Working too hard.
I watched three movies on the way back from France. Chilling out for that long felt good. I'm going to go watch another with my mom today in lieu of hopping in the car on the way to the lake with my family.
I'm taking a few lessons from the travelers I met abroad.
I traveled solo to Chamonix, the ski town under Europe's highest peak Mount Blanc. Talking to other travelers taught me so many things.
I met a Portuguese physical education and outdoor adventure teacher who has traveled all over the world alone. He's seen all the South American countries, toured southern Asia, ridden across the United States and Russia by train. He works 35 hours a week and has 3 months off in the summer. He's in fantastic shape and loves life. He can't believe that the average American gets two weeks of vacation a year and doesn't always take it.
He recommended a hike for the next day and I took his advice as he'd just ridden mountain bikes around the mountains for four days and seemed like he had things pretty well figured out.
The hike took me to the end of the Auguille du Midi, the famous gondola that for the low price of 50 dollars takes people up the side of Mount Blanc. I decided I'd rather just walk up and save the money. I found the sign indicating it was a 3.5 hour hike, checked my watch and started booking it up the hill. If I was going to make it there, then on to the "must see" glacier and back down to catch my bus I was going to have to do better than the posted time estimates. I took quick stops to photograph glaciers and stunning views of the valley on the way to the top of the Auguille du Midi but still clocked in at 2 hours. After fishing out my yogurt with a banana on a rock, I started the 2.5 hour hike to the glacier de mer. The flat hike traversed the upper part of the mountains just before the snow. About 50 pardons, merci's and excusez mois later I'd made it to the end of that hike pleased with my time of 1.5 hours. I'd done the 6 hour hike in 3.5 and was feeling pretty fit. Of course, all the people I'd passed didn't know it was a race.
I ran down past a few more people deciding not to take the chairlift down the glacier, checked it out long enough to take a picture and decided against waiting in the long line for the man-made ice cave because I didn't want to pay 30 dollars to take the train back down to Chamonix.
As I passed people on the way down I tried to listen to their language and thank them for passing in French, Spanish or English depending on where I thought they were from. I heard English as I passed a group of three, said, "Thank you" and as I hurried down the hill heard them say in French, "She's American." I responded "C'est vrei" and they laughed. An Australian woman who was currently working in Paris was on a trip to visit the hometown of a French friend and his mother. She'd made it to 45 countries by her 28th birthday and spoke French and Spanish. We discussed that I'd seen so many more Aussies in my travels than Americans and she explained that it's part of their culture to travel for a year instead of the small 10-day trip most Americans find the time for.
I wondered where they got all the money for travel and she said she just saved well. I speculated aloud that perhaps Americans don't have enough money to travel because they spend it all on stuff. "I think we have more cars, i pods, jeans and stuff than you do." At first she reacted as if I were misinformed saying "we have all those things in Australia too." Then I went further explaining about the women who have 10 purses all over 200 dollars and 25 pairs of jeans, the men with thousands of dollars of electronics and huge credit card debts and we ended up agreeing.
I decided I would fit in better in Australia.
I'm taking a few lessons from the travelers I met abroad.
I traveled solo to Chamonix, the ski town under Europe's highest peak Mount Blanc. Talking to other travelers taught me so many things.
I met a Portuguese physical education and outdoor adventure teacher who has traveled all over the world alone. He's seen all the South American countries, toured southern Asia, ridden across the United States and Russia by train. He works 35 hours a week and has 3 months off in the summer. He's in fantastic shape and loves life. He can't believe that the average American gets two weeks of vacation a year and doesn't always take it.
He recommended a hike for the next day and I took his advice as he'd just ridden mountain bikes around the mountains for four days and seemed like he had things pretty well figured out.
The hike took me to the end of the Auguille du Midi, the famous gondola that for the low price of 50 dollars takes people up the side of Mount Blanc. I decided I'd rather just walk up and save the money. I found the sign indicating it was a 3.5 hour hike, checked my watch and started booking it up the hill. If I was going to make it there, then on to the "must see" glacier and back down to catch my bus I was going to have to do better than the posted time estimates. I took quick stops to photograph glaciers and stunning views of the valley on the way to the top of the Auguille du Midi but still clocked in at 2 hours. After fishing out my yogurt with a banana on a rock, I started the 2.5 hour hike to the glacier de mer. The flat hike traversed the upper part of the mountains just before the snow. About 50 pardons, merci's and excusez mois later I'd made it to the end of that hike pleased with my time of 1.5 hours. I'd done the 6 hour hike in 3.5 and was feeling pretty fit. Of course, all the people I'd passed didn't know it was a race.
I ran down past a few more people deciding not to take the chairlift down the glacier, checked it out long enough to take a picture and decided against waiting in the long line for the man-made ice cave because I didn't want to pay 30 dollars to take the train back down to Chamonix.
As I passed people on the way down I tried to listen to their language and thank them for passing in French, Spanish or English depending on where I thought they were from. I heard English as I passed a group of three, said, "Thank you" and as I hurried down the hill heard them say in French, "She's American." I responded "C'est vrei" and they laughed. An Australian woman who was currently working in Paris was on a trip to visit the hometown of a French friend and his mother. She'd made it to 45 countries by her 28th birthday and spoke French and Spanish. We discussed that I'd seen so many more Aussies in my travels than Americans and she explained that it's part of their culture to travel for a year instead of the small 10-day trip most Americans find the time for.
I wondered where they got all the money for travel and she said she just saved well. I speculated aloud that perhaps Americans don't have enough money to travel because they spend it all on stuff. "I think we have more cars, i pods, jeans and stuff than you do." At first she reacted as if I were misinformed saying "we have all those things in Australia too." Then I went further explaining about the women who have 10 purses all over 200 dollars and 25 pairs of jeans, the men with thousands of dollars of electronics and huge credit card debts and we ended up agreeing.
I decided I would fit in better in Australia.
posted by Cammie at 1:21 PM
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