Emotional Rollercoaster
4:12 PM
When I first arrived at the cottages in Azalas Naxos, I wasn’t in the best of moods. We had just left Folegandros, and I had loved it there. Now in Naxos, everything was beautiful of course, and the cottages that I had booked months ago were amazingly charming, but our location had Jessica and I both wondering what in the world we were going to do for eight days. Azalas is a teeny tiny town….ok, I don’t even think you can call it a town….maybe not even a village. It’s more like an area by the sea consisting of a few homes nestled between mountains, accessible by dirt roads that only the toughest of vehicles can traverse. (Our taxi driver wouldn’t even attempt them). It’s basically in the middle of nowhere, and I suppose we were just kind of scared. And, being the planner of the trip, I was also feeling just a little bit guilty for picking a spot so out of the way from civilization….I really hadn’t thought this through. So like I said, we weren’t really in the best of moods. (I wrote a pretty nasty blog, that wasn’t even publishable- although sort of funny now).
When it came time for us to leave, you can just imagine how strange it felt to be so sad and depressed. In eight days time we had come to love our little cottage with the mountains and the private beach, but even more than our beautiful surroundings, we had come to love the family we stayed with and their friends. What a difference eight days makes.
I’d have to say that in a lot of ways, this trip has really played with my emotions. It seems like ever since day one in Athens with the delayed flight and the metro strike, there have been many moments where I’ve thought, “gee whiz, how are we going to get out of this mess?”, only to have it all turn out just fine. I’ve had moments of being super stressed and worried, only to be completely surprised, usually by someone’s kind generosity, or an unexpected event that had a way of making everything instantly ok. I’ve felt many moments of relief on this trip, and many moments of extreme gratitude. Our transition from Naxos back to the mainland of Greece is a great example of this.
Let me give you an idea of the emotional rollercoaster that Jessica and I rode a few days ago….
The plan was to leave the cottages at 12:00. Astrid was going to take us to the bus station in Moutsouna (only 10 minutes away by car- a life time when walking). We would catch the bus to Naxos town (Hora) and spend the day in civilization. After our eight days of lovely serenity in Azalas, our sightseeing day in Hora felt a little like a chore, or an obligation. We both would have rather spent another day at the cottage, but we figured we’d make the best of things, and explore a little more of the island. We packed up our things the night before, cleaned out our refrigerator, ate the last of the Nutella, and geared up to leave the islands of Greece and head back to Athens.
*Feeling a little excited for our trip to the mainland, but mostly just sad to be leaving the cottages.
Knock Knock….It was morning. Jessica and I had managed to wake up on time (something that has occasionally caused some of the emotional stress I talked about earlier). It was Astrid at the door. She had checked the bus schedule and told us that the bus left at 3:45 not 12:30. Crazy Naxos busses, who can ever really tell when they leave or return? Does anyone actually keep a schedule around here? Oh well, and Yippy, we get to stay longer at the farm, and have lunch outside with the family.
*Feeling a little curious about those dumb busses, but mostly super happy to be staying a bit longer.
We took advantage of our extra time in Azalas. The morning was spent playing solitaire (a dangerously addictive card game), as well as drinking some “sipping chocolate” while we wrote and read. Oh yeah, and occasionally killing some pretty giant flies- it’s really quite a fun challenge. In the afternoon we took an hour or so and laid out on our favorite rocks, admiring the views of the cliffs, blue waters, and tiny church one last time. It was perfect. As we walked up the path towards “home” our German friend (one of many) invited us to lunch with the “gang,” so we got cleaned up and headed down to the mini pavilion. The pavilion is covered in grape vines- with actual grapes, and looks out to the water. It houses a very comfortable hammock (just ask Jessica) and a giant stone table. Every time we come to lunch with our friends we never quite know who will be there, or what will be on the menu, but we always know that we are in for a very special experience, and we will be treated like family. It sounds a little like an Olive Garden commercial, but the fact that it’s true makes me smile. Our final meal had us feasting on greek salad of course, homemade bread, and freshly caught fish (Nikos made more especially for us) with the skin still on. And yes I did eat it, and enjoyed it! The company was wonderful as usual, and despite language differences it felt relaxed and comfortable.
