Full of tourists! When we arrived some girl came up to me and asked if I was American? Pointing out i was kiwi I asked if she was Canadian. Nope, she was American herself! We told her we were looking for another kiwi guy Oscar (we had quickly realised none of us knew what he looked like) and so she set off asking every person at the bar if they knew him!
Awesome! We sat down for a beer and let her go to work. Stunning too so it shouldn't be long. All the girls here look like they're out of magazines. In the end however it was Oscar who found us. And so began a night of dream shattering reality.
This is how life works in Antibes. You wake up at 6am to get to the port at 7:30am. Then you walk the docks asking each boat owner if they want some help. Cleaning, mending, whatever. 99% of the time they say no but sometimes, you get lucky. If not, you head off to the crew finding agencies to check on your contacts, update your CV and this usually keeps you busy from around 9am to midday. Then it is off to the Captain's building where you learn of what time the new boats are coming in the next day and then you do some more dock walking. Then it all starts again the next day.
When a new boat comes in, you are usually part of a group of 20 or more guys and girls bunched up at the boat's soon to be new berth with eager eyes all greedily wondering how to outdo their neighbour in geeting onto this new ship. It's like putting one beautiful girl in a room full of 20 single guys. Competition all the way. And to make it more similar, you'd have to make her having a boyfriend 90% of the time too!
And the morning dock walks, you are not alone. Oh no, there are A LOT of others doing it too. And not just in Antibes mind you, this is going on in every port in the near by region! Crazy! The whole bar we were in this night was full of people looking for work.
So what about Oscar you may be asking? Well, he is still looking for work too. Two months on! He has done a bit of deck hand work, no sailing mind, and tells us you can walk weeks up and down the docks without striking lucky. So no luck there with stealing his contacts...
So realising I have no experience, no skills and no CV and now no contacts, I am ready to face reality and stow away until we are far enough out that they have to keep me!
May 28, 2008
Antibes
Antibes. Pronounced Un-teeb-a is rich people world. This place has money. Check out the yachts! Some are as big as our house!
Our host had mentioned there were some companies around the port whose job it was to set up crew with boats. So we decided to put our name down with a few of these. So at about 2pm (yeah, slept in a bit) we headed off to town.
When the day was drawing to a close, we had put our name down with no one but had seen a lot of other names around. A lot. And they had experience. And qualifications! Bugger (o:
But Jo had a friend Oscar from NZ, an old neighbour, who had been here 2 months. Surely he would have some contacts and maybe he could hook us up? So we got in touch and agreed to meet in the Blue Lady later that night with us secretly habouring plans of smoozing all his friends into giving us work...
Our host had mentioned there were some companies around the port whose job it was to set up crew with boats. So we decided to put our name down with a few of these. So at about 2pm (yeah, slept in a bit) we headed off to town.
When the day was drawing to a close, we had put our name down with no one but had seen a lot of other names around. A lot. And they had experience. And qualifications! Bugger (o:
But Jo had a friend Oscar from NZ, an old neighbour, who had been here 2 months. Surely he would have some contacts and maybe he could hook us up? So we got in touch and agreed to meet in the Blue Lady later that night with us secretly habouring plans of smoozing all his friends into giving us work...
Polizia
We began our stay in Italy by practicing all the Italian we knew; bolognese, pickio us upio (we figured putting an e-o sound on the end of words made them Italian), pasta, bonjourno and so on. Things were not looking too hot if actual conversation was required...
We waited for about an hour and a hlaf for the first lift. Ended up being a guy telling us our plan was stupid, Genova was aaages away from Milan and it would be hard to get there. He also said he couldn't take us but in the end he did drive us to a better spot where all roads led to Genova. Also taught us a little more Italian so that was all good.
So at this new spot we began again. High hopes. Then medium hopes. Then low hopes. Then no hopes.
When do seasoned hitch hikers find themselves dispairing? When the Italian police come and tell you they are going to arrest you. Hitch hiking is illegal in Italy they told us and so we had better catch a bus, then a metro and then a train over to France and try again there.
SUCK!
We carried on hitching for a bit but when they returned with 3 police cars and made things pretty clear they weren't happy with us, we headed off to Milan to catch a train.
So we got to the station only to find all trains had left till the next morning. So we decided to try some last minute couch surfing. And it worked! Called up a guy and he was sweet to let us stay for the night. One minutes warning. Now that is a generous guy!
Then next morning we caught a train to Antibes in southern France, met up with our new host Romain and it was time to begin looking for work on a yacht. Or not work, but just an opportunity to learn to sail...
