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My trip over to Greece this weekend was quite the experience, one of which I would never like to relive at anytime, for any reason.
It all began Thursday morning when I took an overweight travel bag over to my friend's apartment. Being the neurotic time Nazi that I am, I rushed her out, called a cab, and got to the train station 45 minutes earlier than necessary. After standing around for 20 minutes attempting to convince myself that I didn't need to pee, I went in search of a bathroom. When I found one, I learned that it cost 80 euro cents to use it. I had a 5 euro bill. Rather than paying for 5 bathroom trips, I walked away.
The train ride wasn't as bad as I expected. Actually, I take that back. It was horrible. I got bronchitis the evening before this whole journey (as well as some form of the stomach flu that made me diarrhea like crazy) so being in a packed train that smelled like urine was icing on the f***ing cake.
2 hours later, the piss train took us to Bologna where we waited to take another train to Ancona. Once we got there, we took a cab to port where we then boarded the Anek cruise ship headed to Corfu, Greece. I thought, hmph, the trains and cabs were a pain but at least I'll have a nice cabin to sleep in for the overnight ride. Well, once on the ship our tour guide informed us that rooms were not included in the trip fee. I looked at him and said, "so what exactly did you expect for us to do, sleep on the floor?" He said, "well, yeah. Or you can sleep in the chairs in the common room." I contemplated that for about 10 minutes then walked over to the reception, paid 100 euro for a room, fell asleep at 7pm and didn't wake up until 7 am when the ship docked. When I called my mom to tell her I just spent 100 euro on a room instead of sleeping on the floor, she said (in Russian) "Nu harasho. Ti ni mozhish spyat napaloo. Anye shto sdooreyeli? Ti ochin harasho zdeahla. Maladzets" (Good call. You can't sleep on the floor. Are they nuts? You made the right decision. I'm proud.) Gotta love my mother.
From there we walked about a mile to a ferry that took us to Corfu where we were met by a bus that took us to a hostel called "The Pink Palace", which was very much pink but not much a palace. Cori and I checked into our room then went to the ash tray smelling lobby to meet up with the others. Since we got to the hostel pretty late in the afternoon, it was too late to rent kayaks or go cliff jumping so we just walked around and picked our noses. I wouldn't have done any of the water events anyway since it was my first day of antibiotics so I didn't miss out on much but the others were pretty upset about it.
The rest of the weekend had pretty much the same feel as the first day. The weather was s***ty on Saturday so yet again kayaking and cliff jumping and whatever else were all cancelled. We went into town (which was another 30 minute bus ride) to find that everything was closed. And when we decided to save a buck by eating dinner at the hostel, I ended up with major stomachaches because I was served a plate of slush covered with what tasted like pounds of paprika.
Sunday was travel day. Another 28 hours of traveling since of course one of our ferries breaks down and of course our cruise ship docks an hour late and of course we then miss our train and have to take another. I finally got into my lovely apartment at 8 pm Monday night where I was greeted by 2 of the 5 wonderful roommates I am so lucky to have. If it weren't for their hugs, my giant bowl of cereal, and a 40 minute hot shower, I don't think I would have survived.
It wasn't all a waste I suppose. I learned a few wonderful lessons. 1) Hummus does not exist in Greece. 2) If you are Greek, you come out of your mom's uterus with a cig in your mouth. 3) I am a brat and cannot "rough it" while traveling. Yes, I expect a cabin on my cruise and if that makes me high maintenance, then I'll wear that chain proudly! 4) Meeting lone travelers was the only great part of the weekend. I met wonderful people with wonderful stories. 5) Bronchitis sucks. 6) Gyros are yummy. 7) America is the best country on Earth.
My next journey will be to Prague. I'm going with a different tour group. Wish me luck!
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