The Balkans

Today was the day that I would officially depart my friends and restart life as a solo traveller. I am just over two months into my trip, and I barely feel as though I have been solo travelling. I was with Jack throughout most of Italy and all of Croatia. And then I was on my own until the south of Montenegro, but since then, I've been with Lewis or Erin for the rest. I enjoyed my time with those guys, but the same thing that happened with Jack, there comes a time when you get excited about the freedom of solo travelling. Erin and I said our goodbyes as she got on the bus to Turkey, and I headed to the port to catch a ferry to corfu. It was quite sad, and as was the case with Lewis, she will be heading home soon, so it is unlikely I will see them again. Erin lives in Sydney, so not as far as Lewis, and such there remains a hope we cross paths at some point. Nonetheless, it had to happen at some point, and im sure I will keep in contact with both of them.

The unfortunate part of the timing of my ferry meant that I was going to miss Matildas' next game in the World Cup and, as such, did not know the result until I reached Corfu. In the Balkans, I did not have data, but in Greece, I should, so I held on to the hope that my data would start working at some point on the ferry and i could watch the game - but it came too late. As we arrived and I received the internet, I learnt that Australia had lost 3 - 1 to England. It was quite sad as everyone in Australia had begun to follow this quite intently. Lewis even mentioned that the last game vs. France had greater viewership than that of the AFL final. Quite an astounding fact. Although this made me very sad, the show must go on, and I had a lot to do in Corfu in just one day.

My day started by finding a nice little cafe for a feed to get me through the day. I heard Greece was expensive, so I expected this to be my only meal until tomorrow midday when I arrived at my next location. I have to be very tight in my budget at this point to ensure I have enough to get through until my car sells. But this feed was cheap and good enough to fuel me through the walking I had planned. I ate, dropped my bag off at a little store, and went on my way to explore. This essentially meant I would walk aimlessly around the town, only stopping when something peaked my interest. The whole town was adorable. The small roads that were filled with shops were so wholesome, and all the people were so friendly. The design and architecture of the town were incredible. It was clearly old, but you never felt unsafe, as is sometimes the case. It didn't have as much history as the rest of Greece would clearly have, but I enjoyed going to the old Fort and getting a bit of a history hit and then seeing Corfu from high up. Unfortunately, the sun made getting really good photos quite hard. It looked amazing from my eyes, regardless. After this, I had to begin to wander back to my bag and collect it before the store closed. But as I walked, I came across a traditional Corfu dish called Pastitsada. It was relatively cheap, about 9 euros, and I got tempted into trying the traditional food before I left. It was quite interesting. At first, the taste seemed rather bitter, but I grew accustomed to it quickly and enjoyed it in the end. Highly recommend. After this, it was time to collect my luggage and participate in what I consider, a backpackers must do item - sleep at an airport.

Corfu accommodation is expensive, but the reality of the situation is that paying somewhere to sleep, to, then get up early and pay for a taxi to the airport seemed like too much work. It was good to save probably 100 euros, but most importantly, I was just keen to save the stress of getting up and getting a taxi without missing my flight. I am not a huge fan of flying, despite it being prevalent at my work. So, my original travel plan heavily reduced the amount of flying I would need to do. In fact, I was not supposed to catch a flight for 14 weeks, but that didn't end up going to plan. As such, I found myself a seat at the very entrance to the airport, where it was least busy, and waited it out until it quietened down. It was clear quite early that I was not the only one with this plan. At about 10pm, people had already spread themselves across seats with sleeping bags and eye masks. I respected it but wanted to wait until a bit later to occupy a full set of seats. That almost bit me in the ass as a lady, then laid down on my set of seats, and I thought I was going to have to sleep upright all night. I was sad. But eventually, space opened up next to her daughter, and she moved. As such, I made my move to occupy the seat to avoid such a situation. The next problem became very prevalent. I had to piss, but getting up risked my luggage being taken, but if I took my luggage, I would lose my spot. I battled the need for a good couple hours before I decided additional measures needed to be taken. It was about midnight and I could tell I would not sleep, so I asked a girl next to me (who had woken up breifly) to watch my stuff while I went to the bathroom, I took a sleeping pill and covered my head with a towel and bang. It was lights out. I slept way better than I expected under the circumstances and copped about 5 hours of solid sleep. Way better we than I ever thought possible, and I awoke just in time to check in my luggage. Thus, a major right of passage was completed for any backpacker - airport accommodation.Read more