* Feeling so grateful to be included. Feeling overwhelmed by our new friends and their generous hospitality.
3:20 came faster than I would have liked. And after exchanging hugs, taking some pictures, and accepting the two giant water bottles filled with Nikos’s wine we hopped into the jeep and left for the bus station.
* Feeling sad
What did you say? The bus will leave at 4:20 instead of 3:45? Hmmmm? Ok, I guess we’ll sit on this little cement stoop.
* Feeling slightly irritated, and a little bored, that is until the little girl with the chocolate ice cream cone, and a guy with a blow-up air mattress showed up…. both pretty entertaining.
Yay, the bus has arrived. It’s a nice bus with super comfy seats. The mountain views are exceptional and it feels great to be sitting for an hour in air conditioning
* Feeling relaxed
The bus dropped us off at the port, and we waited for a while before boarding, but it was a great place to people watch so I didn’t really mind. Eventually we were herded onto the ferry. With my backpack on, now a tad heavier do to all the rocks I’ve been collecting, I followed the crowd of people through perhaps one of the narrowest stairways found on this planet, certain that I would indeed burst into flames at any moment, and really regretting the grey top I was wearing. It was a little maddening, but we finally made it to the upper decks where Jessica and I were both thrilled with our excellent seating, and amazed at how spacious our traveling quarters were. Although soaked in sweat, we sunk into our seats, completely at peace, wishing airline travel could be as nice. This was the life.
* Feeling great, and stoked with our great seating. Athens here we come!
Around 45 minutes later the dialogue with two woman and a boat steward (is that what you call them?) went something like this:
Ladies- “Um, I think these are our seats” (ok, they didn’t speak English, but we knew what they meant.)
Jessica, getting out ticket thinking, “Ummm, sorry ladies, these lovely seats belong to us…step aside.”
Enter the steward who looks at the ticket and then says, “This ticket is for tomorrow.”
You’ll notice I ended that sentence in a period and not an exclamation point, because our steward was kind of nonchalant about the whole thing. My response was anything but. I think it went a little more like this:
THIS TICKET IS FOR TOMORROW??!!!!!
This was followed by us being kicked out of our great seats, and sent to a not so helpful front desk helper, who pretty much stated the obvious: Yes, you got on the boat on the wrong day. No, you no longer have a seat for tomorrow (no kidding?), and good luck finding a seat for today.
* Feeling- well, you can pretty much imagine the thoughts going through our minds now, and they are not good.
So we spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out what just happened, and also trying to scrounge up some leftover seats.
Turns out we left our cottage a day too early. (you know the really great one I just got done writing about. The one we were so sad to leave) Yep, we had a whole other day coming to us…… ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
*Feeling- pretty stupid- also wondering why no one else caught this error?
The good thing about traveling with someone in a country where you don’t know anyone, and you don’t speak the language is that you can’t really stay upset with each other for very long, otherwise your trip would be really lonely. So I’m grateful that Jessica chose to forgive this minor blunder of mine, and look on the bright side of things. Now we had an extra day in Athens.
*Feeling- a little better
Um, did I mention we aren’t exactly in Athens but the rather seedy port town Pireasus? And we don’t arrive until 12:30 in the morning, and we have no accommodation.
*Feeling- a little worse
Now, if you are still reading this, you’ve probably gotten a sense of just what I mean about the emotional rollercoaster. In the interest of time (mine and yours) I’ll just let you know that we ended up finding a place to stay that first night thanks to some helpful people, and some people that were really trying to be helpful, but weren’t really (p.s.- Greeks always try to give directions even if they have no idea where you want to go). After a good night’s sleep, we took a bus into Athens and spent a fantastic day in the Plaka area, a highlight being the open air cinema, where we watched an English film about Leo Tolstoy under the stars. I never would have believed that things could turn out so well, given our circumstances, and I’m happy to say that my final feelings about this two day ordeal were- Relief, and Joy. I also must say, that as our trip is winding down, I feel pretty proud of the two of us. We’ve gotten into some interesting situations during this trip, and I think we’ve handled everything quite well. We’ve been resourceful, and smart. We’ve stayed calm and positive for the most part, never completely freaking out or losing our heads, and overall we’ve been a pretty great traveling team. We should totally be on the amazing race…..maybe next year.
