Solo Traveling - Nice, France

A few weekends ago, I embarked on my second solo trip to Nice, France. Maybe you’re wondering why I went to Nice, here’s the fun part: I have no idea. I had the realization that I had been living in France for nearly four months and I’ve barely done any traveling. I accredited my becoming a home-body largely to the difficulty I had at the start with making friends and now the difficulty to organize things with the friends I have made, but then I realized it has nothing to do with my friends, or lack of. I was being lazy and I decided if I want to do more traveling and I can't find people to go, I need to just go alone because I'm the only one holding me back (and the only one who can).

La Colline du Château

I took the train to Nice on a Friday morning (my first real train ride), book in hand and snacks in my backpack. The 2.5 hour train ride wasn’t too bad, aside from the cigarette smoke-smelling man next to me but that’s France, right? The ocean-side to which our journey ran parallel, was beautiful and relaxing.

Upon arriving in Nice, I was a little scared and lonely but also so excited to be there. I was anxious about how my first time staying in a hostel and just about everything else you can think of. As someone who prefers to be in their comfort-zone, staying in a hostel was the complete opposite of what I wanted to do but I was hoping I could get out of my comfort-zone and make a friend. I was logging in a room with five beds, only women, and despite me introducing myself to my roommates, no one seemed interested in getting to know each other.

La Mer

After dropping my things at my hostel, the first thing I decided to do in Nice was eat, and of course I had McDonald’s (there isn’t one near where I live). After finishing my chicken nuggets, I went to see the ocean, which was extremely beautiful and tranquille. The Mediterranean beach near Old Nice was one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my life. After the beach, I wandered around the city until I stumbled upon a cute little café called Emilie’s Cookies, which is now one of my favorite cafés.

My two nights in Nice were the perfect time to treat myself to fancy dinners (€€€), as I was alone and didn’t have to consider the cost for anyone but myself, which was kind of liberating in its own little way.

On day two, I wandered some more before going to see La Colline du Château which was superb, the amazing views were accompanied by the playing of an accordion, one of the most French things about France (I think). Once, I was finished roaming the city, I got my book and went on (what I’m calling) a café crawl. I hung out at 3 different French cafés that Saturday. I stumbled upon a cute little café/comic book store near my hostel where I purchased my first french comic book, “Détestable Deadpool”. Ending my cafe crawl at Emilie’s Cookies where I enjoyed a smoothie while reading my book.

My last day in Nice came much quicker than I thought it would. My last morning was spent, surprise surprise, eating a vegan bagel at Emilie’s Cookies and then sitting by the ocean reading my book until it was finally time to catch my train back to Aix-en-Provence. While, I didn't do anything too wildly adventurous, I really enjoyed my ‘Nice’, little trip to the beautiful little ville that is Nice.