Danielle and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Travel Day

So the day I left Barcelona I had a plan: get on the bus from Barcelona to Nice, spend a day on the beach, then head over to Milan. I was supposed to catch a night bus that left around 11:00 PM and arrived around 11:oo AM in Nice.

From the bus stop I wanted to wander to a nice sandy spot on the beach, lay out in the sun, maybe get some dinner at a little restaurant on the water.

So. After a grueling 11 hour bus ride I arrived in Nice, but it wasn't Nice. Not the real Nice anyway. This was more like the giant parking-lot-filled-packing-and-shipping-warehouse-district-try-not-to-get-stabbed part of Nice.

So I went to the train station to try to arrange tickets for Milan. Through a miscommunication I ended up booking a train for Milan that left in an hour, not enough time to see any part of Nice. To say I was disappointed would be a huge understatement. I was crushed. I've wanted to see the riviera for years, at least for a day. It was one of the very few off-the-beaten-track places that I begged to keep on the itinerary and now I couldn't go.

I fought back tears as I climbed on yet another train that would lead us to another train that would take us to Milan. I caught glimpses of Nice and Monaco and Montecarlo from the window and tried not to stare out too longingly as they passed me by, one after the other.

But the French Riviera isn't going anywhere, there's always plenty of time to go back.

In the mean time I had another long train ride to Italy, Milan to be exact. And I was excited to arrive.

And then I arrived. And then I couldn't find directions to the hostel. So I got the directions from an internet cafe. Then I got on the wrong bus. Then I got on the right bus. Then I couldn't find the street the hostel was on, so I wandered around for about two hours on the streets of Milan with a heavy backpack in the dead of night.

After 11 hours of traveling, the biggest disappointment I've gone through in a very long time, 7 more hours of traveling, getting to the city, getting lost (twice)! I was completely miserable.

But, I try to keep reminding myself, even the worst days I have are still happening while I'm backpacking through Europe. I'm really grateful to be out here. Lucky even.

And missing the French Riviera just means I have an excuse to go back someday.