Europe

I love Europe. I was in Italy and France last month, my 10th trip in 6 years. With each trip I get more daring and now look for more off the beaten path places in Europe. I went to Southern Italy, to the Adriatic coast. I feel I can now tackle Palermo and Sicily. So I'm going to save for Sicily next March. I bought this card at a little hilltop village outside of Nice. The town was St Paul de Vence. I remember my first trip to Nice, 5 years ago. I was scared to death and did not know what to do. I went into a travel agency to ask if they offered tours for the city. The lady told me in a very indignant manner to go to the bus station. She pointed in some direction. I went and found buses that went everywhere. I took the bus to Menton at the French/Italy border, to Monte Carlo and to the little hilltop villages outside of Nice, just for a little over 1 euro. The bus station in Nice was the best travel bargain in my books. This trip we took the train, an Italian train from Genoa, right into France and into Nice. How great is that, to have a Trenitalia train rolled right into Nice, France. Colleagues at work think I'm very rich. Rich, I'm not. I told them I'm on a Ramen diet so I can afford all these experiences. I don't go to the mall. I don't watch much TV. They say watching too much TV increases your appetite for buying thing. I remove all temptationof shopping from my life. I work in a drugstore and wear a white smock, so I spend very little on clothes, a few pair of knit pants and T shirts from Lands' End will last me a long time. I shop at TJ Max or Ross stores most of the time and even when I do I usually only check out their clearance racks. I'm so cheap, I just realize that. How else am I going to afford such wonderful European experiences? Have you seen the price of gas lately? The US dollar is like a third world currency abroad. It's nothing compared to the euro and the pound. I came back with a treasure trove of memories. For my recent itinerary and details, read my previous blog on how to obtain it. I shall be writing later on how to travel cheaply in Europe. The internet is a wonderful tool for trip planning. I'm not tech savvy. But I love the internet. I'm struggling with Word 2003 trying to write down details of the trip.