Today has mostly been travelling. I really like Paris sometimes, but overall I'd decided I'd rather just move on, so yesterday I booked a flight down to the French coast, to the second place on my 'Places I must stop' list. I had great directions from a guy called Jerome to get to Orly airport. It was a bit of a hassle in the airport, but fine once I got on the plane. Landing in Nice was one of the scariest plane landings I've ever experienced, even though there was no turbulence the whole trip. You curve out over the sea, but then you just kept following the water by the coast, getting lower and lower. I kept thinking "I'll see the airport soon. Okay, I'll see it in a minute. Right, I really should be seeing the airport now." The airport is right on the coast, on a little peninsula.

I got myself on a shuttle bus, and the drive into town was lined by palm trees. Palm trees. Woah. In case you haven't guessed, this was pretty cool for little ol' me, who's never been on a warm foreign holiday before.

I found my way on & off a tram, and treked up a hill to the hostel. One thing I liked really quickly about Nice was how, if you take out a map and looked intently at street signs for a few seconds, someone will come up and ask where you are trying to get to.

The hostel is amazing - such a great atmosphere. There's a paved outside garden that curves around the building, down the steps, with benches and tables. I ordered the pizza they make there, which was great (& only €5.50) and joined some friendly people. Topaz & her mum are from Canada, and traveling around Europe before she went to Uni in the autumn. Sophie & Nada are from London, and have been traveling around France for several weeks.

Because I hadn't booked in advance, I was on the waiting list for the hostel, but they guarantee you a bed somewhere, and I ended up on a mattress in a 5 bed dorm, which was really nice, and worked fine for me.

If you go to Nice, I would definitely recommend that hostel: The Villa Saint Exupery. Such a great atmosphere, really friendly helpful staff, and an amazing view.