Headin' home...

 Got up early, regretfully closed down the cottage and drove to Nice. We have an early flight on Thurs and have been told a taxi from the hostel is quite expensive so we drove around and around the airport area looking for a hotel within walking or shuttle distance. The Raddison wants 180 euros and other's want more! And you still have to get a cab at 4am!! And no one will hold our luggage for us unless we are actually staying at their hotel (some lame excuse about "security") so we piled my rolling duffle, Sarah's rolling suitcase (with the stitched together zipper), a small back pack, my shoulder bag, the green pack we used for hostel travel and the new sport duffle bag we bought to haul all the new acquired  crap back onto a city bus then tying or caribinering it all together humped it the 10 blocks to the hostel. Looks like we'll take our chance with the outlaw cabbies. 

Both of us are pretty exhausted. Feet hurt. At the recommendation of the guy behind the desk here we had dinner at a pretty unremarkable even disappointing cafe near the train station. Guess he is more used to sending folks from here out for cheap and filling. But now for the past half hour we have been happy--we have internet connection. It took a bit of configuring to get the password right but we now have flow of electrons, or waves or magic for all I know and can check email and upload posts. We are sitting in one of the hostel's dining rooms. Yellow walls, orange tables, computers against one wall. Hostelers are going back and forth from the communal kitchen as they prepare mostly pasta. Four guys biking from Spain to Turkey walked thru with a huge pot of something smelling good. I buy cheap beer at the desk and patiently wait while Sarah checks her email and any news from "Knitting Weekly" or "Fiber International" or whatever the hell she keeps up with. An interesting mix of travelers here. The usual college girls traveling in a group or single and the usual old fart hitting on them. Good thing Sarah is here!! The old lecherous guy who would hollow out his bread at breakfast and fill it with jam then dunk it in his coffee is gone. But I think a German guy tried to pick me up at the elevator this afternoon. Otherwise, hosteling is safe for anyone. The staff is friendly and helpful and rooms here cost at least half of what dumps cost in the less attractive parts of town. Of course, you might be sharing a room with 3 other people; the only linen is a clean sleeping sheet, a plastic covered pillow and a fuzzy blanket that is on the bed when you arrive (and when you leave!); a toilet down the hall; and drunk singing Ukrainians at 2am.......

....................Dale got up to get a cheap beer and FINALLY I get a chance at the keyboard.  Besides,  my fingers were getting tired from knitting.  I am almost done with my abbreviated version  of the Lady Eleanor shawl,  (I didn't want to spend the money to buy enough skeins to make the shawl,  so voile, it has become a scarf made out of several skeins from my abundant stash !)  Just in time too, as it is too bulky to lug around airports for the return trip home.   On the needles I have a cabled pair of fingerless mittens, and an angora celtic cabled hat.....Dale returns beer in hand.  I will totter off to the kitchen and see if I can wedge my way in between boiling pasta and Indian spiced stew  to brew a pot of tea. 

Get away from my keyboard, woman.......It's amazing how connected travelers are these days. Our last big trip, people hooked up at cybercafes and hotels but these folks now carry their own. Your's truly included. Some of these computers are so small and cute. I want one! Have had a few of you lurkers make comment about: "your on vacation. What the hell you want to be doing on a computer?" or something to that effect. I enjoy the writing and the sharing. In the past, when I traveled alone, I would sit in cafes or bars and write letters. Sometimes I felt a bit selfish because these letters only went to single individuals. I had to decide who I would bore with details of my trip and I would have to continue to do so otherwise so much would be out of context. Now I can bore many at once! I still write in cafes and bars but I have embraced the technology and use the tools of communication that are available to me. Sitting with paper or a keyboard in front of me provides a break. Travel, especially travel for this length of time, is concentrated, intense, and fatiguing. There must be a balance of sit back and chill with the go, go, go. Writing makes me focus my thoughts, review the day, and escape from the constant intensity of travel. This connection with friends and the time spent writing somehow not only gives me a break but even justifies my experiences by allowing  me to share with others. 

I'm going to bed.............