Hyères I am

You know one of the best part of having friends? Visiting them. Especially if said friends live in the French Riviera. I got to spend a weekend with a lovely friend from university, who is also currently a post-grad ex-pat (check out her excellent blog for more a francais here: Alexa). With only 3 days, getting the timing and planning for this trip was key. So in addition to sharing photos and memories from the trip, I’m also going to talk about my budget weekend travel process!

Nice to See You

The city of Hyères is on the western side of the Nice province, and about an hour by train from Marseille. Even better, the train follows the Mediterranean Coast through the Provencal countryside! While not as well known as its neighbors to the East (St. Tropez, Nice, Cannes), Hyères was actually the original Cote d’Azur resort.The likes of Tolstoy, Dumas, Edith Wharton, and even Queen Victoria vacationed in Hyères during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“I was only happy once… and that was at Hyères.” – Robert Louis Stephenson

Even though the main town is not directly on the coast, it’s a quick bus ride down to windsurfing, beach strolls, and fantastic sunsets. For those looking for Riviera views without the price tag and crowds, follow the lead of turn of the century jetsetters, authors, and royalty and rediscover “Les Palmiers”. Less predictable than Nice or Monaco, better for writing a book than Paris, all wrapped up in Mediterranean warmth and southern charm!

I managed to perfectly time my trip to that one weekend it rained, but the city has an average of 300 sunny days a year. Friday was spent travelling, napping on the beach, and celebrating a birthday. Saturday started out foggy and drizzly, which had the effect of highlighting the colors and architecture of the Provencal style. Luckily for me by the time sunset came, the clouds had cleared and we got to see one of the beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen from the beach. Not pictured is the rose wine the region is known for, or the copious amounts of rich foods and pastries that were devoured too quickly to be photographed. It’s France, everyone already knows the food and wine is great, amiright?

 

Have Carry-On, Will Travel

One of the great things about travelling is that there are so many other people who have shared similar frustrations and struggles who you can commiserate with and learn from. Since it’s my 3rd time in Europe, I feel like I’m finally starting to develop my own system for getting where I need to go with more comfort and less stress. In case you’re curious, here are some of the techniques, coping mechanisms and advice that came into play for this last trip:

• Figure out what makes you feel the most comfortable and at ease and go from there, this applies to everything from luggage, timing, and spending.
• Make sure your luggage fits on whatever mode of transportation you’re taking and that you can deal with it between transfers, cobblestone streets, and stairs. (I use a backpack designed as a carry-on).
• Bring more than enough underwear and socks.
• Save important documents to a locked folder on Google Drive, Dropbox, or somewhere similar. Then make sure that at least  one other person has access to the folder just in case something were to happen.
• On a similar note, especially for international travel, at least one (preferably 2-3) should know your itinerary, transportation, and accommodation info.
• Try to memorize at least a few phrases (including I don’t speak your language very well) in the native language, and download Google Translate for that language offline. Then you can always hand the phone to them to type in their response, or you can really quick find the one word you need in the moment.
• Have a system for getting through airport security. I keep my liquids bag and laptop in my tote for easy access and then switch them over to my carry-on once I’m through. Also I always wear socks, no jewelry and no bobby pins; unnecessary germs and setting off metal detectors are just not worth it to look good.
• Always have tissues and baby wipes.

 

Do you have your own travel system? I’d love to hear it!

In the meantime…stay royal,

Maryanne