SHAMBLING ON
I am a wandering zombie. Not sure when last I slept nor ate a good meal. On the latter, I'm OK. I can stand to miss a meal now and then.
The train from the airport was pleasantly modern. Announcements came in both voice and digital in Greek and English. It was a smooth hour and a half or so ride. After getting off that train, I staggered into the train station and said "Uh, I want to go to...uh..."
She already knew where I wanted to go and for another ten euro sold me a bus ticket. The bus then dropped me off in front of the train station where I preceded to demand the teller sell me ferry tickets. He eventually won as there was no water around and indeed train tracks outside. A bitter defeat. If I stood at the bus stop out front, eventually bus 18 would come and take me to the new port.
But he didn't know when the bus was. Different people claimed it was actually a different bus. That came in an hour. Or three hours. Or didn't stop there.
Seven euros later, the taxi dropped me off at the ferry ticket counters.
The old ticket, it is useless and non-refundable.
The new ticket leaves at six. If I don't fall asleep and miss the boat, I can check in at four. Either Greece is a lot more interesting than I was led to believe or I was hallucinating earlier. (Ed note, hallucinating.)
Must keep awake until I get on the ferry then I can chain up my gear (love my pacsafe) then probably be totally unable to sleep. Awesome.
When I got to the dock I was told my boat would be on the 'D' port. There is no 'D' port. Only A, B or C. After a lot of wandering around areas where I wasn't suppose to be and having people assure me it would be either at A or C, I made my own judgement and figured it would be at B.
It is important to know how to walk around the loading area of the docks. Otherwise, you stand a decent chance of getting maimed or killed because everyone is in a hurry to get their cargo (read as big fucking trucks) on or off boats.
The trick is to always position yourself where nobody will be able to run into you - look for obstructions and be sure to be well away from things people are working on. I watched other tourists piss off the dock workers over and over again by wandering around thinking they had 'right of way'.
No, the big fucking truck with the driver who is jacked out of his mind to keep functioning without sleep does.
So I ended up 'waiting for my ship to come in' as 'I'm sitting at the dock of the bay...'
The fact that kind of corny shit was going through my brain tells you just how sleep deprived I was.
Eventually, the ship docked, was off loaded then we and the trucks were loaded on. Once everyone was on, the announcement came asking for "all passengers to go ashore...the ship is ready to depart."
Not sure what the hell was going on but after all the hell I went through to get on, they're going to have to drag me off.
The ship left the dock.
Pretty luxurious - close to the 'Rail and Sail' but not quite there. Certainly many steps up from the voyage across the Black Sea USSR style.
They have a bar and a cafeteria. I got seven Euro worth of filler food (spaghetti and moussaka). You can go without food or without sleep but not both.
While I was still out of my mind with sleep deprivation and hadn't washed in several days, I had a nice conversation with a guy named Dawa. He called the current generation 'ninjas'. No Income, No Jobs, Assets. I thought that was awesome.
AIRPLANE SEATS ON THE FERRY
Generally, these will jack your ticket price 10-20 euros.
Don't buy them. They aren't that great. If you lay down across several, you might get woken up and told you just get one.
Also, there are several better pieces of furniture to sleep on elsewhere.
Didn't explore it or try it out but I'm wondering if people brought an air mattress if they could just sleep in the halls for the cabins? You'd probably get told you can't but sneaky sneaky catchie monkey!
Speaking of exploration of the ship - I saw kids (teens) immediately bury their faces in a book (or phone) rather than taking ten minutes to even see the ship. Those are some jaded little fucks, I'll tell you what. I went exploring, met some of the crew and so on. And that was me at say 30% battery.
Next blog, arrival at Italy.
FOOD AND WATER
The food quality isn't that high so honestly, if you are any good at packing actual good food - not just sandwiches - you won't be tempted by the food which has been priced with a mind to the lack of competition.
Bring at least two liters of water per person per day of the cruise or pay high amounts for more.
Some ships have a 'ship party' the first night out of port. Others don't. Bring a bottle of alcohol (not wine or beer) so you don't feel like an asshole drinking everyone else's without making a contribution. If there is no party, drink the whole thing yourself and pass out.
OPEN TICKETS
A small aside into the mysterious world of 'open tickets'. From what I've learned a ticket is never initially issued as 'open'. They can get changed to 'open' after there is some sort of fuck up. Like you discovered you need a new date to hit your boat or something. Or the return date (if you are coming back) is unknown. Consult the person selling you the tickets when you need to consider an open ticket.
PHILOSOPHY
Using the pickup line "I want to make you look like a painter's radio" is unlikely to impress anyone.
VIDEOS
Welcome to Athens
Happy Train, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Rough Morning
Death by Fox News
I am a wandering zombie. Not sure when last I slept nor ate a good meal. On the latter, I'm OK. I can stand to miss a meal now and then.
