Summer has arrived, but I didn’t go directly back home for my vacation. I got 3,5 weeks off, before the radio training. I felt extremely lucky and we decided with my girlfriend that we’ll pass two weeks in Nice to visit the city and its surroundings.
When I started this blog, I wanted to describe how the French Foreign Legion is from inside.
My main goal is to show you the everyday life, the missions, the training and not talking about my own life. But. Since we relaunched this project, I’ve received many messages asking me about free time in the French Foreign Legion, holidays and vacation. So I decided to insert this extra post about something “more usual”.
The platoon chief left the unit in June
so the platoon sergeant was in charge to give out holidays for everyone. I got the confirmation about mine in June, so I had a bit more than a month to organize two weeks in Nice.
Legion Training
Prepare for selection.
Get ready for the French Foreign Legion with practical training tools.
We found an apartment for 650 euros for the two weeks, not extremely far from the beach. Fortunately, the man who rent the apartment spoke English and even gave me a 50 euros reduction from the fee. When we came back from Valloire at the end of the BAM, I left the regiment the same day, passed a night in Avignon and caught the first TGV next morning to Nice. I met the apartment’s owner, paid for the two weeks and went out to the station to meet my girlfriend.
I enjoyed those 2 weeks
and could visit many places nearby, like Monaco, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Cannes or Théoule-sur-mer. I felt free and happy that I passed my first year in the French Foreign Legion and my future seemed to be pretty bright. Before joining, as I couldn’t have the right information from a trustable source, I thought that I won’t have free time during 5 years. Fortunately, it wasn’t true and I could pass holidays like normal people.
When you are on “permission” or “PLD”, you can rent an apartment, a car (if you have a civilian driver’s license) or do whatever you want during your vacation. If you want to go abroad, you only need to ask for an official authorization, but it’s rarely refused.
This rule applies for the whole French Army, so it’s not something special in the French Foreign Legion. (I even have a friend working in the civil sector who has to ask for an authorization if he wants to go abroad, so this isn’t an uncommon procedure).
At the end of the second week
I went back to my home country with my girlfriend to pass the rest of my free time with my old friends. As my holiday ended in the middle of the week, I had to pay for a taxi (60 euros) to go back to the regiment, but I didn’t mind. I felt ready to go back to Castel for my first “serious” individual training.
Each time when I was on a long vacation, time was passing by with and incredible speed, but it wasn’t only true for the free time. With the exercises, missions, services and holidays, I haven’t seen the time gone by.
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