Recap of Vaca - Part 4
Continued...
Day 9: Friday 10/7/05
En route
Before I get into the sordid details of my time in Mykonos, I want to gross you out with tales from my journey from Paros to Mykonos. That morning, I took a smaller boat - more like a speed boat style. The speed should've been a nice thing but that day, the sea was rough, very rough. I was onboard for 5 minutes and I knew I was in trouble. It was too late to take gravol cause it was only a 40 minute journey and by the time the drugs would start working, I'd be there. I tried all the tricks: looking at the horizon, falling asleep, deep breathing, etc. Nothing worked and finallly, 35 minutes into the trip, I lost it. I left all of my luggage unattended (not a good thing) and darted to the bathroom. The attendant looked at me and fully knew what I was going to do. Amazingly, once all out of my system, I felt much better...for the remaining 5 minutes of the trip. I was thrilled to arrive in Mykonos port and had the luxury of knowing that no one in Mykonos will know what just happened. But it would also be a good story to tell, an appetizing conversation starter! ha ha
Mykonos, Greece
When I think of Mykonos, I think of: luxury yachts, wealth, style, alcohol, partying, sex - general hedonism, everything our mothers warned us about. At least my mother...especially cause she knows how I am. Luckily (I think) it was the end of the summer season and there were no yachts in sight. The narrow winding streets were manageable, the cafes were not overcrowded, nor were the hotel and restaurant prices at a premium. I stayed at Paradise Beach Resort because I wanted a bit of R&R for the end of my trip, or at least the easy access to R&R. Normally, through the summer, Paradise beach would've been home to raucous parties, spring-break style beach partying, and tons of 'young people'. When I was there, it was more of a quiet resort in full preparation to wind down for the year. I dropped my stuff off in my room (for which I splurged for, a full room with my own shower!) and off into town I went. The port area of Hora/Mykonos town is nice, full of shops in full Greek Island style. But the streets there were particularly narrow and winding, and there were more of them so I could get lost for longer periods of time. Apparently, they were designed like that in an attempt to deter pirates from coming ashore by confusing them with the maze-like streets.
There are trademark windmills at one corner, a unique church in another, a row of shops/cafes/bars right on the edge of the water on the side, and the port on the other. So as much wandering as I could manage, I never got that lost, at least not in the day time. Perhaps it was the fact that I knew it was my last island and I knew where I stood with my budget, or just the shops in Mykonos were particularly enticing...but the shopping was AMAZING! There was so much variety, including the high-end designer labels, but more interesting to me were the funky boutique shops with things that I hadn't seen on the other islands. After taking my standard photo tour, I finally did my girly souvenir shopping. I found these two particularly beautiful hand-made necklaces at a shop so unique that I can't even describe it. I bought one for myself, and one for my mommy...with the full intent to borrow my mom's gift so I made sure it would look good on me as well. After feeling very satisfied with my shopping, I settled in at a cafe in Little Venice.
Literally, I could've stepped off the cafe and into the water. And on that day, with the big swells, the water was lapping onto the cafe terrace, so it was a beautiful sight. At the cafe, I met the HOT & friendly waiter there...more on him later. I stayed there until after the sunset, wandered around at dusk, had a nice dinner next to the Pelicans. At dinner, it was inevitable that a waiter would invite me to go dancing after he finished his shift. It had happened every other night I had dinner at a restaurant in Greece so far, why wouldn't it happen in Mykonos too? When I eventually left the restaurant and the persistant waiter's invitations, I went to wander around the dark streets but before I got too far, as I was walking across the square, I heard my name. I know the world is small, but who would know my name in Greece? It was my waiter friend from the cafe (the HOT one, remember?). He too had invited me out earlier but this time, I felt like a bit of fun so I asked him to take me out. So we planned to meet up after his shift and he would take me to a club and we'd go dancing. I don't like to do that on my own, so I was glad to find a buddy to do that with (it helps with that buddy is HOT, by the way). So I waited for him at a cafe, drinking 2 cups of Greek coffee...ummm....Greek Coffee. Not to self: gotta find me some of that stuff in Toronto. Anyway, I did some wandering in the dark and it was a bit scary, not in a dangerous way, but more in an exhilirating way. It was very liberating to be wandering around in near empty streets in a foreign country not knowing anyway and trying to get myself lost, where people were turning left, I turned right, where people walked towards the crowd, I walked away from it...very exhilirating indeed.
