Well after a long time in Italy and too much Pizza and Pasta it was time to head to Greece so we packed up one more time and headed off on the motorway across west to east the leg of Italy to a town called Bari. We had checked on the web and we knew that there was a ferry heading to Greece at 20:00 hrs which gave us lots of time.
We arrived at the terminal at about 1500 hrs and got out tickets for the cheap seats on the boat our options where a cabin for $310.00 euro or an aircraft type chair for $157.00 so being on the budget we are, the cheap seats again.
While waiting in the terminal we met quite a few other Canadians. In particular two young lads from Quebec seventeen and eighteen out for three months and like all young travelers managing to do it on an incredibly low budget the euro rail pass seems to be the best deal out and they even got to travel on the ferry to Greece on it. After listening to them talk about how they manage to travel on so few funds I couldn’t help but think about our daughter Jess and her friend Kylin when they did the same thing after graduating. I really admired the guts of these young people today and I think we had it so wrong back then, when we left school we were told to get a job and be responsible but now I know that there is plenty of time to be responsible and a whole life ahead to work. Not that these young travelers are not responsible they are more so than what we were. What I think about travel today is that is the best way to get an education what you learn while traveling is first respect, which is for all the different people in the world. There are no strange places just strange people in different places, (I read that in a book before we left) because what is strange to us is always familiar to the people that live there. It forces us to be vulnerable and I like that. We also learn a lot about history, there is not a day that goes by that I am not amazed, what we have seen of the history in Europe has blown me away then there is the math, always figuring out budgets (Chenty dose most of that) and the exchange rates. Every day brings new challenges and I am thriving on it, it excites me. I love that I don’t know where we will sleep tonight or what a restaurant will bring when I order off the menu in a different language. But we have not started yet, soon we will be in Israel then India WOW we are so lucky.
Well I got side tracked there; the ferry to Greece left on time it was going to be a twenty hour sail across the Adriatic Sea to Patra. It was a very nice ferry as big as or bigger than a BC ferry so we loaded the bike and I watched as the crew tied down the bike to the deck in four places. So with the bike secured we went up to find our seat. After storing our gear we wondered for a while and then had supper and of course a bottle of wine. At around ten we went to our seats and tried to get some sleep but as we laid there the wind picked up and soon we were in a full blown gale. So while people where busying themselves puking all I could think about was the bike, I wasn’t allowed to go below to check on her but I was assured everything was fine but as the sea built and the ship bounced and rolled I was sure she would jump off her stand and I would find her laying on her side in the morning, so needless to say no sleep for me that night.
In the early daylight hours we found ourselves sitting at the front of the boat as the waves came crashing over the bow washing the windows with dark green water, it was very impressive, but always in the back of my mind was is the bike upright?? Well the crossing took an extra two hours as the captain slowed the boat and made a slight course change to settle the boat. Upon arrival I found the bike with additional straps holding her down and the wheels chocked so everything was fine. After rolling of the boat with all the semi trailers we blasted down the coast to a small town called Kyllini and got another ferry to Poros on Kafelonia arriving at 1930 hrs we found the first hotel we came across and fell into bed.
Can you believe it we are now in GREECE?
Trev
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