When it came time for us to leave, you can just imagine how strange it felt to be so sad and depressed. In eight days time we had come to love our little cottage with the mountains and the private beach, but even more than our beautiful surroundings, we had come to love the family we stayed with and their friends. What a difference eight days makes.
I’d have to say that in a lot of ways, this trip has really played with my emotions. It seems like ever since day one in Athens with the delayed flight and the metro strike, there have been many moments where I’ve thought, “gee whiz, how are we going to get out of this mess?”, only to have it all turn out just fine. I’ve had moments of being super stressed and worried, only to be completely surprised, usually by someone’s kind generosity, or an unexpected event that had a way of making everything instantly ok. I’ve felt many moments of relief on this trip, and many moments of extreme gratitude. Our transition from Naxos back to the mainland of Greece is a great example of this.
Let me give you an idea of the emotional rollercoaster that Jessica and I rode a few days ago….
The plan was to leave the cottages at 12:00. Astrid was going to take us to the bus station in Moutsouna (only 10 minutes away by car- a life time when walking). We would catch the bus to Naxos town (Hora) and spend the day in civilization. After our eight days of lovely serenity in Azalas, our sightseeing day in Hora felt a little like a chore, or an obligation. We both would have rather spent another day at the cottage, but we figured we’d make the best of things, and explore a little more of the island. We packed up our things the night before, cleaned out our refrigerator, ate the last of the Nutella, and geared up to leave the islands of Greece and head back to Athens.
*Feeling a little excited for our trip to the mainland, but mostly just sad to be leaving the cottages.
Knock Knock….It was morning. Jessica and I had managed to wake up on time (something that has occasionally caused some of the emotional stress I talked about earlier). It was Astrid at the door. She had checked the bus schedule and told us that the bus left at 3:45 not 12:30. Crazy Naxos busses, who can ever really tell when they leave or return? Does anyone actually keep a schedule around here? Oh well, and Yippy, we get to stay longer at the farm, and have lunch outside with the family.
*Feeling a little curious about those dumb busses, but mostly super happy to be staying a bit longer.
We took advantage of our extra time in Azalas. The morning was spent playing solitaire (a dangerously addictive card game), as well as drinking some “sipping chocolate” while we wrote and read. Oh yeah, and occasionally killing some pretty giant flies- it’s really quite a fun challenge. In the afternoon we took an hour or so and laid out on our favorite rocks, admiring the views of the cliffs, blue waters, and tiny church one last time. It was perfect. As we walked up the path towards “home” our German friend (one of many) invited us to lunch with the “gang,” so we got cleaned up and headed down to the mini pavilion. The pavilion is covered in grape vines- with actual grapes, and looks out to the water. It houses a very comfortable hammock (just ask Jessica) and a giant stone table. Every time we come to lunch with our friends we never quite know who will be there, or what will be on the menu, but we always know that we are in for a very special experience, and we will be treated like family. It sounds a little like an Olive Garden commercial, but the fact that it’s true makes me smile. Our final meal had us feasting on greek salad of course, homemade bread, and freshly caught fish (Nikos made more especially for us) with the skin still on. And yes I did eat it, and enjoyed it! The company was wonderful as usual, and despite language differences it felt relaxed and comfortable.
* Feeling so grateful to be included. Feeling overwhelmed by our new friends and their generous hospitality.
3:20 came faster than I would have liked. And after exchanging hugs, taking some pictures, and accepting the two giant water bottles filled with Nikos’s wine we hopped into the jeep and left for the bus station.