Anyway, my Greek friend took me to a bar/lounge right next to the water, ordered some drinks and settled in comfortably on a bench next to the window looking out onto the crashing waves. Danced, drank more, danced more....and then I went home. Enough said about that.
Day 10: 10/08/05
Paradise Beach, Mykonos
It was another beautiful day in the Greek Islands, blue skies with pretty fluffly clouds. Parked myself on the grainy beach and observed all the naked and nearly-naked people around me. Listened to my CDs, read my magazine, observed more naked and nearly-naked people. That basically sums up my day. Oh, also played a little game of 'let's dodge the sketchy older American guy who was attaching himself to me from th e previous day' but later in the afteroon, he found me. I had no problem joining in the crowds in clothing-optional sunbathing but I'd prefer not to have someone sit right next to me while I was doing that...since it was still a new thing for me, I'd prefer to do it in my own privacy. So when creepy guy came up to me, I quickly turned over onto my stomach, he just gave me the creeps! He wanted to meet up for dinner and I had to come up with some quick excuse out of that one. We ended up taking the same bus into town, damn it! So for that evening, I was continuing with my game of 'let's dodge the sketchy guy...'. I went to the cafe and said hi to my Greek friend, who looked absolutely exhausted. Poor guy, he had to work all day and still had another job to go to, while I spent the day on the beach. He said these exact words to me "I want to take you out dancing again but I'm too tired, I'm so sorry"...I was somewhat sadistically satisfied by my role in his hellish day. Hey, it was my way to contribute to the local economy and taste the local culture....yeah. Had a peaceful dinner and had a few more greek coffees and then went to bed. Nothing exciting that night.
Day 11: 10/09/05
Mykonos
Took some pictures of the beautiful beach before my final departure, not only from Mykonos but also the Greek Islands....basically signalling the end of my trip. It was sad :( Placed my luggage into storage by the port so I could do a final wander around town until my ferry was to sail away at 2pm. The angles of some of the pictures were better in the morning, so I was glad I got to photograph the island without the harsh afternoon sun. I spent a few last hours at the cafe with my friend and said our goodbyes. Not quite with the dramatic emotions and intensity like in Before Sunrise (and After Sunset too, I guess) but at least he was hotter than Ethan Hawke. SIde note: if you've never seen Before Sunrise or After Sunset, go rent them if you like the romanticism of a love affair in a foreign land and chance meetings. Anyway, I was expecting a busy but uneventful 5hr journey home but it did have a bit of a twist.
En Route
As the ship was completely sold out (I mean people in the aisles), this Greek man sat across from me and he seemed very nice. We were making small talk when he told me he has a cousin living in Mississauga and we figured out his cousin was just 10 minutes up the street from my house. So, he decided to call his cousin on his cell phone in Mississauga and I got to say hi to his cousin, while in the middle of the Aegean Sea...such a small world indeed! I was seriously running out of money at this time so I wasn't planning on eating much besides the cheese and crackers I had bought at the grocery store (ghetto styles!) but the nice man bought me lunch from Goody's, a fast-food outlet I had seen throughout Greece. I thought it was so sweet of him, so we enjoyed our lunch together onboard.
Athens
Five hours later, we arrived into Piraeus Port in Athens and he was kind enough to show me where the subway station was and we parted our ways. I had 2 things to accomplish on my last night in Athens: eat one more meal of lamb and buy my stereotypical Greek souvenirs for the family. I bought 4 cans of Kalamata olives, 2 bottles of organic olive oil from Crete and 2 jars of olive paste. Uncles, Aunts, grandma, parents brothers and best friend - all taken care of in supermarket. All of the "olive products", as they were later referred to by Canadian customs, weighed almost as much as all of my other luggage combined, hence saved my shopping trip till the last night possible. Scoped out where the bus stop would be for my 5:00am trip to the airport. Then, fully intending to shower and go to bed early, I started talking to the girls in my room and we went for a few beers downstairs and only went to bed when I looked at my watch and realized it was 12:30. Darn, I had to get up in 4 hours. Oh well, that was my last night in Greece.
