Sadly I gave up studying French and focused on Russian and German. I have experience in all countries and after being in France I was so disheartened I gave up. My uni grades for French reflect this :(
The joy of a Russian who hears you at least try to speak Russian vs. the French baker who barks at you in response in English
Not the first time I hear this. Unfortunately there are still many places where people don't speak English or are plain hostile to English. It's probably improving as more and more people are far more exposed to English with TV shows and things like that than before.
Not all places are equal. For now, you are probably better off targeting a city where it is usual to have a lot of strangers, because there is a big university welcoming many foreign students for instance.