Not all plans go to plan!!

How beautiful a morning it was leaving France with fresh baguette and luggage in hand.  😁😁

What can we say…. Not all travel plans go as planned.

Today certainly added to the adventure!

We had 3 trains and 2 connections to make.

We set off from Saint Raphael France at 11am knowing it was going to be a challenging day….little did we know.

The first train was 1 hr 10 mins to Nice where we had an 18 minute transfer to a regional train. Then a second train for 40mins took us just over the Italian boarder from Nice to Ventimiglia. Then a 1 hr wait for the next train from Ventimiglia to Savona. Ok we’ve got this! All tickets in hand, luggage tightly packed so we can jump on and off easily.

Train 1 perfect French timing, great we are off. Stunning views out to the mediterranean Ocean.

Posh seats Ooh La La so French and so clean with windows that you can see out of.

Still happy little traveler's even if I still can’t work out where to look at the phone for a selfie!!!

We did read this on the Italian ticket so we were expecting trouble there. (Departure time is an estimate only)

Nice station, pretty big, lots of lines but all we needed to do was get up the stairs find the new platform with the next train number and if it was all running to time we would be just in time. ….Except our train number was not on any boards…anywhere? The number before us was there and the number after but not ours….

Down more stairs up a lift along a very long platform and finally found someone in uniform.

Great… so between his French/English and our very best hearing and Pictionary skills we learn our train is cancelled… In fact all trains on that line are cancelled, and were cancelled 3 weeks ago however that information did not make its way through to our direct French train booking app! Hmm and we thought it would be the Italian side that was going to be tricky.

So he forward us to the station help desk. We were told in even less English/ French we had to exit and take the red tram outside, pointing west go 10 mins and catch a 600 bus. Ok we still got this.

Out we go into the very busy street only to find there are no trams…there are red busses on the East side going the wrong way?

So ask a local..no english…no english…jackpot beautiful lady who was very happy to translate so back onto the station…to ask said help desk where is the tram …oh just down there 1 block away. Great. Tram line found…1 tram….2 trams…3 trams….hnn none red. Right ask another random stranger so after more Pictionary we learn this was the red line tram! Ahhh….missed in translation …so good right place, now how to buy a ticket…go online register your phone and email. They send you an email for confirmation and you give them your credit card…..only one problem we do not receive emails on our phone…. Ok time ticking and we just jumped on the next tram for 10 mins as stowaways.

Time for more local input, what exactly is 10 mins away? Turn out 4 stops away (26 mins and 8 stops!!!) there is a bus terminal. Right that sounds like where we need to be.

Off we get and well….a shopping centre, construction site and a fence….no buses or terminal. Ask another local, walk under the bridge at the end of the shopping centre through a car park and the busses are there. Great.

Getting rather hot now so happy we are traveling light. Now find the bus in this huge parking area. 32,84,63,604 …OK ask a driver. Directions to wait over near the far fence and bus 600 is 10 minuets away. ……..waiting waiting waiting…..Hmm ask another driver wait at the other end. We asked every bus driver who arrived and left and got a different answer from each. Even the little man who came back from lunch to sit in a booth knew nothing about a bus 600.

OK we really need to cross the boarder. This all happened due to a rain event a few weeks back and part of the rail line was washed away. We knew if we could just get out of France and around the issue the Italian side was still operating and we could catch a train or bus to where we needed to end up….eventually.

Right Uber wonderful a beautiful French man with a coool clean car arrived and drove us across the boarder and onto Ventimiglia station….a well spent $160.

10 mins wait and we were on our way in a fast train to Savona. Not such a pretty or posh train however it got us there! Arriving only 2 hrs later than first planed. Ready for a beer!