Dock Walking

After having a shocking look at the state of my poor bank account at the beginning of this week and with some of the other girls in the house feeling the same way, my friend Jen and I decided to make a groot trek to Genova in Italy (pronounced Genoa). We heard there was a boat show there and we thought we might be able to get some day work for a few days leading up to the show. Genova is quite far up the coast (it’s about 5hrs on the train) so there was no point going up for 1 day; so we booked the cheapest hotel room we could find for 1 night. 

We had to wake up at 4:30am to get the 5:30am train and after an extremely boring journey we arrived in Genova, tired, lost but full of hope and determination! Thank god Jen is so good with directions or I would have walked us to Milan. I found the crisscross of roads as confusing as Jen found the gawking Italians annoying. 

We had to lug our luggage about 4km to get to the hotel (to my closest and dearest you can just imagine how that went down. If I’d been with a bf, I would have winged the whole way, or sat down on my bag and flat out refused to walk and demanded that a taxi be called. I didn't want Jen to think I was high maintenance though so I just shut up).

The sign to our hotel

I thought we were lost when we walked down a dingy alleyway covered with graffiti and stinking of urine and then past a whore house with a turd sitting outside it. But Jen looked at the map and proclaimed that we had arrived at our destination. 

“You must be joking?!” I said. “There’s no hotel here?”. But then a friendly Italian grandpa stuck his head out of a doorway that one of the prostitutes was standing next to and ushered us into a small clean looking foyer of a hotel. I was still dubious... well rightly so- our room proved to be a bed in a room with two lamps and one cupboard that’s interior decorating consisted of green sponged blobs on the wall and a glorious view out of the window of the turd in the alleyway. We looked at each other- it’s just one night we both said.

After a long day of trekking around town that involved me taking of my shoes and walking barefoot at times because the stupid cheap shoes I bought hurt my feet, we arrived back at the hotel totally despondent. The boat show had been a ballsup- it turns out it was restricted access only and you needed a pass to get in to the port where the boats were. So we then missioned around trying to find the other marina’s in close proximity to the town- but with little success (everything just seemed to be cornered off). I was tired, grumpy and starving, but as we trooped home through an industrial area munching on chocolate bars and diet coke (totally contradictory I know), I came across a hidden away gem of store, selling the most gorgeous, glamorous, Italian style jeans. After deciding on a pair that I was adamant made my butt look at least 1 size smaller and gawking at the cheap price of only 15 euros, I felt happy that the trip might not actually have been a total write off after all. 

We went for a walk before dinner and came across some beautiful old buildings.

Cathedral of San Lorenzo

We had to do the Italian thing and order pasta and pizza for dinner (when in Rome). Genova is actually well known for its pesto, which comes from the region. So we shared a pesto pasta and a four seasons pizza, followed by some absolutely mouth watering gelato (Italians really just do it on another level. I thought I was actually eating liquidised pistachios). 

Luckily we didn't have any travel botchups on the way home, but the trip had cost me 120 euros and I only handed out about one CV. We left Genova at 11am and arrived back in Antibes at 4pm. I walked into my room, dropped my bags and just burst into tears. I’d given up a good job with people I liked, sold my car, given up my lease on a house share I loved, I missed my friends, a boy back home that I’d started to really like and my family and dogs; to come and live an exciting life of travelling the world and cleaning toilets and it's just not happening for me. And I'm almost out of cash... My British friend Gemma made me a cup of tea and came to sit with me and we devised a backup plan. If we hadn’t found jobs in the next week, neither of us could afford to stay here any longer and we would go back to London. I would find temp work for 2-3 months and Gemma offered that I could stay with her free of charge (bless!) as she pretty much knew how screwed we both were so felt my pain. Then i would go home for Dec and work another month or 2 in London and come back to the Med in March for season.

Gemma and I went for dins with a friend from the crewhouse (a “feel better about our current situation” meal) and kept texting each other under the table, trying to decide on the cheapest food we could order that didn't make us look like we were scrapping the barrel. I told her that ordering just 1 spring roll might get us some pity stares. 

Me and Gemma

That trip totally drained me, so the next day I said sod it and decided to spend the morning on the beach. It was a nice day and hot, sunny days in Antibes are getting fewer and far between. It was so warm I even swam and one of the dudes from the crewhouse had this awesome waterproof portable speaker that you can plug your iphone into inside.

Me and Linnea

Swedish friend Linnea and British friend Peter

Crewhouse peeps

That night we did dins again- my Swedish friend Linnea got a fantastic job on an awesome boat so we went out for a drink. 

Me and Linnea

The one thing I have to give the French credit for is how much they love animals. You all know what I’m like..... Pretty much everyone here is walking some kind of poodle or another and France is one of the only countries where you can buy a ticket for a seat on the train for your dog. They are allowed into restaurants, bars, hotels. You name it. But what touched me was the beggars on the cobbled streets- they all have a little puppy or a kitten or an old doggie or both, that look so loved and looked after.  They all have little collars and one old man had even found an old, discarded baby pram that he wheeled his cat and dog around in. 

One guy with 3 dogs even had a sign that said needed money to sterilize his doggies. 

They sit so patiently next to their masters on the street. Just watching life go by. It really stirs something in me. To have nothing, but to still be able to love and share what you do have with a pet. Even though I’m almost out of cash, I’ve given away 20 euros already to different people. 

Last Friday B came with me to Cannes for the day to do some dock walking. The dock walking wasn't all that succesful but at least I got to see Cannes and we even found a shop with my name on it!

Cannes Dock

 Laters!