Best way to get in the mood for a trip to the Mediterranean…?
…easy, sit in the sun on the weekend and sunburn your forehead! Yup, sunscreen is now on the list of things to pack
Comments Off
Planning the UK phase
So we have plane tickets, and the boat is booked. It was time to sort out the tail end of the trip. A whirlwind visit to the UK. Ironically, this trip was supposed to be a three-four week visit to the UK on the canal boats (narrow boats). We have been fascinated with these boats ever since my Mom returned from a trip to England several years ago and brought a brochure back with her. It has been around ever since and I keep looking at it and thinking about it. So the original plan WAS to go there…but plans change. And we decided to go back to Greece for a month of sailing, for various reasons. But the next time, it WILL be the canal boats and an extended journey in the UK! Maybe…. I think….of course the coast of Turkey is calling to us too…. So until then, … …..continue reading →
Final Countdown
Well, only a day and a half from now we will take off for parts unknown, unknown to us anyway. Charlotte has moved in with the critters, the bills are all prepaid, work has been mostly tied up, volunteer duties are more or less taken care of, taxes are (finally) done and paid. I still need to give Kirk a haircut tonight and I need to get a couple of cards out today. The cats are confused. We had ordered a new sofa bed but it hasn’t come in time so Kirk and I slept on the blow up mattress in the living room and let Charlotte have our bed last night. I hate guests having an uncomfortable bed so we figured we might as well take it seeing as we might as well get used to a different bed…a month in a vee berth is ahead of us. We … …..continue reading →
Comments Off
And so it begins….
We are so grateful to Deb for picking us up and slogging through Vancouver traffic on the night of a playoff home game to deposit us at the airport for our flight. We were supposed to be at the airport three hours early. I’ve never been three hours early for a flight…..and I still haven’t been But it didn’t matter. We walked right up to the checkin counter and were divested of our luggage. With 2.5 hours to kill we wandered into a restaurant for dinner and some wine. Then through security…and straight through the security screening. Who knew we would have such a relaxed and easy pass through all of that. So we stop for a glass of wine at Milestone’s in the international terminal, watch the Canucks for a bit (currently 3-1 against Chicago). And it’s sunny….and I can’t find my sunglasses….but I had them in the vehicle…and … …..continue reading →
Almost there….thankfully…..
Well we had a rough trip from Vancouver to London…or rather I had a very rough trip. Maybe we will tell that story later. But regardless…. I’m much better now!!! Although I think Kirk will be keeping me in visual range from now on…when possible…and allowing me a very short time period out of visual range before he panics…. but as I said…I may tell that story later. Suffice to say we chose to not exit Heathrow airport and go to Hampton Court Palace. Rather, we paid a small fortune to stay in a wonderful bed in a lovely hotel at the airport for four hours and try to catch a bit of rest. And then we were back on a plane…and this trip to Athens was better….much better. But Kirk wonders why the one time you want the plane to be late in arriving…it is early. We land and … …..continue reading →
We Really ARE All Canucks!!!
So we made it. What a long trip, 28 hours, at least four of which were incredibly unpleasant for me and a little frightening for Kirk. But the bottom line is that we made it. Tired, frazzled, bedraggled….but we made it. The plane left Athens right smack on time, and landed at Kerkyra airport exactly on time. We are glad to be done with planes for awhile. We were met by a taxi driver who drove us to the marina. Seconds after we got in the car we both thought we were going to be creamed by a bus that he failed to see pulling out. He was a little on the crazy side. Any time he had a clear space on the road, he put the pedal to the floor. He’d pass where there was only really one lane, but apparently honking makes it all OK. It was a … …..continue reading →
Comments Off
Corfu – Day 2
After 12 hours sleep, we are refreshed and ready to go. We had a breakfast of Greek yogurt (so thick and yummy) with banana and coffee and tea. Then we tried to figure out where we had hidden everything on ourselves. Maybe stowing all our stuff while half asleep wasn’t the brightest thing to do. After finally getting ourselves sorted out, we head up and pay for another day at the marina at the office. Then we wander over to the scooter rental…and wait…and wait…and wait….and then Kirk goes looking for the owner…and everyone says…”Oh, he’s around here somewhere”. We are definitely in Greece again. Eventually a couple shows up on a scooter and we rent two machines. Kirk remembers that my red scooter was better last time, and he doesn’t want to be left in the dust again, so he gets a red one too. And he doesn’t even … …..continue reading →
Day 3 – A Bad Case of Deja vu
But we’ll get to that part later since the Deja vu was at the end of the day. Today we tried to figure out why we had no hot water…and got an answer. nothing major, just a switch they forgot to tell us about. Switch flipped…water heated. Life is good. Kirk can finally have a warm shower. Grabbed the scooters, headed over to NAOK Yacht Club. Ah, a challenge. Yesterday was Sunday, sleepy, many things closed, not many people about. Today however, it is Monday morning and we have found rush hour! I love how things work here. There is what seems like a randomness to it all. What appears to be one lane is often two and even three sometimes. We just keep to the edge and most of the time everyone just goes around us. We get stuck in the traffic in town though and I lead the … …..continue reading →
Away From the Hustle and Bustle
Well, no more surprises last night. The wind did stay away overnight and today dawned brightly. We planned to get off early….but plans change…particularly when one starts to chat on the dock. As I put the flags back up Andros came down to collect the fees for our night in the club. When we had asked how much yesterday, he said 33 Euros. Today it was 30. Funnily enough, the same thing happened at Gouvia. We were told 36 Euros…then the next day when we actually went to pay it was only 28 Euros. Maybe the prices are quoted higher later in the day when people are grumpy? I don’t know. All I know is that the prices went in the direction we liked…down…without our asking. We say to Andros that we are glad to day is calmer than last night….he replies that things like that usually only last a … …..continue reading →