Virtual Vacation Destination: Cannes, France

Please mentally prepare your luggage of everything that you may need…as we virtually fly into Nice, France and arrive at your destination.

Welcome aboard British Airways, thank you for flying with us today. Please sit back and relax with a glass of French champagne and some Biscoff cookies! Nap and relax, watch a movie or listen to some music. Also don’t forget to view the map showing our flight route to Nice, France as time progresses.

Bonjour and welcome to Nice, please depart and enjoy your stay. As you arrive in the baggage claim, there is a man with a sign with your name on it.  His name is Francois and he loads your bags in the Mercedes Benz. His English is somewhat broken, hey but so it your French! You both laugh as you chat along the drive on the Riviera at night…oh the lights on the water! He drives you to your final destination Cannes, France. You have seen pictures of it, you have seen movies of it…still your eyes cannot believe how lovely it is. Francois pulls up to the door of InterContinental Carlton Cannes (five-star resort). You are welcomed in and taken to your room. On your way to your room, you notice that there are suites named after famous movie stars, Robin Williams, Clint Eastwood, Alfred Hitchcock among many others. Your suite has the most amazing view and the bed is huge!  You are tired from your long journey, so you prepare for bed and out like the light you are fast asleep.

The next morning, you awake refreshed and are famished! Prior to heading to breakfast, you head to the shower and in the bath room you find little L’Occitane toiletries. They smell divine, you look and notice the “La Collection De Grasse” on it. Coco Chanel created her iconic Chanel #5 fragrance with the help of Ernest Beaux who had worked for the Russian royal family and lived close by in Grasse, the center of the perfume industry in 1920. Molinard Perfume Factory is one of the oldest, dating back to 1849, you already have a VIP Perfume trip scheduled later this week. You smile as you know that you are on the right track to creating a memorable vacation. Now you are very hungry, you get dressed in your best and head to the breakfast buffet. As you enter the restaurant, you are shown the buffet that never ends and asked if you want to dine in or outside…of course you pick outside! As you fill your plate with all sorts of goodies you sit and look out at the water. The people walking past in front of the hotel…take pictures and stare at you to see if you are someone famous. As this is not an inexpensive place, this is where the famous stay during Cannes Film Festival and also vacation during the year. Hey who knows who slept in your bed before you? It could have been Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig or insert your favorite film star here.   It is your virtual vacation!

After your breakfast, you decide to take a walk on the Boulevard de la Croisette where you will walk past Hermes, Chanel and many others so fabulous that you want to walk into each one, however then ocean beach calls you too! Which do you choose? The beaches along the French Riviera are so rocky except Cannes, where they actually have sand delivered. The hotel resort has its own beach and lifeguard as well as a restaurant and bar, with showers, lockers and private changing rooms. After a short walk you decide to go to spend the day at the beach as the sun is warm. You take your favorite book or magazine and head to your reserved spot on the beach…with your own umbrella and beach towel. You change into your swimsuit, put on your sunglasses and head to your beach lounger. As you get conformable a waiter comes and asks you what it is that you would like for him to bring you…you order your favorite drink as you are still full with breakfast and it is now past 1pm!

As he delivers your drink, you sink into the lounger and hear the waves that are going back and forth, you breathe deep and exhale! This is just the first day of many…you breathe deep and exhale again! You close your eyes and let your mind relax as your body is now. You are on the French Riviera and there is so much to do…yet not required to be done. You get to decide how you spend your time…it is your virtual vacation. You can come back to reality when you want to.

Welcome back to reality when you are ready…you are now back on a British Airways plane heading back to your city at 650 miles per hour. You can also spend a little more time and search the web for more to see in Cannes and the French Riviera. You can also search for goodies to be delivered to you from Amazon to taste the from Provence.

Souhaitant bon voyage…wishing you safe travels!

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about

Tiffany Gough

Tiffany L. Gough has been in the financial services industry since 1990. Over the years, she has helped many through some difficult times while working on their financial goals. She is a financial advisor with an office in Seattle. In her debut book, "You are perfectly flawed and rarer than any diamond!", she shares some of the tools that helped her with her challenges as well as others. She grew up in Seattle. She is married and has two grown bonus sons (aka stepsons) who reside in Toronto, Ontario Canada.