How We Found Biarritz
There is a common saying that I often live by, and it is to "never say never." I had to learn this the hard way. When I was young, I thought I would never live outside of my home city, work outside of our family business, live outside of the USA, or even speak another language. Life can take a funny twist, and I now recognize that sometimes it's just best to go along for the ride. I often think just how unconventional my life is now, compared to what I Imagined it would be as a child. Just how did an American with no connections or desire to move to France, wind up working as a luxury real estate agent in the small Basque city of Biarritz? Ironic enough, it all started with 100 dollars in Los Angeles, California.
Although I did not know it at the time, my first step to moving to France happened in 2003 while I was a student living just outside of Los Angeles. I was waiting for a friend to arrive at LAX airport when a man approached me sobbing. Speaking in a language I couldn't understand, he was visibly very distressed. However, living around Los Angeles for the last few years had unfortunately taught me to become extremely cautious of approaches like this. "Not going to fall for this trick," I first thought. But there was something I could feel about him that made me believe he was indeed in trouble.
After about 5 minutes of charades together, he eventually pointed to the Air France ticket window. Once we arrived at the window, the employee explained to me that he had lost both his wallet and his flight ticket back to Paris! She didn't know how or why, but it didn't matter, he had become completely stranded after his week vacation in the area and had spent the last 24 hours at the airport trying to get back home. The employee knew his situation and said the only thing she could do to help him was to offer to change his ticket to the next flight, but he would have to pay $125.
Knowing his predicament, I couldn't walk away. I paid the fee, and the look on his face was nothing but relief. He then said, "Je m'appelle Georges!" We exchanged numbers with the help of the Air France agent, and I never expected to see him again.
Much to my surprise, Georges called me religiously every three months for the next seven years. Little by little, his English became better, and we were able to get to know each other. Then one day out of the blue, he called and said he had a gift for me. He had always wanted to thank me for what I did, and now he had a chance to do so. The gift was a round trip flight and hotel in Paris for a week. I had never left the United States as an adult, and this would be my first time traveling alone.
The trip absolutely changed my life, and we had a fantastic time together in Paris. Yet in that same moment, I realized just how little I knew about the world. Everyone I met during my trip spoke at least some English, and I felt embarrassed that I couldn't even speak the basics in French.
I started learning French with Georges and set a goal to return one day. But I didn't want to just vacation there; I wanted to live and experience another culture truly. I realized I wanted to change my life and become a more global citizen, but I didn't know how I could do that. I wasn't sure of my direction, so my best option was to return to school and pursue an international MBA in France.
It took me two years to convince my wife Nicole that I was going to study in France. We needed to sell everything we owned to pay for the studies, which was very risky. But she knew how much it meant to me and said she would agree to come to France only if we stayed for one year while. After some hard work and negotiations with Nicole, I began my studies in Nice in 2013 at a business school called EDHEC. It was the best year of our lives.
As a part of the negotiations with Nicole, I made an agreement I made that we would go surfing for our first trip over a long weekend. I knew nothing of the Atlantic coast, other than the best surf was near a little town called Biarritz. So, I booked our tickets, and we were off for a long weekend.
Within hours of arriving in Biarritz, we were mesmerized by its beauty. We turned to each other and said, "how and why have we never heard of this beautiful place before?" It was like a hidden gem. We knew then and there that if we ever got a chance to call Biarritz our home, we would take it.
Since that day in 2014, our lives have been focused on calling Biarritz our home. It's hasn't been easy, but determination, networking, and lots of hard work have allowed Nicole and me to live our dream together.
We have learned a lot in the past seven years about being expats, the region, and also living in this beautiful city. My goal now is to share our passion with others through my work and this site. Biarritz is truly a unique place in the world, and I'm happy to call it home.
