Wednesday, July 29, 2009
After being back for a few days from the trip, I thought I'd kinda sum it all up and make some observations. I think Claire will do the same.
Favorite moments, lots but a few stand out
- The first walk up the Acropolis and discovering things along the way like Pan's cave without anyone else around
- The Thermopylae "You Are Here" sign.
- Hiking up the mountain at Delphi and thinking "hey, it's the middle of the night back home..."
Observations:
- Greeks are not the happy people I thought they'd be. There's always exceptions, we met some really helpful nice people. In general though, they seemed sourly, no smiles, or laughs without extreme prompting. Maybe they're are sick of tourists.
- Greek drivers are just as bad as I'd read. Encountered two 10 year olds driving a truck at one intersection. Speed limits mean nothing. I'd written earlier they go at least 20k faster than speed limits, I hadn't driven much at that point. They go at least 40+ over the limit if traffic isn't holding them back. Doesn't seem to be any enforcement of any traffic laws. They pass each other in the middle of town over double lines. They are statistically the most dangerous european country to drive in for a reason!
Here is a map of the route we took (in green). Click to enlarge
- The greek food we encountered wasn't that great except for the bread and greek salad. Very few veggie options. No simple rice/potato dishes like I thought. Even stuffed grape leaves were a rarity without meat in them.
- The ruins we visited had way fewer tourists than I'd feared. This is good and bad, good for our visit, but less money for the site for improvements. For instance ancient Sparta was virtually empty, it was free to enter, but there was no signs anywhere to tell you what you were looking at like many sites.
- If using the Tube (subway) in London to get to your flight, add an extra hour just for the tube ride as delays are common! it took us 2hrs on the tube.
- Get a better GPS if possible, definately bring a good road map to supplement the GPS. If our GPS would have broken in the middle of a drive, we'd have been in trouble.
- Pack even less clothes. I packed extremely light, but I coulda gotten by with less.
- ebook reader - for Claire at least! she ran out of books, and books are heavy when you have to carry luggage around like we did. They cost around $350 but I'm sure they last for years.
Things I'm glad we did. These are tips are for anyone doing anything remotely similar
- bought a small netbook for the trip. This allowed us to back up photos and write the blog easily.
- brought a GPS, invaluable when driving, even one that makes mistakes
- packed really light. Who needs 2 pairs of shoes? This left room for souvenirs too.
- used a credit card that covers car rentals. this saved us about $20-$25 per day, over $300 total.
- most importantly, timed it right, I went when I really wanted to go.
- and here's the souvenirs I brought back for myself
Whats next?
I don't think I'll ever travel again like I did to africa and greece. I consider myself lucky to have 2 places I've wanted to see as much as I did these. It makes travelling so much better than going "just for the hell of it". I've travelled to many places, and its nice, but it can't compare to travelling somewhere you REALLY want to see. Travelling just to get away and experience something new is still a good enough reason. I hope to make it to north africa, tanzania (for 3rd time), and italy some day for this reason... with stops at Nick & Vivs (london) of course.
The whole trip was like a dream in a way because everything I did happened in the middle of night back home. Who's to say I didn't dream the whole thing? :]
