The awesome adventures of Jack Chi: Cannes and being a boss

I keep getting free stuff everywhere I go!

Yesterday was my last day in Cannes. I woke up bright and early at 10am even though we were out till 4am. For some reason I don't need the usual 8 hours of sleep on this trip.

I had some home prepared breakfast by Martine (Nico's mom) and was surprised to find my bike in amazing condition! In the morning Dede (Nico's dad) had made some new additions and adjustments to my bike! He changed my handlebar tape (the old ones were falling apart), added a brand new small bell (old one was huge so couldn't be mounted at a good place), and he even lubed up and oiled the chains! In addition he gave me a bike shirt that I used today and it's so much better than my old shirt cause it's breathable! I'm just amazed and so grateful to Nico and his family! They really treated me like I was a part of the family! I will never forget their generosity!

So while checking out the scene at the beach I caught some breakdancing performance, played some chess and the best part - got to see a Cannes film in the festival for free! So how did it do it? Read on!

I was walking near the red carpet and I saw people with signs that said: invitation please! And I saw a woman receive a ticket just like that! So I talked to her a bit and she said it was very easy actually! Of course I had to try! Luckily I still had markers from when I was hitchhiking and i borrowed some paper from a nearby fan. Within 5 minutes someone gave me 3 tickets for a screening happening in 45 minutes! What luck!

Anyways the problem is that there are two type of tickets. Yellow ones allow you to go in if you already have an official Cannes badge (the badge is only given to people who study film or work in the industry). The blue ones allow anyone to go in without a badge. Of course I had the yellow one, so I kept walking around hoping to exchange for a blue ticket. Then an old French woman asked me for a ticket since she saw I had 3. I explained to her I would love to give one to her but she didn't have a badge so couldn't go in just like me. That is when she told me that she had already gone in yesterday without a badge with the same ticket! So I gave one to her and tried my luck! It worked! But I still had another ticket, so I spoke to security and quickly ducked out to pass on the goodwill ☺

The movie we saw was an old Russian satirical film on communism and it was really funny! Definitely time and money well spent haha 

While I was waiting in line I met a bunch more interesting people like 2 Chinese students who are working for QQ the Chinese messenger company. They actually have press access and so got to attend all the press conferences and saw all the stars face to face. We chatted in Chinese and it was great!

After the film I walked around some more. Got a free bow tie by sneaking into a hotel! And I also met up with nico for some food and drinks on the beach.

I also met an Australian girl and a Montpelier film student who has the Cinéphile badge to enter the festival. The student's name is Tom and I got his contact info so I might meet up with him again on my trip!

Finally Nico had work for the night driving around the director of Brazilian Renault. But he drove me home first in the official car that stars take to the red carpet! What an amazing treatment for me ☺

As for all the free stuff I got so far! Now I have a sunglass, a bike shirt, a bike bottle, Ferrari hat, Ferrari duffle bag (gave this one to nico), bow tie, and a ticket for the Cannes film festival!

It is definitely the right time to be in the south of France ☺