We waited for about an hour and a hlaf for the first lift. Ended up being a guy telling us our plan was stupid, Genova was aaages away from Milan and it would be hard to get there. He also said he couldn't take us but in the end he did drive us to a better spot where all roads led to Genova. Also taught us a little more Italian so that was all good.
So at this new spot we began again. High hopes. Then medium hopes. Then low hopes. Then no hopes.
When do seasoned hitch hikers find themselves dispairing? When the Italian police come and tell you they are going to arrest you. Hitch hiking is illegal in Italy they told us and so we had better catch a bus, then a metro and then a train over to France and try again there.
SUCK!
We carried on hitching for a bit but when they returned with 3 police cars and made things pretty clear they weren't happy with us, we headed off to Milan to catch a train.
So we got to the station only to find all trains had left till the next morning. So we decided to try some last minute couch surfing. And it worked! Called up a guy and he was sweet to let us stay for the night. One minutes warning. Now that is a generous guy!
Then next morning we caught a train to Antibes in southern France, met up with our new host Romain and it was time to begin looking for work on a yacht. Or not work, but just an opportunity to learn to sail...
Leaving Switzerland
We decided to join Vince for CS meet at the swiss 'beach' in Aarau. Sounded like the Berlin beach camp all over again with fire, songs, chats etc. Awesome!
Was pretty cool too. Sausies on a stick over the kiwi made fire, skinny dipping in the adjacent swiss river, too much red wine and the usual great group of couch surfers making it a fun night all up.
Then, planning on heading on to France the next day, we decided to see if we could find a host living further south than Vince. So we got hooked up with a guy Flo and at the end of the night we headed off together. Or i headed off with Flo but Jo had disappeared somewheres. So I went to find Jo and got back, only to find I had now lost Flo! And so he stayed lost. We ended up sleeping the night at the train station (all 30mins of sleep that is) and then hitching off the next morning in fine spirits (o:
Hitching out of Swiss was easy too and we soon found ourselves over in Italy...
Was pretty cool too. Sausies on a stick over the kiwi made fire, skinny dipping in the adjacent swiss river, too much red wine and the usual great group of couch surfers making it a fun night all up.
Then, planning on heading on to France the next day, we decided to see if we could find a host living further south than Vince. So we got hooked up with a guy Flo and at the end of the night we headed off together. Or i headed off with Flo but Jo had disappeared somewheres. So I went to find Jo and got back, only to find I had now lost Flo! And so he stayed lost. We ended up sleeping the night at the train station (all 30mins of sleep that is) and then hitching off the next morning in fine spirits (o:
Hitching out of Swiss was easy too and we soon found ourselves over in Italy...
May 23, 2008
Vince's
So after yesterday's shocker of a hitch, which actually turned out quite sweet, today we have made it to Switzerland (21st May).
We got a lift with Nicole to the main autobahn and from here it was a one way route to Switzerland. From our drop off point, it took about 20mins to get picked up and this took us over the border and into cheese world. From there a lady who had bought a pond in Germany (much cheaper she assures us) took us into some town and from here we hitched into Gassaur where our CS host Vince came to collect us. Took maybe 2hrs! What the hell were we doing for 9hrs the day before?!? Have to ask Jo about the drivers who took us as they mainly spoke retarded swiss version of german and very little english so i didn't learn too much.
Day 1 - Vince began our time in Switzerland with a beer at a local aussie pub. Thankfully a local brew and not the piss the Aussie's bottle and sell as beer and which is widley known abroad as Fosters. Then it was off to his place to relax, watch a movie (he has over 800) and drink another beer. House rules stipulate we must not let his pet snakes out of the terririums without him being there but that we can help ourselves to all the beer we want. And there is a heap! And playing with his fully automatic machine gun is all good too, just no ammo without him.
Swiss. Neutral? Huh! Every guy here has a friggin arsenol under his bed! Craaaazy!
I don't think i have eaten a piece of fruit or veg since arriving either unless hops is a veg? Have to admit i am missing them slightly but after here i will go detox big time. But why do today what you can put off until tomorrow yeah?
Day 2 - visited local chocolate and cheese factories, had fondue for dinner and got drunk on champagne. The choc factory had a heap of free samples. Free Swiss samples. Not bad. Not bad at all. Cheese factory was... a cheese factory. But it did sell some cheese that tasted like old old old rotten dirty skody feet. Almost threw. Managed not to... just. and we got the cheese for Vince to make us a real Swiss fondue. Again, not bad at all (o:
Day 3 - went for a bike with Jo around the neighbouring villages. Nothing too exciting happened. Visited a town called egg and then Jo left to say hi to Claudine. I stayed behind, played with Vince's pet pythons and watched more moveis, haha. As for the snakes, Vince put one around my neck to begin with and i thought i would be all cool about it. Didn't scream or anything but i broke a sweat all right. Weird too. Wouldn't have expected it. Cool snakes too. Very beautiful. Ball pythons and corn snakes.
