Crete and Santorini - 24/10/04

After Corfu, travelled for 24 hours with a 10hr bus ride to Athens, followed by a connecting metro ride to Piraeus Harbour off Athens, then another 10hour ferry ride to Crete Island. It was simply amazing as the summer heat, the space constraint on the bus, the fatigue of travelling and the lack of conducive conditions for sleeping on the ferry (bright lights, cigarette smoke from Greeks, noise) really wore me out easily. Well, could have decided to book a cabin on the ferry but did not as didn't think that it was really necessary. May do that next time but anyway, it was pretty cool and it was the first time I slept on the floor at a more deserted corner of the ferry (followed the example of 2 Greek gals who had their sleeping bags sprawled on the floor and slept pretty soundly).

Well the journey was not the most interesting part but rather, it is when me and my Brazillian travel companion (whom I met in Corfu) tried to get ferry tickets to Santorini from Crete, that the 'true' colours of the person becomes apparent. According to the travel agent, the next outbound ferry for Santorini was on Tuesday night (whereas we intended to leave by Sunday night or Monday morning so that we have sufficient time to catch both Santorini and Mykonos which are these two gorgeous islands in the Cyclade Island Chain).

The screwup occurrred as I was fed the wrong information by the Greek National Tourist Information office in Athens. Was told that there was a daily ferry from Crete to Santorini but this was not so. So in order to get to Santorini by Monday, I have to take a ferry all the way back to Athens on Sunday night (after having spent less than 48 hours in Crete) and then try to catch a connecting ferry to Santorini (which is another 7.5hour journey) though a direct journey from Crete to Santorini would have been 3hr 45min. Well, have always anticipated screwups as part of my travels but my Brazillian fren got hysterical as he thought he would not be able to catch both islands which had always been his childhood dream. Started whining and showing black face and saying "I should have done this, should not have done that", etc; instead of trying to solve the problem. It was at 8am in the morning, no doubt but this sort of behaviour should not have been the case. I didn't feel good about the mistake too but sometimes, just have to do the best we can under the circumstances.

So finally decided to backtrack to Athens and bought a ferry ticket but he was still whining and whining which really bore my patience thin. The summer heat definitely did not help. And this was not just it. Even simple things like museum entrances or choosing places to eat became an issue and he is trying to travel bum whereas I wanted to savour the experience after having flown all the way here. Thank God he was feeling a little sick and tired from the boozing in Corfu and the long journey to Crete. I managed to enjoy a nice dinner by myself at a nice Cretan restaurant with nice salmon steak, great white wine to the accompaniment of live music. Simply an experience to behold.

Shall be more careful next time when I decide whether to allow someone to travel with me. Dun want to have the same experience again of having to babysit someone. Essentially, planning everything for this leg of the trip with zero input from him is ok, even if no thanks are said. However, to incessantly complain about something instead of tackling the issue at hand is not a burden I want to have when I am supposed to be enjoying myself. Something like this can really spoil your day...

Am thinking of going to another island now so that we can travel on different days and part our ways. See if he is going to take my gambit. Dun want to hear anything more from anyone. Peace and quiet is good...