I want to start my blog off with a digression of sorts. I want to share some of my pics and memories when I traveled the islands of Greece. I would have also liked to have shared my journeying in Spain and the island of Ibiza, my big around the United States trek to all of the states, my several month hiking and camping trek throughout the state of Florida, but unfortunately all of my pics were lost due to an external hard drive failure and changing of computers.

I was somewhat concerned about what it would be like arriving in Greece considering the recent events of 9/11. However it was extremely uneventful (thankfully) and was smoother than it was at JFK where I departed. I had previously made arrangements via the internet for a hotel room in the port town of Piraeus. I soon learned that it was actualy pointless because of tourism being very low, and the location of the hotel was not as convenient as I originally thought that it would be. The upside was that I was only staying there for the night and was going to catch the ferry the next morning to Paros. Had I realized that I would have still had the energy after the flight I would have booked a ferry straightaway and went to Paros. The bus ride from the airport to Piraeus was very crowded and I recieved quite a few stares, or maybe it was my backpack that drew all of the attention, I think the later because it was taking up more room than I think the other passengers seem to care for. After several stops along the way, with more people getting off then on, I was finally able to snag a seat and at least enjoy watching the towns go by on the way to Pireaus. Another thing I was to soon learn on the islands was the fact that there is no eitiquette about getting on a bus. There is no such thing as forming a line and getting on the bus in an orderly manner. It is a mad dash with shoving and jocking oneself into position, in the attempt, to get on the bus and get a good seat.

My failure to acquire an adapter from either airport (they were out of them) led to quite the scavenger hunt. I finally happened upon a place, after much misdirection, to a little electronic store that had electronic items for sale, which I think dated back to the time of Edison. However, the man behind the counter (after working through our language barrier) scuttled off and to my amazement came back with a couple of different adapters. After purchasing the adapter I asked the man for directions to the hotel: his directions were more confusing than a Berber riddle.

Finding the hotel was almost as much of an adventure as locating the adapter. After much wandering around I stumbled upon the street that I was searching for. The hotel entrance was almost as obscure as a 1930’s speak-easy in NY.

After entering the hotel and getting checked in I soon discovered that this hotel had the smallest elevator that I had ever seen. It sort of reminded me of those old dumb-waiter-lifts. There was just enough room for me, backpack, my extra bag, and maybe a small mouse. Upon entering my room I also realized besides small elevators they were very keen on saving square footage space in their rooms as well.

There was a little balcony so I thought that I would check out the view, which as you can see was the view of other balconies, balconies, and finally balconies. After this amazing view of balconies (sarcasm intended) it was beholden upon me to inspect my bathroom.

Apparently the inventors of plumbing couldn’t solve the toilet paper part of the piping equation. There is the wipe your ass and throw the used toilet paper into the bucket rule, which can be quite and artistic endeavor after eating one to many heavily oil based Greek salads. The shower would be a child’s wet dream. You can soap yourself down and hose yourself off without ever worrying about if the water will get all over the floor; they have designed it, in this fashion, with a drain in the middle of the small bathroom floor. Why there is a shower curtain I will never know. It certainly does make for quick work of cleaning out a bathroom though.

Since I now had a spot to leave my backpack it was time to try to go and locate an internet café to let everyone know that I had arrived safely. This was another “speak-easy” adventure. These internet café’s charge you by the hour and I swear they use the slowest modem speed possible to maximize their profit margins. After sending off a couple of emails and looking up a few things about Paros (which took the whole hour by the way) I set off to find a phone.

The phones require a special type of phone card that you can buy at any one of the small kiosks that you see around town. Most of the kiosks seem to only sell the lowest amount of time per dollar value kind. So I bought one. After securing a card and finding a phone it became apparent after several attempts to try to get the card to work that you finally realize that you have to shove the card, in the slot, with the utmost vigor to get it to work. Then realize you have about ten minutes of talk time, with an automated voice bugging you every minute of the last five minutes of your 10 minutes you have available. In hind-sight I should have rented the rent-a-cell-phone deal that is offered then other people could have called me at a much cheaper rate.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful; grabbed a little something to eat from an outside vendor and went back to the hotel room to fall asleep watching something in Greek that I couldn’t understand. Tomorrow it is off to catch a ferry to my first island; Paros.

I will be 40 years old this year and I have decided that I need to take the trip of my life time before I get to old and regret not ever doing it. I have traveled to Greece (was there almost 3 months) and I have been to Spain. I have been to most of the states in the US and of course Canada.

I love to hike and camp and just generally enjoy my surroundings. In my previous travels I have met a lot of interesting people and I would say that this is somewhat of a driving force behind the idea of traveling to me. You never know who you are going to meet and what interesting stories you may hear. I like to plan but not to a tee, because I have learned in my previous excursions that they never really work out anyway. I am more of a general direction guy.

I am currently trying to finish a small cabin type of house that I have been building.

I am currently working on the inside the house priming the walls preparing them to be painted. Once I can get this accomplished I plan to sell it. After this happens I want to begin my travels.

As to where I want to go I haven't got all of that worked out yet. I want to travel throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand and maybe a couple of the Asian countries like Thailand. My initial instinct is to start in Finland and work my towards the UK and then south.

Hopefully through creating this blog some people out there can give me ideas and recommendations before I embark upon this quest.