Exploring Corfu by Quad

The infamous quad we used to explore the island

Corfu Day 3 - July 6

Last night it was pretty quiet at the hostel, so I chatted with the staff and got to know them a bit. Sunrock is a bit of a unique place, because it's not quite a hostel, yet not quite a resort either. All the staff are backpackers from various parts of the world--some came here thinking they were WWOOF'ing (working on an organic farm) but ended up being put to work in the hostel; some came here with no money and now they can't leave bc they don't get paid, so they're stuck here indefinitely; some are just on vacation and decided it's a great way to stay somewhere for a length of time cheaply.

I met Meredith and Dana, two friends who go to Wellesley in Boston. They're the ones who thought they'd be farming. It's really interesting talking to them about college, since Wellesley is girls only.

Antony, the bartender, came here with 40 Euros in his pocket. I could never do that! He says he likes the thrill.

We spent the night watching funny youtube videos and having a dance party in the empty bar. They taught me how to Smang It; I showed them the Bernie, then gave them a tutorial in 80s jazz dancing and Double Dream Hands (youtube these immediately if you aren't familiar...you're welcome.) That led to us wandering next door to Petra, the circular club that is always empty although I have no idea why--if that was in North America, it'd be packed every night. We continued our dance party there, until the bartender asked us if we wanted drinks and we felt bad staying without buying anything, so we jazz walked out of there.

Mer and I rented a quad today--30 Euros split between us (Mer, you still owe me 6 bucks! haha) and headed into town for a quick bite to eat. I found this place that had real greek gyros for 2 Euros! So good--did you know they are supposed to come with fries inside them?...I did not. Amazing surprise.

After that, we debated buying a map of the island but decided to wing it and just drive up the coast--we can't get lost if we follow the water, right?!

We drove into Ipsos, on the east coast, which is quite different than Pelekas on the west, where the hostel is. East coast is all pebble beaches that hurt your feet--so not a fan. It made me appreciate our location that much more, even if it's kind of remote. We continued north after a little photoshoot in the water, and went all the way around the north coast of the island. We drove through tons of small towns.

What I really like about Corfu is that there are no villas or mansions anywhere--everyone's houses are similar in size. Makes you feel like there's a real sense of community here, since everyone's in the same boat. I think it has something to do with the fact that foreigners can't buy beachfront property in greece--it's required to stay public by law (or so I'm told). That means the best locations for these villas are unattainable, and probably why there aren't any estates.

We drove for about 4 hours in the sunshine, the sea on one side, and picturesque hills on the other. The scenery here really is spectacular. We stumbled upon on of the horse trekking places I had researched online and were going to stop for a ride, but they were 2 hours, we were at least that far from home, and Mer had to work that night, so no dice. I booked a ride for tomorrow though, and left him a 5 euro deposit.

We wound our way through the mountains, and began to look for signs pointing us toward home...after an 8 km detour, we were just starting to come down from the hills when I hear the engine sputter. Next thing I know, we've lost power entirely.

Luckily, we were at the top of a lengthy cutback, so we coasted for almost 4 km without the motor, waving motorists around us. As soon as we hit flat ground, though, we had to get a running start before trying to get it going again. It felt like that scene in Little Miss Sunshine where their VW van won't start unless they get it going on foot and then hop in--that was us on this mountain.

We finally found a gas station and realized we were out of oil (the engine was a gas/oil combo). Okay, no problem, we'll just buy some more and we should be fine. That's true...if we knew where the oil tank was. Imagine 2 girls at a greek gas station, trying to communicate this to the attendant who speaks zero english. I finally got under the bike like a mechanic and figured it out. Yes, me. Under a bike. Getting my hands dirty.

I felt pretty handy until the bike died again, a couple of kms down the road. Shit. We kept coasting for a while, just hoping the engine had maybe overheated, and laughed at our misfortune--we were half lost with a faulty quad, no idea where we were going or what was wrong.

We finally found some signs pointing us toward town, and were on our way, until the quad decided to die again. In the middle of the highway. For real. We had to get off and push it into a nearby parking lot!

All this was exhausting so we headed across the road to the supermarket to grab some snacks--did you know Greece is the only country other than Canada that I've seen carry ketchup flavoured chips?!

