Traveling with Michelle: Waiting, waiting, waiting

Spring Break, 2025 Greece

Day 9, Saturday

Wisteria, which I have not been successful growing in MN

Well the plan for today was to spend the. morning in Hydra, then take the 1:00 ferry back to Athens. I would have stopped at a left luggage place and then possibly go to Agora and then wander the National Gardens (a suggestion for a friend on the tour). I was also going to shop the flea market/souvenir stands to get souvenirs for myself and my family (I already had an idea of what I wanted to get). Then I would head to my accommodation for the nights, way out in the suburbs near the airport, involving the subway, a bus, and walking for 10 minutes. So I want to make sure to try that in daylight.

Well, that was the plan. But I didn't receive email tickets for my ferries (not sure what happened there). Luckily, I had taken a screen shot of the whole grid when ordering. So I emailed it to myself, but it doesn't show up well on a phone. I guess I didn't take the time to quadruple check everything like I usually do, I had read the arrival time in Athens as the departure time in Hydra. <2 big sighs>. So, after I had walked around the town for a while, decided to get a last minute lunch at the harbor, and collected my bags, I was waiting in the harbor wondering why my ferry wasn't here and re-read the chart again and realized my mistake. Feeling completely stupid and disgusted with myself and on the verge of tears, I got very overwhelmed. The only thing I could think of was to go back to my accommodation and ask for help (there is no harbor office). So I did, and she asked around and found where I should go. So I hurried off, they sent me to a different place, and at the correct office there was a sign on the door that said (in greek)--"Closed until 1:00" (it was now 12:40). So I knocked (this was an emergency!), and the woman came to the door and pointed to the sign. I said "but I need a ferry!" So she opened the door (I didn't realize that I was completely over-reacting) and she said that she cannot be open right now and will help me later. OK, so I sat on the steps and read my book, waiting for 1:00. Well, at 1:00 she opened the door and walked out. She said that she was the only one in the office and was required to take her lunch at 1:00. She would be back at 3:00. (wow, I"m lucky to get 30 minutes for lunch!). I looked frantic, so she looked at my screenshot on my phone, pointed to where it said arrival rather than departure and said that the next ferry didn't leave until 6:00. And that I would probably have to buy another ticket. <another big sigh>. She asked if I had a flight to get to today and when I answered that my flight wasn't until tomorrow, she suggested that I go get a cup of coffee and that she would see me at 3:00. So I found a bench near the harbor and read my book for two hours. Back at 3:00, she was helping one person while another was waiting, so I waited my turn. First, I apologized for being rude earlier. She looked again at my screenshot and asked for my passport and proceeded to order a ticket for me for the 6:10 ferry. Which I again paid for. Then back out to the bench by the harbor to start writing this blog entry on a word document (which I found out does not copy and paste into Blogger) and read more of my book. They will hopefully begin boarding by around 5:20 or 5:40. At this point, I still felt embarrassed and stupid and very disappointed/disgusted with myself. When I arrive in Athens, I will need to go straight to where I am staying and won't have time to buy souvenirs for anyone (I had my eye on some cute earrings for myself!). Two metro trains, a bus, and a medium walk. But I also know that my mistake is a symptoom of my ADHD. I failed to put enough supports into place--quadruple checks, alarms, and writing things down/making connections--so I screwed up. I'm not stupid, I just didn't take my unusual brain into account and forgot the accommodations that I have to make for myself. <sigh>. And this is after a good night's sleep. Eight solid hours. Eventually the tears pricking my eyes will stop and I will simply accept what has happened and move on.

Eight hours later--

OK, by the time the ferry arrived I was calm and had finished my entire book. It arrived at 6:10 and we were pulling out by 6:15. We arrived in Athens around 7:45. I ignored Google Maps directions because they didn't make sense and took the subway into the city, changed to another subway and then checked Google Maps again to double check the stop I needed to get off on. I was right where I should be and it showed me where to get off. So I got off and followed the directions to the bus stop, but I had trouble finding it. I kept walking around and around looking for the right bus stop. Finally, I just went to one and looked at which buses stop there against what buses Google Maps was suggesting and found a few matches. So I waited 15 minutes for the first one, got on to double check that it was going in the right direction and the driver said no, he was done. So I watied another 20 minutes for the next one--same story. So then I went to another bus area and waited about half an hour until eventually one of the correct numbers pulled up. I got on and asked the driver if he was going to the stop I needed and then I showed it to him on Google Maps. He said that he needed it in Greek, well Google Maps doesn't do that. So I tried using Google Translate and he didn't know what I was talking about. Another passenger intervened and didn't know the stop, so I brought up the whole list of stops and he said that he recognized a few of them and that my stop was probably the one where all of the taverns were (!). So I followed along on Google Maps while the phone was plugged into my powerbank so that I wouldn't run out of battery. And by this time it is around 10:30. And dark. So when I got to the right stop (no taverns though), I had trouble orienting myself to walk the 10 minutes it said that I needed to walk. And stumbled because the sidewalks have huge holes and obstacles. So I turned on my flashlight on my phone as I followed along the path. Finally I arrived. (AAAAHHHHHHH!). Codes worked to get in the building and for wifi. Breathe.

Meanwhile, I did take some pictures while I was walking around this morning. I'll share those, then decide how I'm getting to the airport tomorrow. It's almost midnight and I need to get some sleep. Even though I'm hungry because I only at lunch today.