The train from the airport was pleasantly modern. Announcements came in both voice and digital in Greek and English. It was a smooth hour and a half or so ride. After getting off that train, I staggered into the train station and said "Uh, I want to go to...uh..."
She already knew where I wanted to go and for another ten euro sold me a bus ticket. The bus then dropped me off in front of the train station where I preceded to demand the teller sell me ferry tickets. He eventually won as there was no water around and indeed train tracks outside. A bitter defeat. If I stood at the bus stop out front, eventually bus 18 would come and take me to the new port.
But he didn't know when the bus was. Different people claimed it was actually a different bus. That came in an hour. Or three hours. Or didn't stop there.
Seven euros later, the taxi dropped me off at the ferry ticket counters.
The old ticket, it is useless and non-refundable.
The new ticket leaves at six. If I don't fall asleep and miss the boat, I can check in at four. Either Greece is a lot more interesting than I was led to believe or I was hallucinating earlier. (Ed note, hallucinating.)
Must keep awake until I get on the ferry then I can chain up my gear (love my pacsafe) then probably be totally unable to sleep. Awesome.
When I got to the dock I was told my boat would be on the 'D' port. There is no 'D' port. Only A, B or C. After a lot of wandering around areas where I wasn't suppose to be and having people assure me it would be either at A or C, I made my own judgement and figured it would be at B.
My ship was leaving from B port. Can you say 'clusterfuck'?
It is important to know how to walk around the loading area of the docks. Otherwise, you stand a decent chance of getting maimed or killed because everyone is in a hurry to get their cargo (read as big fucking trucks) on or off boats.
The trick is to always position yourself where nobody will be able to run into you - look for obstructions and be sure to be well away from things people are working on. I watched other tourists piss off the dock workers over and over again by wandering around thinking they had 'right of way'.
No, the big fucking truck with the driver who is jacked out of his mind to keep functioning without sleep does.
So I ended up 'waiting for my ship to come in' as 'I'm sitting at the dock of the bay...'
The fact that kind of corny shit was going through my brain tells you just how sleep deprived I was.
Eventually, the ship docked, was off loaded then we and the trucks were loaded on. Once everyone was on, the announcement came asking for "all passengers to go ashore...the ship is ready to depart."
Not sure what the hell was going on but after all the hell I went through to get on, they're going to have to drag me off.
The ship left the dock.
Pretty luxurious - close to the 'Rail and Sail' but not quite there. Certainly many steps up from the voyage across the Black Sea USSR style.
They have a bar and a cafeteria. I got seven Euro worth of filler food (spaghetti and moussaka). You can go without food or without sleep but not both.
While I was still out of my mind with sleep deprivation and hadn't washed in several days, I had a nice conversation with a guy named Dawa. He called the current generation 'ninjas'. No Income, No Jobs, Assets. I thought that was awesome.
AIRPLANE SEATS ON THE FERRY
Generally, these will jack your ticket price 10-20 euros.
Don't buy them. They aren't that great. If you lay down across several, you might get woken up and told you just get one.
Also, there are several better pieces of furniture to sleep on elsewhere.
Didn't explore it or try it out but I'm wondering if people brought an air mattress if they could just sleep in the halls for the cabins? You'd probably get told you can't but sneaky sneaky catchie monkey!
Speaking of exploration of the ship - I saw kids (teens) immediately bury their faces in a book (or phone) rather than taking ten minutes to even see the ship. Those are some jaded little fucks, I'll tell you what. I went exploring, met some of the crew and so on. And that was me at say 30% battery.
Next blog, arrival at Italy.
FOOD AND WATER
The food quality isn't that high so honestly, if you are any good at packing actual good food - not just sandwiches - you won't be tempted by the food which has been priced with a mind to the lack of competition.
Bring at least two liters of water per person per day of the cruise or pay high amounts for more.
Some ships have a 'ship party' the first night out of port. Others don't. Bring a bottle of alcohol (not wine or beer) so you don't feel like an asshole drinking everyone else's without making a contribution. If there is no party, drink the whole thing yourself and pass out.
OPEN TICKETS
A small aside into the mysterious world of 'open tickets'. From what I've learned a ticket is never initially issued as 'open'. They can get changed to 'open' after there is some sort of fuck up. Like you discovered you need a new date to hit your boat or something. Or the return date (if you are coming back) is unknown. Consult the person selling you the tickets when you need to consider an open ticket.
PHILOSOPHY
Using the pickup line "I want to make you look like a painter's radio" is unlikely to impress anyone.
If it does impress them, you've got a keeper!
VIDEOS
Welcome to Athens
Happy Train, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Rough Morning
Death by Fox News
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