Today we were back out on the open road, just the 2 of us and our "turtle shells" as jens mom calls our backpacks. After a whole week of family fun and being in one place we weren't sure how we would feel about being back in the hostel hopping world. We knew we would miss the fine dining, hot shower, clean hotel bit, and the Foster fam of course...but apart from that we felt great about the adventures to come as we headed to the train station to go to Nice, France. Only downside is Jen's back injury which has flaired up after an epic jumping picture taken yesterday. We think a backpacker with a bad back is less than ideal but a morning pill cocktail got Jen off the floor and ready to load up.
Trains were confusing today but the French men have redeemed themselves. We needed to take 4 trains to get to Nice, an all day journey. The first trains were no problem and we played some competitive card games, napped, stared at amazing views of Spanish villages and then French country side.
After arriving in Valence, where the smell of French people greeted us immediately, we were told by the frosty (we would call her something ruder but we will refrain) French ticket lady told us getting to Nice was impossible as all trains were full except a first class ticket to Aix En Provence (where we would get on another train) for a few hundred bucks each, not an option for us. We sat at the platform of the train we would not be on and discussed options of going to Italy or switzerland or somewhere north. We watched all the people pile on and the doors closed so we headed for the train station exit, defeated. Jen decided to make one last desperate attempt to get on the train by playing dumb to the conductor and claiming we thought we didn't need a ticket because of our eurail passes, what a ridiculous and stupid idea....until it worked. He pulled us both on the train through the only open door as the train pulled away and him and another guy sold us tickets for 20 bucks and then laughed at our stunned faces as they told us to go sit anywhere we wanted in the first class cabin...is this real life?! What a stroke of luck! And what a redemption for the less than pleasant Parisian men!
We had one more train to catch from Aix En Province to Nice...."impossible!" the young French ticket lady declared when she saw our eurail passes. Full price tickets only, all the eurail seats were sold out. We didn't dare go try our luck with this conductor too...or did we? We approached him without tickets and he waved us into the train saying he would come find us in a minute. We couldnt believe our luck when he walked up to where we were sitting and told us we owed him nothing and could sit where we pleased. These train conductors were really turning out to be alright guys!
Woot woot for the kind souls of the world. You really can change someones entire day with one gesture. This is a really important thing to remember and we have a LOT of good karma to pass on to people we meet both during and after our travels.
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