Three Sheets to the Wind

Finally it was time to sail up to Preveza. With the brother and girlfriend sailing the un-broken catamaran, host-dad and I remained on the broken one, which needed to be towed by her sister. It wasn't long before the constant and heavy rocking had me flat on my back in the throes of sea-sicknesses. I never experienced the urge to vomit, thankfully, though doing anything more involved than lying motionless did bring me close.

We left Kefalonia at about noon, sailed all day and finally dropped anchor at around 11:30pm. I had mint tea and biscuits for dinner. The Big Dipper was upside-down and the moon was our guiding light.

The next day we only had a few hours of sailing until we reached the marina at Preveza, where we watched in awe as Panther (the broken-down catamaran) got pulled out of the water by this massive lift.

I loved the marina and being around boats and the sailing life. Such a photo op!

For example.

I found some Treasures.

The night before we were due to sail back to Kefalonia (leaving Panther at the marina,) we decided to just sail through the night and get to the island early in the morning. My shift was from approximately 1am to 4am. The only sound was the quiet lapping of black, milky moon-lit waves against the boat.

Can't Get Enough... Of Traveling.

Starting tomorrow at 4:51am I will be traveling for the next 5 weeks. I was going to have a lengthy blog post about the details of my travels, but it has gotten to the point where I just need to go to bed... so this will be shorter than is really satisfactory.

The first 10 days will be spent in and around Central Europe, so Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Zurich and Interlaken. Hoping that in Interlaken we'll find some rock climbers walking down the street and that they'll invite us to climb with them and that they'll magically have my shoe size... these are the thoughts that pop into my head when I think about how I won't be able to climb for 5 whole weeks.

After that I'm meeting up with my friend and fellow Smithie (I miss Smith), Emily, in Rome for 2 days. Of all the things to see in Rome, I just really want to see the Catacombs. We're then flying to Athens, and then taking a bus and a ferry to the Greek island, Kefalonia where we'll be living on a boat for 3 weeks. We're staying with a host family, helping them around the house and with their chickens and with their garden and whatnot, in exchange for room and board. We will also be working with them on their sailboats, one of which is out of commission. Because their house is small and cozy and has a wood-burning stove, Emily and I will be living on one of their boats, about 1 km from the house. This means that if it is warm enough to go swimming, which it probably will be, we can just jump right in! Also, I get to go on a 6 day sailing trip! I have always dreamed about learning how to sail. So excited.

After Kefalonia, Emily and I are going to see Istanbul for about 5 days. We have both acknowledged the fact that we are going to a) eat everything in sight and b) return to the UK with more trinkets and textiles and Turkish snacks than personal belongings. Its going to be great! And our hostel is literally a 5 minute walk from the Hagia Sophia.

So that's that. I'm not sure if I'll be able to write about everything I have planned for the next 5 weeks in one measly blog post when I return... so look forward to installments!