On a boat we were guided to the back of the boat. There were seats maybe in six lines. We sat there satisfied until this huge group of people came in and started putting up a camp! They had everything you could even imagine you'd need! Inflatable mattresses, electric kettle, pillows, plankets etc.. Couple of the men looked at us feeling sorry 'cause we were freezing and it wasn't even night yet.. We had nothing like that with us! That's when we realized that we were actually supposed to sleep there! Then it got even better. We happened to bump into these two girls one of whom was from Canada and the other one was from New Zealand. They showed us the deck out side which was full of people who had already chosen the "best" places near the walls and next to the doors going inside. That's when we all realised that our tickets said "place on the deck" we were supposed to sleep outside, on the deck of the boat!! When to boat took off from Venice harbour we went to the reseption to ask for a cabin and the prices. Me and Saija got our own cabin for 4-people paying 62€ each. :) Expensive, but it was totally worth it and it was for two nights.
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| Overdressed much? |
We had been planning the boat trip about 6 months before hand and it was supposed to be Saija's high light of the trip to be on the boat and party (like the way we do it in Finland when we take a cruise to Stockholm).. Just like in Finland we went to the ship's tax free shop to buy some alcohol to get the party started.. Well, there was this one tiny little tax free shop with candy and some ouzo bottles only. We bought some Rosso Martini which was so so terrible Saija couldn't drink it at all and I drank it a little bit. We had a glamourous dinner at our cabin with the two of us eating chips, chocolate and drinking that martini. In the evening we were planning to hit the disco!! ;)
So that never happened. We put our make up on maybe for the first time in days and put something nice on and went to the bar to start the night. We were a bit overdressed at the bar! There were only old people watching football.. We started talking to this greek/german girl Ana and her cousin. Then also to other interrailers, three boys from the States: Tony, Mike and Alex. They had been in all the same cities we had!!! Almost on the exact dates. We talked with them maybe couple of hours about everything including travelling ant other stuff too. Together we laughed that we really were to only young people on board. Saija and I went to check out the disco which was empty! We ended our, yet again, wild night by eating chocolate and chips for evening snack and getting to bed before 11.30pm..
The next morning (20th of June) we woke up early to get to breakfast. Of course we had forgetten that we must change the time to greek time.. So we barely made it to breakfast before it closed up. We spent our day by watching to coast lines of Albania and trying to spot dolphins, sun bathing on the deck, playing cards, taking a nap, playing word riddles, playing hangman and different other games. Saija showed me some macig tricks.. :DD Then we spent time on the deck with Ana, Tony and Mike. We were absolutely starving and were the first ones at the dinner line 7 pm waiting to get spagetti bolognaise and greek salad with the real feta cheese!
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| Me, Ana, Tony and Mike and the coast line of Albania behind us |
After eating Ana and her cousin got off at Igoumenitsa and we said goodbye to them. We thought that hey let's just sit around for a while and then go to bed because the ship was supposed to arrive to Patras at 5am.. We again bumbed into the other traveller girls and they told us to join them and one german guy Aaron and Mary and Leo from Edinburg. We sat on the deck of the boat drinking whine and enjoying each others company and the warm weather on Adriatic sea and ofcourse the starry sky. :) Our night was amazing! Leo was this crazy 27-years old guy (I would have said he's somewhere near maybe 21..) He told us about his insane adventures in India and how he had tried to smuggle hash in his stomach and how he had been so nervous walking past the customs.. His girlfriend had never heard the stories even tough they had been together already couple of years.. Her face expressions were fun to watch. :D Aaron on the other hand was from this free love community and he had 15 siblings. He told us about his life there and his childhood and it was straight from some Dr. Phil show or some document on tv! They had had no tv, no internet. The schools were run by the older people living in the village. We asked him what did the children do there and how did they spent their time and he answered by playing football, fishing or having sex. The children could be pregnant at the age of 14 or even younger. At the age of 16 Aaron had started feeling different from his siblings and felt like he didn't belong there. He had had a girlfriend (in the community people didn't have girl or boyfriends) and they had decided to leave from the community. At the age of 20 Aaron had left from there and is still missing his siblings but not so much his parents. All the kids are usually raised by all the adults. Aaron's girlfriend and their child had died in Spain in some car explosion. It was so terrible to hear him telling this and showing us their picture! :/ You might wonder if this is even true but it really was! :( He was so open about it and asnwered all of our questions we had. Aaron had lived on the help of the church so he had gotten used to paying bills etc.. Now he just wants to see the world, he had learnt english by reading it from the books. He basically had only his clothes and passport with him. He didn't have any plans were to go or who to meet. He went when he felt like it, where we wanted to go. :) Leo and Mary got off at Corfu and it was so fun to follow them starting to plan where to go next because it was the middle of the night. The rest of us continued our night and headed to disco were we five were the only ones there. We had heard to urban ship rumour that we don't have to leave from the boat until 7 am so we could stay up a little later. :P
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| Me, Mary, Leo and Aaron |
Spotted from the Minoan Lines magazine: " You should always remember that it is the journey and not the destination that matters, and the unique feeling of adventure and escape."
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