We got a lift with Nicole to the main autobahn and from here it was a one way route to Switzerland. From our drop off point, it took about 20mins to get picked up and this took us over the border and into cheese world. From there a lady who had bought a pond in Germany (much cheaper she assures us) took us into some town and from here we hitched into Gassaur where our CS host Vince came to collect us. Took maybe 2hrs! What the hell were we doing for 9hrs the day before?!? Have to ask Jo about the drivers who took us as they mainly spoke retarded swiss version of german and very little english so i didn't learn too much.
Day 1 - Vince began our time in Switzerland with a beer at a local aussie pub. Thankfully a local brew and not the piss the Aussie's bottle and sell as beer and which is widley known abroad as Fosters. Then it was off to his place to relax, watch a movie (he has over 800) and drink another beer. House rules stipulate we must not let his pet snakes out of the terririums without him being there but that we can help ourselves to all the beer we want. And there is a heap! And playing with his fully automatic machine gun is all good too, just no ammo without him.
Swiss. Neutral? Huh! Every guy here has a friggin arsenol under his bed! Craaaazy!
I don't think i have eaten a piece of fruit or veg since arriving either unless hops is a veg? Have to admit i am missing them slightly but after here i will go detox big time. But why do today what you can put off until tomorrow yeah?
Day 2 - visited local chocolate and cheese factories, had fondue for dinner and got drunk on champagne. The choc factory had a heap of free samples. Free Swiss samples. Not bad. Not bad at all. Cheese factory was... a cheese factory. But it did sell some cheese that tasted like old old old rotten dirty skody feet. Almost threw. Managed not to... just. and we got the cheese for Vince to make us a real Swiss fondue. Again, not bad at all (o:
Day 3 - went for a bike with Jo around the neighbouring villages. Nothing too exciting happened. Visited a town called egg and then Jo left to say hi to Claudine. I stayed behind, played with Vince's pet pythons and watched more moveis, haha. As for the snakes, Vince put one around my neck to begin with and i thought i would be all cool about it. Didn't scream or anything but i broke a sweat all right. Weird too. Wouldn't have expected it. Cool snakes too. Very beautiful. Ball pythons and corn snakes.
May 19, 2008
50km... 9hrs
We left with Steffen at around 12 as we weren't expected in Switzerland until around 7pm. That meant we had aaaaaaaaages to get there. I planned on snoozing road side if the sun got real nice. I mean, why rush?
9hrs later and where are we? 50km away! We made Stuttgart! First lift took us the wrong way and then it just kind of never took off after that. We had chocolate and signs declaring that Jesus himself would pick us up but no. Nothing.
When we did finally get a lift, he offered to take us further if we were willing to wait for a bit as he had a meeting he had to attend for no more than an hour in Stuttgart. We figured we'd risk it and we were hungry anyway and so would fill the time grabbing something to eat. His 1 hour tops turned into 2 hours and we were still waiting!
When he did return, realising he had been a bit longer than expected, he offered to let us stay at his place for the night; sweeeet! Exactly what i had been banking on (o:
delicious meal and a few cold beers later and we found ourselves asleep in a room of a house more like a hotel than anything i had stayed in previously. Or more of a Bed and Breakfast i guess, which is what it turned into. Christoph and Nicole were absolute perfect hosts. Superb.
And the host we were supposed to stay with? he was cool to wait another day. And surely we will make it there tomorrow?
9hrs later and where are we? 50km away! We made Stuttgart! First lift took us the wrong way and then it just kind of never took off after that. We had chocolate and signs declaring that Jesus himself would pick us up but no. Nothing.
When we did finally get a lift, he offered to take us further if we were willing to wait for a bit as he had a meeting he had to attend for no more than an hour in Stuttgart. We figured we'd risk it and we were hungry anyway and so would fill the time grabbing something to eat. His 1 hour tops turned into 2 hours and we were still waiting!
When he did return, realising he had been a bit longer than expected, he offered to let us stay at his place for the night; sweeeet! Exactly what i had been banking on (o:
delicious meal and a few cold beers later and we found ourselves asleep in a room of a house more like a hotel than anything i had stayed in previously. Or more of a Bed and Breakfast i guess, which is what it turned into. Christoph and Nicole were absolute perfect hosts. Superb.
And the host we were supposed to stay with? he was cool to wait another day. And surely we will make it there tomorrow?
May 14, 2008
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