51
Diana Kot's travel journal. Some pictures www.instagram.com/catidiana Articles www.facebook.com/catidiana Videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHI8QPW7XQDwz4hwN2B7z-A
Breakfast at Ibis budget Warsaw. It's pretty different from the one I showed you in Arles. First of all, where are my croassants???
I got food poisoning yesterday and had a pretty rough night. Shouldn't eat that salad in Marseille abandoned terminal.
So, regarding the differences between economy and business class. We had a personal flight attendant and unlimited access to all sorts of drinks (I can’t tell you how much coffee I drank). They also fed us: you can see on the picture bun, chocolate pudding and plate of meat snacks.
When I saw the food, I was taken aback and wondered what I should do. The flight attendant immediately noticed the confusion on my face and asked what was wrong. I told him I am vegetarian and returned the meat plate. A minute later he returned with a large basket of buns and offered them to me. But I refused because I had already taken an overdose of fast carbohydrates.
Lufthansa is great as usual. I have 1 hour for transit, my first flight is delayed. 🙃
Читать полностью…
Don't come to Provence in the off-summer season if you don't want to be blown away. This week I hardly leave the house because I'm afraid of getting sick again.
Two interesting facts about the mistral wind:
- In the fields of Provence, trees are often planted in a row to break the wind.
- Once on a mountain near Avignon was registered a wind speed of about 300 km/h.
Discussed the best/worst cities in France with other expats. Everyone loves Nice. And no one likes Marcel🙃. However, as you understand, Nice is much more expensive than Marseille.
I could say that this is another argument for the statement that I cannot make good decisions. But it's not about decisions. I decide to place myself in these or that settings with certain resources. The problem is how I use these resources and how I behave in these settings.
I definitely shouldn't do it but I couldn't resist trying lavender ice cream. It was truly delicious 🥰
We also passed lavender field today but it was green. For whatever reason the lavender season last only one month: from the end of June till the middle of July
Lately I somehow forgot to read the news and generally became disconnected from what’s happening in the world and in Ukraine. All the news about the shelling also merged into one information flow.
Meanwhile, Chernihiv was shelled yesterday. Many people were injured and died, the shell hit the house in front of the Polytechnic University, where my classmate works and also lives nearby. Everything is fine with him and his family, only the windows have fallen out.
Maybe I shouldn't ignore the news so much.
I have big problems with self-sabotage. It’s as if I’m deliberately trying to screw up everything good. I think this is due to a subconscious statement that I am not worthy of good things, events, relationships.
And I believe that all this has reached such a psychosomatic level that this is why I can't lose weight, and also can't stop constantly getting sick.
How do you know if you need a psychologist? Ask yourself if you need a psychologist. Your answer is the correct one.
As a result, I felt very bad and went back home. On a regional train, which is 2 times more expensive and with all stops :) I hope I can get to the pharmacy tomorrow because everything is closed on Sunday.
Читать полностью…
Unfortunately, going somewhere was a mistake. I woke up with a very strong cough. Now I'm looking for tickets back to Marseille. Only regional trains remain. Which charge 18 euros for a 40-minute journey.
Читать полностью…
The mistral is a strong, cold, northwesterly wind that blows from southern France in the northern Mediterranean.
Mistral is blowing near Marseille quite strongly and it's killing me! I got sick again.
But somehow my sore throat improved my French accent. On other days, my communication with French looks like this:
https://youtu.be/naL2hN46uZA?si=6YCTglFgAlPh6_Bl
France is home to a range of beautiful 19th century door knockers. One of the most popular designs is called 'Hand of Fatima' and supposedly derives from Islamic symbolism and suppose to protect owners from evil.
Читать полностью…
Interesting development of the situation. But at least it's not cancelled 🙃
Читать полностью…
It's amazing how small design solutions can brighten up your life. Look at the design of the Montpellier ticket. The ticket tells us that a new tram line #5 will be opened in 2025 and shows its future design. I googled a photo of how it will be implemented.
Each tram line in Montpellier has its own theme. I was going to the center on the orange tram #2 and its theme was flowers. This is what the trams look like, but decor inside is actually very calm.
Last night I received a message that the train I planned to take to Montpellier this morning was cancelled. More precisely like that. The train was not cancelled, it has simply changed its route and does not stop in Marseille or anywhere nearby.
And for some reason there was no refund or anything. Probably because I didn't select option "insure my trip for 3 extra euros" when I was buying the ticket. So, the options was: partial refund or reschedule trip for 20 extra euros.
I don’t know why my trip to France didn’t work out so well. As a result, I go on Flixbus. 3 hours on the bus instead of 1.5 hours on the train. At least the weather is good.
But the coolest thing I saw today from the 3rd row window was how they unfasten the telescopic bridge.
Читать полностью…
You'll never guess what happened. I was upgraded to business class for the first time in my life!
But this is rather a story about how expectations exceed reality :) Business class was the first 3 rows of the plane, absolutely indistinguishable from economy. But I had the whole row free! I'll tell you the details later, now I'm waiting to board the next flight.
The funny thing is that next I fly on the same plane from the same gate. So it was not possible to miss it. But this time I'm in economy.