Day 12: 10/10/05
En Route
The 5am airport express was surprisingly full, I guess the morning airport shift started at 6am, the same time I was aiming for. Damn international flights, they say to be there 2 hours early but it takes all of 10 minutes to get your boarding pass and clear security. I rushed to the gate so I could stake out a nice row of seats and went to sleep. My strategy continued to work in my favour. If I sleep really close to the check-in desk, I can't miss my flight cause either the commotion of the other passengers, the boarding announcements or at last resort, the ground crew's pity, would wake me before my flight. Just in case, I set my alarm clock and put it in my pocket. A cell phone that vibrates works better though.
Heathrow Airport, London (again)
This time, I had five hours to waste in the same terminal as before. It wasn't as exciting anymore because I had already seen all the duty free shops there, plus I had all of my olive products to drag around with me this time around. I ended up buying UK Cosmo and that kept me entertained for a good 90 minutes. I read all 3 chapters of my textbook which I had photocopied. I knew realistically that I wasn't going to read that on the beach or at a cafe, even though I had tried, but it's amazing how when bored in transit at an airport, 3 chapters of Managerial Accounting can be quite interesting. Oh, I also kept amused by trying to figure out where different passengers were going, just by their appearance and language/accent. There were a lot of flights going into Western African cities that I had never heard of and that fascinated and also irritated me. I didn't know where these cities were, so I immediately looked up those city names the first night I got home. I had to know.
En Route
The flight back to Toronto was brutal. How ever did I survive all the trans-pacific flights I had made previously? I must be getting old! Plus, it didn't help that some of the movies in-flight were the same...isn't it standard that inbound and outbound inflight entertainment schedules are different? I would not have otherwise seen Batman Begins but it's amazing how a movie can be much better when stuck on a plane without other alternatives. Ironically, lately at Blockbuster, I can't find any rentals that I want to watch cause I saw them all on the my flights to and from Greece...darn it!
Toronto
I have to write about one thing that happened in Toronto. Knowing my parents, I knew they would know about my flight's delay but I was hoping they would be there welcoming me. I got through customs and the luggage carousel in only 20 minutes and walked out into the terminal and saw everyone else's family. I didn't see mine. Maybe they're just at the curb because they didn't want to pay for parking, I figured. Nope, not there either. I called them and oh, my loving parents were just leaving the house! So, I sat outside on the curb muttering to myself "my parents don't even love me" as I waited for them :) I threatened them when I saw them that I wouldn't give them their olive products! That's all I had left in me, I was too tired.
Day 9: Friday 10/7/05
En route
Before I get into the sordid details of my time in Mykonos, I want to gross you out with tales from my journey from Paros to Mykonos. That morning, I took a smaller boat - more like a speed boat style. The speed should've been a nice thing but that day, the sea was rough, very rough. I was onboard for 5 minutes and I knew I was in trouble. It was too late to take gravol cause it was only a 40 minute journey and by the time the drugs would start working, I'd be there. I tried all the tricks: looking at the horizon, falling asleep, deep breathing, etc. Nothing worked and finallly, 35 minutes into the trip, I lost it. I left all of my luggage unattended (not a good thing) and darted to the bathroom. The attendant looked at me and fully knew what I was going to do. Amazingly, once all out of my system, I felt much better...for the remaining 5 minutes of the trip. I was thrilled to arrive in Mykonos port and had the luxury of knowing that no one in Mykonos will know what just happened. But it would also be a good story to tell, an appetizing conversation starter! ha ha
Mykonos, Greece
When I think of Mykonos, I think of: luxury yachts, wealth, style, alcohol, partying, sex - general hedonism, everything our mothers warned us about. At least my mother...especially cause she knows how I am. Luckily (I think) it was the end of the summer season and there were no yachts in sight. The narrow winding streets were manageable, the cafes were not overcrowded, nor were the hotel and restaurant prices at a premium. I stayed at Paradise Beach Resort because I wanted a bit of R&R for the end of my trip, or at least the easy access to R&R. Normally, through the summer, Paradise beach would've been home to raucous parties, spring-break style beach partying, and tons of 'young people'. When I was there, it was more of a quiet resort in full preparation to wind down for the year. I dropped my stuff off in my room (for which I splurged for, a full room with my own shower!) and off into town I went. The port area of Hora/Mykonos town is nice, full of shops in full Greek Island style. But the streets there were particularly narrow and winding, and there were more of them so I could get lost for longer periods of time. Apparently, they were designed like that in an attempt to deter pirates from coming ashore by confusing them with the maze-like streets.
