Winning in Monte Carlo
Eat your heart out James Bond!
John McFadzean won 30€ at Monte Carlo Casino.
OK, I didn’t meet the love of my life, but hey, 30 bucks is 30 bucks.
And that wasn’t my only victory during a brief, less than 24-hour visit to the world’s second-smallest country. Earlier that day, I had hired a SUP board from a metal container and set out from Larvotto Beach for a few back-and-forth stripes across the bay as I added the Mediterranean state of Monaco to my list of countries paddled, at number 53.
Following a few unfortunate issues in the early years of my quest to stand-up paddle in every country, I prefer to take my own SUP equipment with me as I travel. But this time, as I stepped off a late evening EasyJet flight from Manchester to Nice, I was travelling light; hand luggage only. My SUP board was at home. I was keen to try something new.
After overnighting in a nice apartment—well, it was an apartment in Nice—I caught an early morning train to Monte Carlo, where I located a self-service SUP and kayak machine. It was a container with automatic doors. I was required to book and pay for a hire period using an App on my phone. As soon as the formalities were complete , a door on the beachside machine swung outwards and my hire board was sitting there along with paddle, leash and PFD.
The SUP Rental Machine
I chose to remain shoreside of the reef, which left a limited area to explore, but I enjoyed my brief excursion under the gaze of some of Europe’s most expensive real estate. Any local residents watching me were almost certainly millionaires if not billionaires, but as I turned once more to paddle across the warm, glassy, turquoise water, I knew that I was undoubtedly richer.
After 90 minutes, my allotted time was up. I returned my board with moments to spare, and grabbed a not-so-cheap, post-paddle cocktail at a bar on the promenade.
A couple of hours later, I was admiring the supercars parked in Casino Square and attempting to break the bank at Monte Carlo, before catching the train back to Nice. The following day I flew back home.
