Monday, 5 October 2015

A Greek Odyssey Like No Other

Chairete (Greek for Hello),

There is something unnatural about human-beings waking up at 3am whilst it is still dark outside and especially on a Sunday. I mean it just feels so odd. I suppose if you work at night-times you would not see much daylight but for me, the dark times of the day is for doing stuff naughty and very inappropriate for the daylight hours. Oh and sleeping. But yes I was up at this crazed hour. Why you ask? I was going on yet another holiday. Number three to be precise. And so I curled my hair, donned my airport threads and headed out the door of the family home Miss Tweedle-Dumb shares with her parent’s. But not before Miss Tweedle-Dumb and I caught Miss Tweedle-Dumb’s sister and her boyfriend in the kitchen with trousers round their ankles and blushed faces.

Hitching a lift from Miss Tweedle-Dee’s Mom we headed to the airport and after a quick cigarette whizzed through baggage and airport security, much to The Tweedles dismay that they were not frisked. Early mornings such as this, and in fact any occasion whereby an airport is involved should include a trip to Starbs. But on arrival to my fave coffee outlet of all time I was very much angry to find out that there was not a hot bit of food being served. This in turn lead to a rather disappointing and slightly stale Skinny Blueberry Muffin and large Caramel Macchiato. With minutes to spare and being almost the last few to board the plane Miss Tweedle-Dee, Miss Tweedle-Dumb and I took our seats and awaited the last few moments in Blightly. On take-off though I felt an odd sense of emotion. Mr. Warehouse was working that Sunday so we spoke for a little whilst taxing on the runway but I felt slightly more at a loss than I did when I went to Las Vegas in March. I soon had my mind taken off of the subject as My Tweedles were catching up on some Zzz.

Landing in Corfu we were thrust straight through security whose attitude seemed as though if you had a brown book the same size as that of a passport you were through. Nevertheless I then allocated myself of the baggage collector which sounds much more important than it probably was. Soon enough our luggage was coming round and I was soon carried away with said bag and along the carousel, continuously knocking into people before someone helped me from the moving conveyor belt of death. “One down, four more to go” I thought as I tried in vain not to take out small children close to the moving river of colourful bags and boxes. As we approached the exit of the airport and boarded the transfer bus we soon had a moment to soak in the holiday for what it was. A relaxing holiday on the Greek island of Corfu. But as the bus set off and we looked at one another we soon realised that maybe our 2-star, self-catering holiday in the sunny out-of-season resort of Kavos which was far from any civilisation known to GoogleMaps was far from our normal 3-star budget break.

Trundling across the bumpy roads boarding the Ionian Sea all we witnessed from the windows was dilapidated house after desolated villa with the odd run-down corner shop and B&B. I had known that from watching the news and current affairs that the Greek economy was worse than ours back home in the UK but this was something else. I could have been looking out the window into a third world country somewhere off the coast of India or Africa. But it wasn’t. This was Greece, or an island of at least – Rich with culture, historic value and a food haven. The scenes I was being broadcast from the back of the bus was not what I anticipated even for outside the standard holiday season. Time passed and the more we passed the less optimistic my friends were being coming. I too was becoming worried.

Soon our coach stopped. We were on a dirt track. There was nothing around us but unloved buildings and homes with overgrown gardens. The Greek coach driver that spoke little or no English ushered us off the safety of the bus and instructed us down yet another dusty concrete road.
“Are you sure we are at the right place?” Miss Tweedle-Dee asked, a worried look crossing her face. The man smiled and nodded as he unloaded our bags and hoofed us in the direction he was asking us to go. And like a scene from many a Hollywood flick we stood back from the main road, if you could even call it that, and watched as our only link to life as we knew it disappeared into the distance. Mustering up all the strength we had left, Miss Tweedle-Dee, Miss Tweedle-Dumb and I made our way towards what we would now call home for the next seven days.

Stepping into our apartment we were pleasantly surprised. It was tidy and livable. It was not as clean as I would have liked but given the state of my flat when I left, it was probably cleaner. The pool was a very short walk and so was the bar where Jagerbombs and Cocktails were two for a fiver. Sun-loungers were aplenty and not a German in site to nab them in the morning. In fact there was barely anyone there, a handful of elderly Brits looking for a budget break in the sun in a bid to tan their wrinkles. Bathroom was acceptable and kitchen was standard, so after we had unpacked our cases Miss Tweedle-Dee, Miss Tweedle-Dumb and I took to the pool for a cocktail and a sun-bathing sesh in the late-afternoon sun.

So far our holiday has been a relaxing medley of food, chilly pool dips and lazy sun snoozes on the loungers, featuring the odd trip to the beach which is far from substandard. It reminds me very much of the odd bit of sand that you find on the edge of a lake or river bank and can hardly be called a beach at all really but still, our hotel backs onto the ‘Beach’ which is more than most of our holidays previously. And so my Greek adventure begins. Tomorrow I shall join my friends whilst we indulge in more top-up-tanning by the pool as we gaze out across the shore at mainland Greece which is closer than I expected. Holiday so far has been better than anticipated and I look forward to seeing more of what the island has to offer. Shopping and exploring as well as a few excursions is on the cards and I am excited for writing to you all next week to tell of all my comings and goings in Corfu.

'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx

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