The Worst Travel Day of My Life

Out of all of the travel days, yesrterday has to be the worst.  I've had bad travel days - 24 hours on a single train between Istanbul and Bucharest - that wasn't fun.  But this was the worst.

The only redeeming factor of the whole day was that I met 3 people to share the misery with.  Without them, I really have no idea what I would have done.

The day wasn't supposed to be horrible.  I had my flight from Bocas del Toro, Panama to San Jose, Costa Rica.  I walked to the airport in 10 minutes!  When I arrived at the airport, I was told that I needed to produce a piece of paper printed with my US return itinerary.  It never occurred to me that I would need my itinerary, so I didn't have it.  The stress began.  I didn't have time to return to the hostel and even if I did, I am not sure they could have helped me.  The airline check in guy said I would have to wait, but I could use a different airline's computer.

Apparently, Costa Rica has become particularly concerned about people arriving in Costa Rica and staying.  After a nail-biting 20 minutes, I was finally allowed to use the computer (the same one they use to check people in with!).   I found my itinerary, they printed it, and the crisis was averted.  Smallish hiccup, but it didn't help that some old bag kept asking me questions and yapping her squashed face off about how this is new and they should have signs and blah blah blah blah...

I arrived in San Jose early - there are 2 buses a day going to Montezuma, 1 at 6.00am and the other at 2.00pm.  The plane arrived in San Jose somewhere around 9.00am.  I took a taxi to the Coca Cola bus station (where the bus was leaving from) and walked around for a bit.  I stopped at a cafe for breakfast, went to the grocery store for some food fuel for the journey, had lunch, and then went back to the bus station.

I arrived back at the station around 1pm expecting the bus to leave in an hour.  When I arrived, there was a sign saying that there was a problem with the ferry (from Puntarenas to Paquete) and that the bus would leave 2 hours late.  Great.

It was then that I met 3 other people (2 from Canada and 1 from Nigeria) who were also going to Montezuma.  At least I wasn't alone.

After 2 hours of waiting, we boarded the bus.  Eight hours later (to make a long, excruciating story shorter), we arrived in Montezuma.  I do want to mention that the "directo" bus required us to get off the bus at the ferry port, ride the ferry independently, find the bus again on the other side, then switch to a different bus in a small town called Cobano.  That's not very direct if you ask me.

So around 12.30, the four of us straggled into the hostel I had booked for myself (fortunately people were still up and about).  Thus ends the horrible, no good, very bad travel day (in as short of a post as I can muster).

Greece to Turkey

8.17 Arrived at customs office. Told we'd have to get the customs stamp at the dock.

8.21Boarded the Maria Star. Filled in health survey. Checked NO for swine flu.

9.15 Boatsailed from dock to passport control at end of port. Got off boat. Stood in line. Almost didn't get stamped out of Greece. Spent 5-10 minutes trying to convince passport guy when I arrived in Europe. Was seriously afraid I was going to be rejected. Greg was already on the boat and I was the last person in the passport office.

10.30 Disembarked. Paid USD 20 for a Turkish visa. It's pretty.

11.00 Realized we weren't in Bodrum, but 20 km away and the boat and all daytrippers had gone.

11.30 Found an atm, the minibus station, and the minibus bound for Bodrum, in that order.

12.30 Arrived at Bodrum bus station.

1.00 Found hotel. Told that the room wouldn't be ready until later.

1.30 Ordered a plain omelette at ta Turkish fast food place. Total bill: 10 lira or 5 Euro or USD 7.50 for 2 people.

5.00 Spent afternoon wandering around city trying to find mausoleum, odeon (theater), windmills, tower, and good view of the castle.

8.00 Internet time.

9.00 Dinner time. This was a different experience. There was no menu and no prices. There was a display case filled with cold food. There were probably 20 choices. The hostess explained what the food items were. Then, you chose 3 or 4 starters and 2 or 3 middles (I can't remember her term for the items on the middle shelf intended to be eaten after the starters and before the mains). She said most people fill up before they even get to the mains. Once you chose your items you sat down at a nice candle lit table with fancy glasses and silverware. Unfortunately, the starters and middles did not fill us up, but we didn't want to spend anymore money there, so we left and sought out dessert, which we found at a little sweets shop on the ultra touristy shopping street.

11.00 Bed time.

Ferry from Athens: Our Island Adventure Begins

4 May 2009
Today was an errand day. We bought shampoo and tracked down groceries and other such essentials. Greg even found a camera (the one he brought having been stolen in Barca). We even managed to buy our ferry tickets at a travel agency. At 4.00, we hopped on the metro, rode the green line to the end stop (Piraeus ferry port), and walked right onto the ferry boat. It was easier than I expected really.

Greg was really excited about the ferry, moreso than I was (probably because to me, ferry is synonymous with motion sickness). I was expecting to see island after island from the deck of the ship, but we ended up freezing and scurrying to the café area after only an hour in the open air.

I’ve been on a ferry or two before, so nothing new, but this particular ferry was insanely cold. At one point, I went to the bathroom and stayed for an extra 10 minutes or so (the bathroom was much warmer than the rest of the boat - it was my oasis of warmth).

In about 15 minutes we will be at our destination (Naxos) and our Greek Island Adventure will begin. My fingers are so cold I can’t type and my Dramamine has worn off, so I’d better be off.