There are trademark windmills at one corner, a unique church in another, a row of shops/cafes/bars right on the edge of the water on the side, and the port on the other. So as much wandering as I could manage, I never got that lost, at least not in the day time. Perhaps it was the fact that I knew it was my last island and I knew where I stood with my budget, or just the shops in Mykonos were particularly enticing...but the shopping was AMAZING! There was so much variety, including the high-end designer labels, but more interesting to me were the funky boutique shops with things that I hadn't seen on the other islands. After taking my standard photo tour, I finally did my girly souvenir shopping. I found these two particularly beautiful hand-made necklaces at a shop so unique that I can't even describe it. I bought one for myself, and one for my mommy...with the full intent to borrow my mom's gift so I made sure it would look good on me as well. After feeling very satisfied with my shopping, I settled in at a cafe in Little Venice.
Literally, I could've stepped off the cafe and into the water. And on that day, with the big swells, the water was lapping onto the cafe terrace, so it was a beautiful sight. At the cafe, I met the HOT & friendly waiter there...more on him later. I stayed there until after the sunset, wandered around at dusk, had a nice dinner next to the Pelicans. At dinner, it was inevitable that a waiter would invite me to go dancing after he finished his shift. It had happened every other night I had dinner at a restaurant in Greece so far, why wouldn't it happen in Mykonos too? When I eventually left the restaurant and the persistant waiter's invitations, I went to wander around the dark streets but before I got too far, as I was walking across the square, I heard my name. I know the world is small, but who would know my name in Greece? It was my waiter friend from the cafe (the HOT one, remember?). He too had invited me out earlier but this time, I felt like a bit of fun so I asked him to take me out. So we planned to meet up after his shift and he would take me to a club and we'd go dancing. I don't like to do that on my own, so I was glad to find a buddy to do that with (it helps with that buddy is HOT, by the way). So I waited for him at a cafe, drinking 2 cups of Greek coffee...ummm....Greek Coffee. Not to self: gotta find me some of that stuff in Toronto. Anyway, I did some wandering in the dark and it was a bit scary, not in a dangerous way, but more in an exhilirating way. It was very liberating to be wandering around in near empty streets in a foreign country not knowing anyway and trying to get myself lost, where people were turning left, I turned right, where people walked towards the crowd, I walked away from it...very exhilirating indeed.
Anyway, my Greek friend took me to a bar/lounge right next to the water, ordered some drinks and settled in comfortably on a bench next to the window looking out onto the crashing waves. Danced, drank more, danced more....and then I went home. Enough said about that.Day 10: 10/08/05
Paradise Beach, MykonosIt was another beautiful day in the Greek Islands, blue skies with pretty fluffly clouds. Parked myself on the grainy beach and observed all the naked and nearly-naked people around me. Listened to my CDs, read my magazine, observed more naked and nearly-naked people. That basically sums up my day. Oh, also played a little game of 'let's dodge the sketchy older American guy who was attaching himself to me from th e previous day' but later in the afteroon, he found me. I had no problem joining in the crowds in clothing-optional sunbathing but I'd prefer not to have someone sit right next to me while I was doing that...since it was still a new thing for me, I'd prefer to do it in my own privacy. So when creepy guy came up to me, I quickly turned over onto my stomach, he just gave me the creeps! He wanted to meet up for dinner and I had to come up with some quick excuse out of that one. We ended up taking the same bus into town, damn it! So for that evening, I was continuing with my game of 'let's dodge the sketchy guy...'. I went to the cafe and said hi to my Greek friend, who looked absolutely exhausted. Poor guy, he had to work all day and still had another job to go to, while I spent the day on the beach. He said these exact words to me "I want to take you out dancing again but I'm too tired, I'm so sorry"...I was somewhat sadistically satisfied by my role in his hellish day. Hey, it was my way to contribute to the local economy and taste the local culture....yeah. Had a peaceful dinner and had a few more greek coffees and then went to bed. Nothing exciting that night.
Day 11: 10/09/05
Mykonos
Took some pictures of the beautiful beach before my final departure, not only from Mykonos but also the Greek Islands....basically signalling the end of my trip. It was sad :( Placed my luggage into storage by the port so I could do a final wander around town until my ferry was to sail away at 2pm. The angles of some of the pictures were better in the morning, so I was glad I got to photograph the island without the harsh afternoon sun. I spent a few last hours at the cafe with my friend and said our goodbyes. Not quite with the dramatic emotions and intensity like in Before Sunrise (and After Sunset too, I guess) but at least he was hotter than Ethan Hawke. SIde note: if you've never seen Before Sunrise or After Sunset, go rent them if you like the romanticism of a love affair in a foreign land and chance meetings. Anyway, I was expecting a busy but uneventful 5hr journey home but it did have a bit of a twist.
