It never rains in Southern France.
Caveat: This may be a bit of a whack post. I’ve basically been partying non-stop for the bulk of the past two weeks and I’m burnt the fuck out!!
Our second apartment proved to be a huge improvement over the first accommodations. We got a couple of free “taxi” rides from the family’s youngest son and were practically rolling in towels! We were so grateful we ended up buying a bottle of wine for our hosts as a thank you.
On our last night in Ulcinj we bumped into a dude from Long Island on the beach. He was so excited to meet fellow New Yorker’s he invited us over for drinks with his family. Vinnie grew up in Queens, the first generation of his family born in the US. The bulk of his cousins and extended family still live in Montenegro. He was home visiting for the summer. He ended up joining us for dinner (turns out he’s also a regular at Di Trevi!) after giving us a mini tour/history lesson on the city. The benefits of making local friends continue! While at dinner we bumped into our good friend Mirsa who helped us arrange a 7 am taxi pick up for the following morning. We had to make the 2 hour drive back to Podgorica for our outbound flight.

The next morning our taxi arrived right on time. We were still a bit rushed getting to the airport because (unsurprisingly) I had one last errand to run. You know last minute errands are my favorite kind! I’d picked up some olive oil and still had a few bottles of wine from trip to the vineyard. I hate carrying items from country to country so I always ship things to myself. I know it may seem like a gamble between entrusting international postal workers with my much valued goods (postal workers in every country hate their jobs, it’s pretty incredible actually) and those overly discerning bastards at customs but I haven’t lost a package to date! It took a bit of time to get everything packed and labeled as inconspicuously as possible but we got it done. We then had about 90 minutes to make the 2 hour drive to Podgorica. I can’t remember our taxi drivers name but bless him. He was flying down that mountain at breakneck speeds (in a mini van)! He actually got us to the airport 30 minutes before our flight started to board!
I really enjoyed our time in Montenegro. It’s a gorgeous country full of really amazing people. I can only hope my upcoming destinations will be as great!

It’s a bit of a trek to the South of France. After landing in Paris you then have to take a 4 hour train ride to reach the small canal filled town of Sete. That is unless you’re balling and not afraid to fly in one of those tiny propeller planes (you know, the ones we’re always hearing about falling out of the sky). If you’re not obscenely wealthy and concerned about your safety the train is the only way to go! I slept most of the way to Sete. Like deep, drool running down the side of my face sleep. The dude sitting next to me had to shake me awake so the conductor could stamp my ticket (he’s not the conductor, I don’t know what the ticket checking guy is called. Is he a pullman? Do they still have those??). Traveling can be exhausting on it’s own. Coupled with my hard core festival partying schedule I’m running about 3 days short on sleep!



My apartment in Sete isn’t bad. It’s nice to finally have a bathtub! The wifi is frustratingly spotty and there is a cat (more about this devil beast later) so those items kind of reduced my enjoyment but overall it was a pretty descent place. I booked it because it was one of few places still available but also because it has a washing machine. Doing laundry is the biggest luxury on a long trip like this.

The apartment has two units. I’m staying in the larger downstairs space. I met my upstairs neighbors the second morning when I walked into the living room to find a strange man standing there holding an extension cord. This is Thebian. He and his girlfriend Vicki are a couple of Brits here for the festival. He was looking for a place to plug in the electric grill and didn’t realize someone was staying downstairs. After the initial fright things calmed down after he plugged in the grill above my sofa and invited me to join them for lunch. They are both lovely people and such a cute couple! During lunch they ended up giving me a quick joint rolling tutorial while we chatted about politics. This was their second time attending the festival and the first time they’d seen each other in several months as they’re currently long distance between London and Senegal.

The Worldwide Festival was similar to the prior one in Montenegro in that there’s a set of day time DJs followed by a separate (typically more well known) evening line up. The big difference here was the evening parties took place away from the beach in an ancient fortress which had been converted to a concert venue. The uses people find for military infrastructure that has outlived its purpose continue to amaze me. I wonder what cool inventive things future civilizations will do with our nuclear armaments. That is assuming we don’t blow ourselves to smithereens before they have a the chance!





The beach is gorgeous. The evening venue is as well. The food was probably the #1 thing I was looking forward to on this portion of the trip and it has not disappointed me yet!
In our next post: a brief romance in the South of France?, river jousting and more drunken shenanigans.
Before I end this post a brief side note on Airbnb: I typically stay in either Airbnb’s or hostels when I travel. I enjoy having a more sociable connection with a local person because I feel like it leads to a more intimate experience of a new city for me. Apparently I hadn’t read the listing closely enough and didn’t realize there was a resident cat when I booked this place. That wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t also expected to feed it. For $115/night isn’t tolerating its presence enough?! As a host I don’t ask guests to do chores. I don’t even ask them to clean up after themselves, though many of them are nice enough to do it on their own which I appreciate. I always make sure to offer comfy towels, sheets, toiletries, etc. In fact I’ve yet to have a guest use all of the towels I put out! I also make it a priority to respond quickly to questions. I don’t feel that this is always the experience I have as a guest. Cheap sheets, ratty towels and cat feeding duties are not really my thing. In 4 days I’ll find out whether or not I’ll be upgraded to “Superhost”. Knowing how much effort I put into making sure people feel at home in my space this distinction kind of matters to me because it’s a direct output of guest feedback. Moving forward I think this experience has taught me to stick to Superhosts when I’m traveling. Otherwise it can be a bit of a pain.
P.P.S. I’d like to thank my awesome friends who stepped up to manage the people staying at my place while I’m away. I really appreciate it!!!!