* Feeling sad
What did you say? The bus will leave at 4:20 instead of 3:45? Hmmmm? Ok, I guess we’ll sit on this little cement stoop.
* Feeling slightly irritated, and a little bored, that is until the little girl with the chocolate ice cream cone, and a guy with a blow-up air mattress showed up…. both pretty entertaining.
Yay, the bus has arrived. It’s a nice bus with super comfy seats. The mountain views are exceptional and it feels great to be sitting for an hour in air conditioning
* Feeling relaxed
The bus dropped us off at the port, and we waited for a while before boarding, but it was a great place to people watch so I didn’t really mind. Eventually we were herded onto the ferry. With my backpack on, now a tad heavier do to all the rocks I’ve been collecting, I followed the crowd of people through perhaps one of the narrowest stairways found on this planet, certain that I would indeed burst into flames at any moment, and really regretting the grey top I was wearing. It was a little maddening, but we finally made it to the upper decks where Jessica and I were both thrilled with our excellent seating, and amazed at how spacious our traveling quarters were. Although soaked in sweat, we sunk into our seats, completely at peace, wishing airline travel could be as nice. This was the life.
* Feeling great, and stoked with our great seating. Athens here we come!
Around 45 minutes later the dialogue with two woman and a boat steward (is that what you call them?) went something like this:
Ladies- “Um, I think these are our seats” (ok, they didn’t speak English, but we knew what they meant.)
Jessica, getting out ticket thinking, “Ummm, sorry ladies, these lovely seats belong to us…step aside.”
Enter the steward who looks at the ticket and then says, “This ticket is for tomorrow.”
You’ll notice I ended that sentence in a period and not an exclamation point, because our steward was kind of nonchalant about the whole thing. My response was anything but. I think it went a little more like this:
THIS TICKET IS FOR TOMORROW??!!!!!
This was followed by us being kicked out of our great seats, and sent to a not so helpful front desk helper, who pretty much stated the obvious: Yes, you got on the boat on the wrong day. No, you no longer have a seat for tomorrow (no kidding?), and good luck finding a seat for today.
* Feeling- well, you can pretty much imagine the thoughts going through our minds now, and they are not good.
So we spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out what just happened, and also trying to scrounge up some leftover seats.
Turns out we left our cottage a day too early. (you know the really great one I just got done writing about. The one we were so sad to leave) Yep, we had a whole other day coming to us…… ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
*Feeling- pretty stupid- also wondering why no one else caught this error?
The good thing about traveling with someone in a country where you don’t know anyone, and you don’t speak the language is that you can’t really stay upset with each other for very long, otherwise your trip would be really lonely. So I’m grateful that Jessica chose to forgive this minor blunder of mine, and look on the bright side of things. Now we had an extra day in Athens.
*Feeling- a little better
Um, did I mention we aren’t exactly in Athens but the rather seedy port town Pireasus? And we don’t arrive until 12:30 in the morning, and we have no accommodation.
*Feeling- a little worse
Now, if you are still reading this, you’ve probably gotten a sense of just what I mean about the emotional rollercoaster. In the interest of time (mine and yours) I’ll just let you know that we ended up finding a place to stay that first night thanks to some helpful people, and some people that were really trying to be helpful, but weren’t really (p.s.- Greeks always try to give directions even if they have no idea where you want to go). After a good night’s sleep, we took a bus into Athens and spent a fantastic day in the Plaka area, a highlight being the open air cinema, where we watched an English film about Leo Tolstoy under the stars. I never would have believed that things could turn out so well, given our circumstances, and I’m happy to say that my final feelings about this two day ordeal were- Relief, and Joy. I also must say, that as our trip is winding down, I feel pretty proud of the two of us. We’ve gotten into some interesting situations during this trip, and I think we’ve handled everything quite well. We’ve been resourceful, and smart. We’ve stayed calm and positive for the most part, never completely freaking out or losing our heads, and overall we’ve been a pretty great traveling team. We should totally be on the amazing race…..maybe next year.
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