Wednesday, April 12, 2006

20-some Questions

Well, in a mere forty-eight hours I will be on my way to the Peloponnese for five days. The Peloponnese is a region of southern Greece with a lot of lovely things to see, according to my guidebook. At least, I will theoretically be on my way to the Peloponnese. Here are the questions that are currently keeping me in suspense:

-Will my camera be ready for the trip? The man at the repair shop says it has a "broken circuit." I am devastated. I love that camera, and what would a trip be without endless blurry shots of unnecessary objects?

-Will I figure out how to spell "Peloponnese" correctly? Is it Peloponnese, Pelopponnese, Peloponesus, Pelopponesus, or Peloponnesus? And will I travel to Nafplio, Naufplio, Nauplio, Nauplion, Nafplion, or Naufplion? Isn't that mess even worse than a last name with no vowels?

-Will all of the transportation be too crowded with Easter travellers? Will it be worse than O'Hare on the snowy Wednesday before Thanksgiving? (Because I have been there, and I would rather eat fish heads than to do that again.) Will there be room for me? I think I made a bus reservation, but when I started spelling my last name the man at KTEL cut me off after three letters with "Yes, yes, be there half an hour ahead of time at Monastiriou." I think the aforemention vowelless name scared him.

-How exactly will this transportation work in Athens? Everything I read about buses and train stations in Athens seems to suggest that certain changes should have been made between 2004 and 2006. But this is Greece. I am not foolish enough to believe that just because the changes were SUPPOSED to take place, they DID take place. So will I have to change bus stations? If I do change bus stations, will the cabdriver cheat me? Because I hear suspicious things about those Athenian cabdrivers.

-Will I find a place to stay that is affordable? Will it be nice? Will it be like something out of a John Irving novel, with bears and prostitutes? Did the inclusion of the word 'prostitute' in that sentence just ensure that my blog will get lots of hits from people looking for porn?

-Will I get hot, cold, wet, confused or lost, and should I bring things to prevent these situations? Is there any point in asking if I will get lost, since I ALWAYS get lost? Will I get lonely, out there in southern Greece by myself?

And, most importantly;

-What book should I bring for the bus?

2 comments:

melusina said...

Ah, well if I had known a bit sooner about your trip and your questions I could have communicated with a friend of mine who spent months travelling back and forth and back and forth between Athens and the Pelopponese. He knows all the hotspots, the good places, and all the hip ancient sites.

All in all I wouldn't worry too much, he always enjoyed himself.

Yea, watch the Athens cab drivers. If you can actually *get* a cab. If not, there is also the handy dandy Metro. If you happen to need transport in Athens, that is.

As to the spelling questions, well, I've about given up transliterating Greek to Latin letters. I just make it up on my own.

melusina said...

And I realized I didn't give you a book choice. I guess it is hard not knowing what books are at your disposal. I just finished reading another Philip Dick novel and really enjoyed it. Also Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.