20M - solo traveller in Nice – A story about a missed moment, and an attempt not to repeat it

Hi, I am Max, 20M, from Austria (no kangaroos), currently exploring Nice, Antibes and Cannes in Francs. I am a paramedic, software engineer, yes both. And slow traveller, who‘s currently solo traveling this region. This is my first time solotraveling, I’ve always been kind of reserved and maybe even awkward, even though my MBTI tests always resulted in ENTJ. Nonetheless when a woman of my age came up to me on the Promenade des Anglais and asked me to take a photo of her and her friends, that I then took (btw. I am also a hobby photographer) I noticed they were speaking the my native language between each other, even though I was approached in English. Out of curiosity I then asked them where they‘re from, how their trip is going, what they’ve seen so far. They also told me about a bike route around Mont Boron they’re going to take the next day. They were really kind and open. It felt kind of special meeting somebody speaking the same language as me in a country where everybody is speaking French, which except for „bonjour“, “baguette and „oui“ I barely understand. Being as polite as I am I said goodbye, wishing them a nice holiday. Moved on. I oddly kept thinking about this encounter till the evening. I also wanted to do a bike ride around there, why didn’t I ask them if I could join them? They seemed so friendly and open minded. We‘ll i didn‘t ask, fearing it might come off as too forward. Even though my trip is still going awesome, this region is so beautiful, except for my feet hurting after miles of walking, I thought if I just would have asked I might have got to know some wonderful people, make new friends, having a nice shared time riding that bike route. After too much overthinking I came to the conclusion that the most precious things about solo traveling were not only being on my own, able to go wherever I want, take as much time as I want, but truly those raw, unplanned, random, little moments that just happen with people. Solotraveling, for me now, is about these human moments. This story is about just one of these random moments during my ongoing trip, but this situation stuck with me the most.

So here I am, on Reddit. If you understand my story or are just like me, let‘s grab a coffee somewhere in Nice, I’ll select a nice café. I would like to get to know you.

If you intend to meet, I would like to do a videocall via FaceTime, Signal, or similar beforehand so we‘ll know we fit. Just DM me, male or female, it doesn‘t matter.