“I like to think of my behavior in the sixties as a ‘learning experience.’ Then again, I like to think of anything stupid I’ve done as a ‘learning experience.’ It makes me feel less stupid.”
-P. J. O’Rourke
“There are a lot of mysterious things about boats, such as why anyone would get on one voluntarily.”
P. J. O’Rourke
Go-Date: Day 36 & 37, Wednesday/Thursday Feb 27 & 28.
Lessons Learned: Ellen doesn’t do boats. Well, this isn’t a new thing. Her day of fishing in the Gulf of Mexico out of Port Aransas, Texas is legendary in the annals of sea sickness. Just ask Ellen about chum buckets some time. That incident was 15 years ago and we brought plenty of motion sickness strips for this ride. Needless to say, Ellen became well acquainted with the room toilet (head?) and was miserable all night long. No more boat rides. Cruising the Nile in April may be in jeopardy.
Regrets: Ellen being sick, sick, sick on the boat, of course. No others besides the fact we probably stayed in Athens a day too long. We kind of ran out of things we wanted to see and do, and the weather was rotten so we really didn’t enjoy walking around the different neighborhoods. It was cold, windy and wet, and you could tell the Athenians were pretty sick of this weather and ready for Spring to get under way. Hopefully, better times and better weather is ahead…..along with no more boat rides.
Ferry Interesting
Catching a ferry in Greece can be mildly confusing. Not a huge deal, but the details on what to do are not to be found on the ferry company website. I guess we fly so much that the details for this process is understood. We don’t do ferries.
Questions like:
• Is there a dock or terminal number?
• How do we check in?
• Our tickets are at on-call but your office closes at 6 and the ferry leaves at 11, so do we have to come to your office to pick up our tickets or are they available at the boat?
• Do you have a waiting area inside? (it is February, you know)
• Do you have directions to your dock from the metro stop?
The answer is……probably not.
Our solution was to grab a cab, ask him, and he had the answers. We were way early, so we went by the ANEK office, picked up our tickets and he drove us to the dock. We were very early (5:45 PM) and the ferry did not depart until 9 PM (21:00…..Greece uses military time, which is ok for me since hospitals use it as well). We wandered around for a while, but they let us board at 6:30. Greece in February is like Virginia in April.
We got to our luxury stateroom with no windows dropped our luggage and took a tour of the boat. It was big. Let me explain about seating on the overnight ferry (slow boat). You can get what is called a “Deck chair” which can literally be a deck chair in the summer. Not so much now in the winter, so this “General Admission” ticket allows you a tall chair in an auditorium that looks a lot like a movie theater, with two 70-inch TVs in the front. There always seems to be a soccer game going on in Europe so that was on one screen and some Greek reality show was on the other. No really bad accommodations for 29 Euros.
For an upgrade of 3 Euros, you get an assigned Lounge Chair (though I saw nobody being assigned a seat) in this huge lobby, lounge area where you could buy beer, wine, sandwiches, chips, etc. and there was a cafeteria next door. Everyone was sprawled out on the chairs, couches, and the floor. More comfy than the cheap seats, but not by much.
For 70 Euros apiece you moved up to an interior cabin (with it’s own bathroom). These cabins hold 4 people, but we requested and got a private room for ourselves. The boat was not close to being full. For an extra 20 Euros, you can get a window. Since the boat was leaving well after dark, we didn’t think a window was much of an advantage since you can’t see anything anyway. If you really want a view of the ocean, grab a window seat in the lounge or go out on deck. We were all set and comfy……or so I thought.
Ellen gets seasick. Always has and I’m sure always will. I don’t mean a little green around the gills sick, I mean thinking that death is a good alternative to this queasy feeling kind of sea sick. So, we left port by 9 and by 10:30 Ellen was on a first-name-basis with the toilet in our room. Now we took precautions. I bought the highest rated motion sickness remedy on the market. Well, what works for most people did not cut the mustard with Ellen. She unloaded everything she’s eaten for the past week, and then a little bit more. I think she gets this kind of motion sickness about once every 10 years or so, so I think we’re good until 2029. There will be no more ocean voyages on this trip.
I planned on staying up late to watch Texas Tech play Okie State, but I lost my Vodafone connection on the voyage and the ship-board Wi-Fi would not let me access the game (viewer restrictions by ESPN). So, we passed the rest of the night rolling and tossing, rocking and swaying, pitching and rising. It was Six Flags without the lines or height restrictions. It was not pleasant for Ellen. Personally, I sat on deck munching chips and drinking a beer. Not a problem in the world.
So, we made port at around 6:20 AM. We unloaded along with other the human cattle. Made our way to the terminal building to the car rental kiosk at about 7:40……and it’s closed. We call the car rental agency (Green Motion) and we are told they won’t be at the docks, only at the airport. We find a cab, load up our gear and go from the ferry docks to the airport. Even though its only a little after 8 Green Motion is open. Well, it takes about an hour to get our car, but by 9:30 we are on the road again driving down the highway to Chania (pronounced Kan-ya). I wonder if the term “You are a creatan” refers to people from Crete (pronounced Kree-Tee)? We’ll see.