Sorry for not posting yesterday, I was very depressed, but today I am extremely frustrated. I went for a manicure. Honestly it was the last time.
I'm planning to attend an event this weekend and decided that going without a manicure would be bad.
But to be honest, I’m ashamed to go out with such a manicure. I didn’t have hepatitis but I think it’s worth getting checked.
In France, beauty salons are open from 10 am to 6 pm. Apparently targeting smart unemployed ladies. I tried to choose something closer to home so my workday would not be greatly affected.
Found it based on good reviews. Surprise: its an apartment. There is 50 year old lady with 3 cats. When I saw her manicure, I wanted to leave, but she has 3 cats. Maybe she was experimenting idk.
Well, you see this horror. I asked to redo 2 nails, which she did with a very unhappy look. Bonus: cat hair sealed into the coating.
For the price I paid I could do an amazing manicure in Ukraine 3 times.
Also, I may be fired soon, so if someone wants to hire me or let me live in your apartment for free, write me, I will be glad.
Читать полностью…
Next week will be a very difficult week of decision making. And I don’t even know how to make any serious decisions anymore.
I tried to remember some serious decisions that I don’t regret and that didn’t lead to catastrophic consequences.
Today I decided to go home by bus instead of by train, saving 19 euros. It was very important for me to get home early today. As a result, the bus broke down and I don’t know when I’ll get home.
Today I tried to buy XL size tights. But in France this task is not easy. After a long time of searching in the warehouse, a flushed salesgirl returned to me with the only pair of tights that she managed to find.
By the way, what schedule do you think stores operate in France? From 10 am to 7 pm. So when is it time to go for shopping?
I don’t have big updates because I sit at home and take medicine. I'm feeling better and I really hope to be fully recovered by the weekend:)
Читать полностью…
When I was about 7 years old, a traveling zoo came to my city. They placed cages with animals in an abandoned wasteland and charged people to look at them. My parents took me there too. What I saw there broke my heart. I could never understand why people are so cruel.
I am strictly against zoos and circuses with animals. Isn't it more interesting to watch how animals live in their natural habitat? This was the purpose of my trip this weekend - to see birds in the Camargue nature reserve. Unfortunately, I don’t have a long-focus lens, but I posted a few photos on Instagram stories from a simple camera.
Breakfast at Ibis budget Arles. I was wondering how french the breakfast at budget hotel can be. I guess quite french in terms of pastries: gofres, croassants and pain de chocolat. Oh, and "President" cheese claimed to be local production. Was disappointed because of absence of eggs and fresh vegetables.
After I drank a couple of teas I stopped cough and even started to consider following today's plan: visiting Abbaye de Montmajour and local museum dedicated to Van Gogh. Although, as far as I understand, there are no paintings of him there, only artifacts associated with his life in Arles.
I haven't slept all night due to nausea and fever, but is that a reason to cancel the trip? 24 hours on feet, I eat gofres in Arles.
Ça va pas bien, 0 brain cells.
When you book a hotel that has a name smth like "Youth hotel" be sure to check hotels policies.
Once I booked a hotel room on Mallorca and then read in policies that it's only for young adults, that is, 18 - 33 y.o. And I'm 34. Already too old.
This place has a bit different policies. You are old after 35. And old person can still book a private room.
In Nimes, I met a very cool coffee shop owner, who told me a lot of interesting things about coffee, and moreover, he solved one of the biggest problems of me as a coffee addict.
Have you ever been in the situation when you come to a new European city and want to drink delicious coffee, but don’t know where to go? Problem solved! It turns out there is a very cool website with coffee guides for all European cities:
https://europeancoffeetrip.com/city-guides/
And one more site that specializes exclusively on French coffee places:
https://www.cafemag.fr/la-carte-du-cafe-de-specialite/
At the moment, sites work on an application basis, that is, the owner of a coffee shop must submit an application on the site in order to be included in the coffee guide for the city. Therefore, there are not many, say, Ukrainian places - probably owner didn't submit an application.
Let's normalize sleeping with strangers. Or why I still stay in hostels.
Basically, the reasons are purely financial - a hostel is often much cheaper. I stayed in a hostel in Southeast Asia for 3 euros, and in hostels in Western Asia for 5. For the pleasure of sleeping with 5-7 strangers in Italy I paid 40 euros, and the same in France. Of course, at my age I already want some kind of reasonable comfort and privacy. But in essence, if you spend the whole day exploring the city, and only come to the hotel to sleep, does it really matter in what conditions?
Attaching hostel's common area pictures and videos I filmed when checked-in.
What I like about bus trips is these random stops when a driver says something in foreign language and everyone is leaving the bus, only you don't understand what's going on.
Then someone explains you in broken English that we have a stop at this gas station for 30 minutes and all of the sudden you drink lungo with your very first madeleine and it's perfect.
I've been living in an apartment with Netflix for 2 weeks now. As it turned out, I have cheap tariff and it constantly shows me advertisements.
Overall the experience was rather negative. Netflix is a time sucker. I thought it would be cool to watch it in the background while I work, but I end up constantly getting distracted. So no Netflix, no TikTok, it would be good to remove all social networks and streaming services from life.
How do you limit yourself?