The worker at the cash was really nice-he drove his car over to our quad and tried to boost the battery with jumper cables, to no avail. Then he called the company we rented it from and spoke to them in greek, finally convincing them to send someone to rescue us. We were 3 km outside town and about 25 from the hostel.

The guy arrives after a lengthy wait, and replaces a part (spark plug maybe? I got my mechanic's diploma earlier in the day, I'm pretty much an expert now), then drives off and leaves us there!

Luckily, the bike was working, so we get on and follow the signs back to the city centre, so we can go home the way we came. That is, if we remembered which way that was. We literally tried every single branch that came off this roundabout and none of them were right. This includes several roads that stopped being 2 ways for everyone except me...leaving us stranded in the middle of an intersection with greek people yelling at us that we're going the wrong way...thanks, Captain Obvious, but I think the stream of cars coming directly towards me gave that one away. Doesnt mean i can do anything about it! Then a squad of cops drove by on motorbikes. GREAT. I was sure I was going to get a ticket, but they more or less just laughed at these two girls who were clearly hopeless and foreign.

The very last street that we tried was finally the right one...after the 8th time around the roundabout we were on our way. It literally took us an extra hour to get home, but we made it just as the sun was setting, in time for dinner!

I had a fantastic time getting stranded in Greece with a new friend. Lesson learned though: cough up the extra Euro and buy the damn map.

Meredith and me exploring Corfu

Steep learning curve in Planning.

I originally booked 3 days in Istanbul before my flight to India via Dubai, but realized after I hadn't factored in travel time. I changed my reservation in Istanbul to 2 nights, booked a night in Thessaloniki and thought I would be fine. Take the ferry to the mainland from Corfu, bus to Thessaloniki, and train the next day to Istanbul. Apparently due to Greece's financial troubles, that train has been suspended indefinitely from service. Now I have an extra night that I have to fill, another deposit I'll lose because I don't want to go to Thessaloniki anymore if I'm not taking the train, and I have to find a flight. I didn't fly in the first place because there are no direct flights from Corfu to Istanbul, so I have to connect in either Athens, Vienna or Stuttgart, making the trip minimum 4 hrs of flying.

In short, planning fail. But how could I know? I'm off to find a flight from Corfu instead, and see if Istanbul will give me back 3 nights. Ugh what a disaster...this is one time where I'm glad I'm traveling alone, because I'm pretty sure whoever I would travel with would want to shoot me right about now.

German Soap Opera Star

Berlin Day 2 - Sat 25Christopher Street Parade

Things not to do when you need to wake up at a decent hour: take sleeping pills. I wasnt tired at about 3  am last night so i thought it would be a good idea. my doc said itll knock you out for about 6 or 7 hours, which would let me wake up around 10-11, perfect.

I wake up at 1:48 pm with all these messages from people going "where are you? i thought we were  going to meet today!" shiiiiiit.

to make it even better, my phone wasn't working. apparently sim cards from the UK won't work in Germany, so not only did I have to buy more time, I had to buy a new card. I wonder if I wouldve been better off sticking with rogers and buying an int'l package from them...

Like I said yesterday, another thing I'm realizing is how much I should've spent the extra bucks and bought an ipad with 3G. it is not as easy as I thought it'd be to find public places that have it, and it wouldve been really useful consideriing the amount of times i've gotten lost already on this trip. ugh.

Today is the Christopher Street parade in Berlin, or as we know it in Toronto, Gay Pride. Apparently the road by the Brandenburg Gate fills with like 400,000 people celebrating. I think I'm gonna head down there in a bit and check it out. 

Right now, I'm sitting outside a cafe having penne alla norma and drinking a Berlin beer. This is the life!

Tonight, my friend Johanna, who I'm staying with, has a friend's birthday to go to, and I think I'm going to tag along. A few of my other friends are also in Berlin, so they'll be there too, and itll be great to catch up! We may go to a bar, or Johanna has a friend who's DJing one of the Christopher Street afterparties at like 3 am haha so If we stay up that late, that should be interesting to say the least!

I didn't realize my German was so rusty, but  I guess that's what happens when you don't use it for 5 years. It's almost intimidating to be here, because it used to be so easy when all i spoke was German for a couple of months, and now I know what I want to say in my head but I can't figure out how to say it out loud. Hopefully it'll get better.

