It can be a good thing and a bad thing, but in this case, it worked out in my favor. A further anecdote to this point is that when we accidentally drove into a pedestrian only zone in Nice, the shopkeepers did not bother to help us get out of there, they only yelled at us for being there or laughed at us. Luckily, a nice woman enjoying a coffee with her friend guided us out.
- Driving was an adventure in and of itself. I knew it was more expensive to drive than in the US, but the price of gas shocked me. Parking was never cheap in the bigger cities (though coming from New York this shouldn’t have surprised me), and the tolls were much more expensive than I’m used to. We had some adventures, including very tiny parking garages (and despite asking for the smallest car size possible, we were in a crossover-type SUV), driving in a pedestrian only zone in Nice, taking backroads to avoid aforementioned tolls that wound up and down cliff-sides and along the water, and our engine light being on for the first half of the trip.
- French people get a bad rep for being unfriendly, especially towards Americans. However, one night in St. Tropez we were seated next to a young French couple from Nice. We mentioned we were heading to Nice later in our trip, and gave us their numbers. Once in Nice, we got lunch with the girl, drinks with the guy, and they invited us to come back to Nice and stay with them whenever (as well as come skiing with them this winter). This not only reminded me why I love traveling, but also reminded me that even though sometimes the stereotypes about a given people can be true, there are always exceptions to the rule.
- There are a lot of not-so-great things about living in France during a pandemic, but one massive positive is I am seeing France in a rare way. There aren’t the masses of tourists as usual. I get to see the country in a very authentic form. While I understand the tourism industry is a massive sector of the economy here, I feel like I get to see an unspoiled version of France - the last time there were no tourists here really was around World War II (also, the last time they had a curfew was then too…). It’s really special and when I get sad about the possibility of people not being able to visit me, I remind myself of this.
- Traveling with a stranger is no easy thing. Kristin and I met on the Facebook group before coming, and I knew I wanted to travel for the first break. She was game and also down for my tendency to cram a million things into every day. Usually when I travel with my family they get tired of my penchant for planning every minute, but Kristin really crushed it (so thank you Kristin!). I also appreciated that we were both mature enough to acknowledge that 8 days together is a REALLY long time, and alone time would be necessary. Almost every day of the trip, we split up for a few hours to explore on our own. These were some great times for me to relax, take in the city through a bar, and call home. The older I get, the more I realize how important alone time is for me to recharge. While I am definitely an extrovert, the pandemic reminded me how good it is to spend time with yourself. I did this a lot abroad, but not as much in the years following. I’m glad to have these months in France to remember how important solitude is for the soul.
- During quarantine, I struggled with being stuck inside for so long. One of the things I loved about this trip is that even though we rented a car, we spent so much time walking and being mobile. I felt like we covered so much ground that way. I have always found that walking/running/biking around is the best way to get to know a city, and I really appreciated France being in a position for this trip where that was possible. I always feel better when I’m walking a lot, and I feel like it’s always a good time to reflect on any number of things.
- One of the things that was a huge growth experience was not just traveling with a stranger, but traveling with a stranger from a very different region of the country. We often say the US is a big place, but rarely do we actually witness that fact in action. I am from outside NYC, one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the world. I went to school in a place that attracted a lot of people from the same region, and then moved to Boston, which despite being smaller, is still very similar. My travel partner is from St. Louis and went to Mizzou. These are super different regions of the US, and despite us being similar in many ways, it was a bit of culture shock in the beginning because we came from very different backgrounds. We learned a lot from each other, and for that I am grateful. I was also reminded how music is always a great equalizer and common ground, because we had lots of common artists that we loved listening to on our long drives.
- I didn’t really have any expectations for this trip. For starters, I was so occupied with even being able to get to France that my brain wasn’t really focused on the actual travel aspect. Second, I had a feeling a lot of these cities we explored might be very empty due to it being the off season and a pandemic. Third, I knew I was taking a huge risk traveling with a stranger and if it didn’t go well, it would put a damper on the whole trip. Fourth, I have never been to Europe in the fall. I wasn’t sure what to expect at all. I wasn’t sure if there would be foliage, things would be closed, or it would just be an altogether weird vibe. But this lack of expectations meant that everything we saw blew me out of the water. Not letting myself think about how the trip could go meant anything would be better than nothing. The cities were NOT empty and very lively. Traveling with a stranger went swimmingly. And fall in France is seriously incredible.
