France has been quite nice and although I was very excited to head to Normandy and practice more french, my heart was tugging at me and whispering “sailing” in one ear. So I’ve decided to rethink my summer plans and gave myself permission to go back to the drawing board.
With the help of my new friend Gabriel (that I’ve met here at the Workaway), he has encouraged me to accept an opportunity to sail from South France to Greece. Gabriel is a 44 year old guy, raised in San Francisco, but he has been living in Madrid for the last 8 years. It’s his 5th time back in Bretagne visiting the same Workaway family here where we met. He works doing data analytics and has a popular soccer podcast called Barca Talk. Since being here he’s kept it real.
Back track to before I set out on this journey to France…I indeed dreamed of visiting the French Riviera or the “Cote d’Azur”, sailing around the Mediterranean for the summer, visiting the beautiful cities of France. Somewhere along the way, I found and accepted my current Workaway in Bretagne with Kate and Marc in a small village of rural France (Pleudihen-Sur-Rance). The experience here has been very cultural – with two hour lunches and an immersive family experience. I have taken up running through the rural roads past farmland and donkey’s, and going to the beach at the nearby tidal river. I’ve visited the outlying areas like Saint Malo, Mt. Saint Michel, Cancal, Dinan, Fort la Latte, and Rennes. I’ve biked to the nearest open cafe 25 minutes in the town over, and I’ve spent hours at cafes in Dinan, a nearby city. It’s been a wonderful experience but now I’m ready to experience another part of Europe/France.
Initially, my plan was to leave Pleudihen end of July/early August and go to Normandy to a Workaway that is friends with my current host. In lieu of spending more money and hopping around all summer, and hunting around for more Workaways, I really appreciated the fact that Kate passed my profile along to Roseann. It would be a great option to go to Normandy as planned, but, as Gabriel would say, “it’s part of the nomadic lifestyle…these kind of opportunities are going to come up and it’s always going to be a choice of ‘this really great experience’ or ‘that really great experience’. Part of the nomadic lifestyle is learning to take life by the horns and be willing to accept experiences.”
Thankfully, Roseann and Kate are both very understanding. They understand my love for sailing and are even excited for me to accept this opportunity.
The plan is – fly to Montpellier on 8/4. From there, I’ll have a few hours to explore the city and grab dinner (with 2 suitcases and a backpack – fun fun!) Then I’ll take a blablacar to Port Camargue where the boat is docked. I’ll stay the night on the boat Thursday evening and as long as I get along with the captain and the crew and we’re all in accordance, we’ll embark Friday morning on a 7 to 12 day trip heading for Lefkada, Greece. There, the captain will return back to his home in Czech Republic and I will stay in Greece until I have to return to Paris for a flight to Chicago on August 29th. In Chicago, I get to train for and work another tour – The Great Lakes tour which runs on the same boat as Iceland from Chicago to Toronto. That is the “tentative” plan.
My new friend Gabriel has witnessed me agonize over this decision, by the way. It took me a day of thinking intently about what I should do and at times he would say “I can hear you thinking”.
Finally, with his encouragement and some real thought of my own, I gave myself permission to change course and take the less predictable route. He keeps reassuring me that life is dynamic and not fixed…that things are going to ebb and flow all the time. When I told him I felt like I should go because this may be my only opportunity before I settle down one day. He laughed and said “don’t be fixed on an outcome of settling down that places pressure to conform to a norm. Just let life unfold….dynamic, not fixed”.
Clearly, he has helped me channel maximum nomadic horsepower. It feels quite crazy and a bit chaotic to be doing this so last minute, but I know that if I stay here, I will dream of what it would be like on that sailboat, pulling up and arriving to the islands of Greece.
Smooth sailing!
Fair winds!