I talked to my friend Jamie from Guelph who is also doing the backpacking thing, but he's been here a couple months already. We decided to meet up for a bit, so on the 28th, I'm meeting him and his friend in Vienna for 3 days, and then we're heading to Budapest for a couple of days. After that I will probably do Prague or Romania (depends which is cheaper) and then end in Istanbul on the 8th. I'll spend a couple of days there, and fly to Dubai on July 10!

When i fly  back to Istanbul on Sept 1, I am so tempted to venture down to Jordan--I've heard it's spectacular. But I'm pretty sure I'd have to cross through SYria to get there, which is just a terrible idea. Oh well, maybe in the future the world won't be so messed up and a little girl like me can travel wherever she likes without fear of being kidnapped (I'm looking at you, Somalia). 

Getting Lost

London Day 4/Berlin - Fri 24 Friday I woke up and had to catch the train to Gatwick, after I repacked all my stuff. Instead of going to Amsterdam for the weekend, like my original plan, I decided to hop a flight to Berlin, because Amsterdam's hostels were either sold out or exorbitantly expensive--what's the point of staying in a hostel if Im going to pay the same amount for a hotel? No thanks. I'll catch that city on Europe Part 2. Add it to the list.

I emailed my friend Johanna, who is kindly letting me stay at her place while in Berlin. She face booked me directions. 

So, flight to Berlin. easy jet, $193 Pounds. Not bad. But the one carry-on bag was. I'd bought a bunch of stuff while I was in London if you recall, and I already had 2 pieces of carry-on baggage from my first flight from Toronto (purse and a small backpack). I had bought a large beach tote on sale when we went shopping on Wednesday thinking 'this is great, I can just throw everything inside'...but it definitely was not big enough. I crammed it all in anyways and went on my way--the biggest problem was that with my backpack already occupying my shoulders, I had nowhere to carry this tote, so I had to walk in a perma-bicep curl with this bag that weighed 30 lbs (doesn't seem like much, but when you don't weigh enough to donate blood, proportionally it's HEAVY). I was sweaty and disheveled by the time I got to the airport, but managed to shmooze my way on the plane with this thing. T

The tough part was when I arrived, my arms were so tired that I was sort of dragging this  bag along while wearing this huge backpack, a coat, a lulu lemon sweater, a blazer, and 2 shirts, because none of it would fit in the bag, so I had to wear it. I looked like a crazy person. I'm sure that's why the customs officer took an extra long look at my passport before letting me through.

Once I was through, I realized to my dismay that the directions to Johanna's were sitting in my Facebook inbox...on the internet. which I had no access to. Cue me setting up shop in the airport, buying 5 euros of wireless, and emailing them to myself. So ridiculous. I had to take a bus to the subway, then get off at a certain stop and walk to her place--she said it was pretty easy so it shouldn't take too long.

I navigated the bus and the subway (thinking I was a rebel the entire time, because I didn't buy a subway ticket, until Johanna later told me it was included in the bus ticket..) just fine, and I got out, saw my landmarks, and started walking. And walking. And walking. It was getting darker by the minute, and I hadn't seen the next set of markings or street signs, but I figured maybe it's just a little further. I don't want to not walk far enough, and then have to double up in the end...naturally I got completely lost, I had no map, no phone number for Johanna (not that my phone was working anyway), and no actual street address. I was, in a word, screwed.

I kept trying different streets, thinking, you know Katy, you really suck at directions and that's exactly why you need to get yourself out of this predicament. But I was so hot, sweaty, exhausted, and just frustrated from lugging 60 lbs around for the past hour and a half, when it should've taken 10 minutes, that I just sat down and cried. 

Just as I was pulling myself together to give it another try, a group of people walked by and asked if I needed help. They said I looked lost, and I could only nod. THey used their iPhone to look up the street I was looking for (I walked in the completely opposite direction I was supposed to), and sent me on my way. Turns out they had just come back from living in Vancouver for the past 3 years, and commented on how nice Canadians were. THey saw the flag hanging from my backpack and thought it would be a nice way to pay it forward. So thanks for the flag, Mom! It's already getting me out of trouble.

I made it to Johanna's in the end, and the lessons I take from this are: 1. I still suck at following directions. 2. I should've gotten the iPad with 3G. 

Tomorrow is another day!