Casually Crazy Crete

Here it is... I know some have been waiting for this!

Our room in Crete was horrendous. Well, the room was ok- I guess. At a push. The bathroom on the other hand... Oh. My. Goodness. I nearly passed out at the sight of it! I opened the bathroom door and literally exploded with laughter. It didn't look clean, for starters. And the shower? What shower?! Basically it was a shower head on a hose, no walls or curtain so the water just went everywhere and there was a token shower "floor" which was a half metre square jammed in the corner. Scott took one look at it and erupted in laughter too. I couldn't believe we had just come from a palace in Santorini to this. Talk about a downgrade! 

Having spent the day at the beach and most of the night aboard a ferry, we needed showers. I went first. Cold. Freezing cold. I washed my hair (which was really rather difficult due to the shower being just 'in' the bathroom) and managed to wet the floor only a little. I didn't feel all that clean, but emerged and it was Scott's turn. I could hear laughter coming from the bathroom- Scott having a lol. He emerged stating two things. 

1.) "I flooded the bathroom. How did you not get water everywhere?" And;

2.) "I'm too fat for the shower square. Bum kept hitting the taps."

More laughter. What else can you do? 

The bed wasn't great- sheets were provided and there were blankets- but as Scott was "bloody boiling" all night I pulled a blanket on, from atop the wardrobe. I thought it had a strange smell. Oh yes. That's the smell of dust and filth! I ended up coughing most the night until I worked out that the blanket was dusty and threw it off- and froze instead. 

The next day, knowing full-well we were in the middle of nowhere, we asked where we could rent a car and were quite pleased when they said "Right here". Once again, Scott was keen to drive- fine by me. We basically followed the road and stopped wherever we felt like it and then drove back again, a five hour round trip. The little red Kia Picanto can't have been more than 1100cc- hilarious on hills, but the saying that fast cars are red? Ahem. Not a chance! Scott was really brave- the drivers in Crete are completely nuts. They don't seem to stay in lanes (if there are any lanes to begin with) or give way, they pull out whenever they feel like it, rarely signal and it really is just manic on the roads. They *try* and parallel park - as in jam on their anchors and try reverse into spaces they don't have a chance at fitting into! At times I felt like we were stuck in a game- spot the hazards! Scott was excellent actually and even though we saw multiple accidents, we were not involved in any. 

I can see how the Greeks thought that Scott was Greek. LOL 

Greeks also seem a little chillaxed on safety. As in I saw countless small children sitting on knees of adults in the front seats of cars- and nobody seems to wear helmets?! It didn't seem to matter- scooter, motorbike, quadbike... Even the Police didn't seem to wear them? Far out- with the way these people just pull out I would think a helmet a necessity! Mmmmm. Scrambled brains on the road... One guy even had his helmet dangling from his wrist. Seriously. 

Eek... not a nice sight to see first thing in the morning... 

Hmm. He tried to fit that beast in that small gap for a good five minutes before giving up. LOL. 

Casually not wearing a helmet. Safety? What?

Basically Scott and I just drove around Crete for two days - we found the market and made some small purchases- but this market was nothing compared to the one in Istanbul. Cocktails by the pool at night were probably the highlight in Crete... And the giant cheese platter for €8- that was pretty epic too. We both wished we stayed in Santorini and gave Crete a miss. Hindsight's a bitch. 

So beginning to end, this trip to Greece seemed to have a travel curse. Scott's iPhone was stolen from under our noses, we missed our coach to Gatwick, our flight to Greece was delayed by a few hours, our ferry was no longer running and we ended up randomly on a French tour *and* we were tricked into thinking that there was no public transport so forked out for a taxi unnecessarily. No trip would be complete without one more hiccup. I'm sure you would have heard that the public sector in Athens keep striking. Well today was our unlucky day. Our flight was delayed by two hours due to "striking of the control room staff"- not overly enjoyable. This also meant our return coach tickets to London will become invalid - as we will be arriving back after it departs. But... a holiday isn't a holiday without some adventures- and thank goodness both Scott and I have been chilled about it- as Scott kept saying "It is what it is". We got on really well- and I really enjoyed his company, especially having spent some time traveling alone. He is always good for a relaxed laugh or ten, as those who know him would agree. Now we are headed back to London town. Scott goes back to NZ on Tuesday (jealous!) and I will remain in London town for a few more adventures before home. It has been awesome seeing someone from home, that's for sure!

When I arrived in the UK there were three countries I was determined to visit before home. Turkey: tick. Egypt: tick. And now... Greece: tick! In just 9 months I have achieved so much... 9 months is the time it takes to have a baby. In some ways (without getting too ridiculously deep) I have been reborn in a way. I have grown as a person and learnt new things along the way. Moving out of NZ for this time has been the best thing for me- and I'm proud of all I've achieved in that time. So before I go on any further and you need to crank out the tissues... I'll just say;

Cheery bye :)