It took me four planes to get to Athens. That’s the thing most people don’t realize about all these great flight deals you can find. My ticket cost me $200, but I had 3 layovers and an overnight in the London airport. On my flight from London to Mykonos, our pilot let us know that we would be experiencing 45mph winds at our destination and that landing would be bumpy. Landing was bumpy, and the plane tipped half-sideways while we were only a few feet off the ground.
After my too-short week, I took a ferry from Paros to Mykonos, beginning my long trek back through London to the US. I grew up in Western Washington, taking ferry rides since I was a child. Sports games, field trips, seeing relatives—all reasons I’ve ridden the ferry over the years. Never once have I gotten sea-sick. I had a rude awakening in Iceland the year prior when I got very nauseous on my 1-hour ferry ride to Heimaey. I wasn’t staying on the island, so I had to take the hour-long trip back the same day and frantically searched online for something that could help me. I couldn’t find a pharmacy, and I didn’t have motion sickness pills with me (because I didn’t even know that I get motion-sick), but I found that Benadryl is supposed to help, and luckily I had some of that. Well, it knocked me out quickly and I woke up on the mainland in Iceland, no more nauseous than when I’d departed.
In Greece, I sat underneath this small tunnel-like waiting area for my ferry which was to arrive in 30 minutes. Convincing myself that I would be fine, I pulled my pill box from my bag, just in case. The giant vessel arrived, being tossed about like a hacky sack by the waves. My eyes widened, and I think I said aloud, “Oh no.” Immediately, I popped two of the pink pills, getting nauseous just by watching the boat from the outside.
From the ferry terminal, my taxi experience wasn’t much better. I got into the car, dropping my large backpack in the trunk, and my driver started winding through narrow, blind corners at 40mph. As he was driving us through alleyways I’m not even sure were meant for cars, he pulled a small piece of paper out of his pocket and drove with half a hand on the wheel. After filling the paper, he licked one side and began rolling the joint, not slowing down a bit until we almost hit someone backing out around a corner. There’s one thing you definitely need to have to drive in Greece: good brakes.