En Route
As the ship was completely sold out (I mean people in the aisles), this Greek man sat across from me and he seemed very nice. We were making small talk when he told me he has a cousin living in Mississauga and we figured out his cousin was just 10 minutes up the street from my house. So, he decided to call his cousin on his cell phone in Mississauga and I got to say hi to his cousin, while in the middle of the Aegean Sea...such a small world indeed! I was seriously running out of money at this time so I wasn't planning on eating much besides the cheese and crackers I had bought at the grocery store (ghetto styles!) but the nice man bought me lunch from Goody's, a fast-food outlet I had seen throughout Greece. I thought it was so sweet of him, so we enjoyed our lunch together onboard.
Athens
Five hours later, we arrived into Piraeus Port in Athens and he was kind enough to show me where the subway station was and we parted our ways. I had 2 things to accomplish on my last night in Athens: eat one more meal of lamb and buy my stereotypical Greek souvenirs for the family. I bought 4 cans of Kalamata olives, 2 bottles of organic olive oil from Crete and 2 jars of olive paste. Uncles, Aunts, grandma, parents brothers and best friend - all taken care of in supermarket. All of the "olive products", as they were later referred to by Canadian customs, weighed almost as much as all of my other luggage combined, hence saved my shopping trip till the last night possible. Scoped out where the bus stop would be for my 5:00am trip to the airport. Then, fully intending to shower and go to bed early, I started talking to the girls in my room and we went for a few beers downstairs and only went to bed when I looked at my watch and realized it was 12:30. Darn, I had to get up in 4 hours. Oh well, that was my last night in Greece.
Day 12: 10/10/05
En Route
The 5am airport express was surprisingly full, I guess the morning airport shift started at 6am, the same time I was aiming for. Damn international flights, they say to be there 2 hours early but it takes all of 10 minutes to get your boarding pass and clear security. I rushed to the gate so I could stake out a nice row of seats and went to sleep. My strategy continued to work in my favour. If I sleep really close to the check-in desk, I can't miss my flight cause either the commotion of the other passengers, the boarding announcements or at last resort, the ground crew's pity, would wake me before my flight. Just in case, I set my alarm clock and put it in my pocket. A cell phone that vibrates works better though.
Heathrow Airport, London (again)
This time, I had five hours to waste in the same terminal as before. It wasn't as exciting anymore because I had already seen all the duty free shops there, plus I had all of my olive products to drag around with me this time around. I ended up buying UK Cosmo and that kept me entertained for a good 90 minutes. I read all 3 chapters of my textbook which I had photocopied. I knew realistically that I wasn't going to read that on the beach or at a cafe, even though I had tried, but it's amazing how when bored in transit at an airport, 3 chapters of Managerial Accounting can be quite interesting. Oh, I also kept amused by trying to figure out where different passengers were going, just by their appearance and language/accent. There were a lot of flights going into Western African cities that I had never heard of and that fascinated and also irritated me. I didn't know where these cities were, so I immediately looked up those city names the first night I got home. I had to know.
En Route
The flight back to Toronto was brutal. How ever did I survive all the trans-pacific flights I had made previously? I must be getting old! Plus, it didn't help that some of the movies in-flight were the same...isn't it standard that inbound and outbound inflight entertainment schedules are different? I would not have otherwise seen Batman Begins but it's amazing how a movie can be much better when stuck on a plane without other alternatives. Ironically, lately at Blockbuster, I can't find any rentals that I want to watch cause I saw them all on the my flights to and from Greece...darn it!
Toronto
I have to write about one thing that happened in Toronto. Knowing my parents, I knew they would know about my flight's delay but I was hoping they would be there welcoming me. I got through customs and the luggage carousel in only 20 minutes and walked out into the terminal and saw everyone else's family. I didn't see mine. Maybe they're just at the curb because they didn't want to pay for parking, I figured. Nope, not there either. I called them and oh, my loving parents were just leaving the house! So, I sat outside on the curb muttering to myself "my parents don't even love me" as I waited for them :) I threatened them when I saw them that I wouldn't give them their olive products! That's all I had left in me, I was too tired.
posted by glor at 10:32 p.m.
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