Oia –> Fira –> Athinios –> Athens –> Budapest –> Prague –> Bratislava

I don't have any pictures of this part of my trip I apologize.

So on the 15^th of September I was required to leave my beautiful hostel and new found friends for a really long and incredibly stressful journey. I caught the bus from Oia to Fira without any problem in fact Xavier, Laura, and Aurelie were on the bus with me and it was nice. But I had to wait over an hour for the bus to Athinios (the main port on the island where the ferries come in and out of). It was hot and I couldn't really go anywhere because of that stupid suitcase, which has been a major pain in the rear end for my entire journey. When the bus finally does arrive I barely got a seat despite being one of the first people there again because of the suitcase and because unlike all the other busses they didn't bother to announce where this one was going. Go figure. However Silvia from the volcano tour was of the ferry at least to Paros which was nice because I was able to get up a couple of times without worrying about my backpack. She accidentally got off at Mykonos and had gotten all the way to the information station before learning she had gotten off at the wrong island. (Neither of us heard the announcement for what island we were at). Anyway I'm incredibly impressed that she made it back to the boat but she did and it for at me made for a good laugh and she'll have a great story out of it. Anyway the next top was Paros and she got off and I was alone again. I spent most of the time writing on my computer or trying to doze off unsuccessfully. When the boat reach Athens port it was dark and there were a million taxis all waiting right as you got off the ferry and it took a good 5 -10 minutes to wade through to a spot where I could pull out my map. (Also they were all trying to tell people that the buses weren't running it wasn't very nice) but I found the X96 bus and got on it to the airport. It was a long ride in which I ended up standing with my like 40 pound backpack on next to my suitcase because there wasn't a good place to put either. Once at the airport Which it's now I think 2am local time give or take an hour. I got on the internet for 45 minutes and talked to Laura. Their free wifi only lasts 45 minutes but you can't even buy more time you have to go to a terminal with horrible keyboards or just be without. I chose to use a terminal at least at least get in a good bye and short explanation of what happened.

Around 4am the lines for the check in finally opened. I was one the first inline but I had to rearrange my suitcase which only 6kilos over was going to cost me an extra 55euros to send that way, yeah no thank you, but rearranging did mean waiting in line again. By the time I had finished there was only 10 minutes or so to make the 4:30 boarding time requirement. So I hurried to the gate foolishly only to have to wait till like 5:20 before they got us on a bus to go to the airplane. Yeah that was an interesting experience. I got to get on one of the airplanes that had the stairs that fold down from them unfortunately no stair car :'(. It was an actual jet with turbine engines to Budapest. The flight was uneventful but the chairs were so uncomfortable I couldn't sleep. The top half of the chair actually was leaning forward so there was no way to relax at all. Only out of sheer exhaustion I must have slipped in and out of sleep long enough to miss the drink rounds.

The Budapest airport was very nice and had big comfortable chairs. I was able to doze off a little there. Again we had to take a bus to a plane. This plane was very odd looking. It's wings were really far back and above the plane and it had to propellers. When I saw it I thought to myself this might kill Laura. The plane was surprisingly quite and comfortable. I also didn't have anyone in the seat next to me so I think I might have actually conked out at least up until about 15 minutes before arrival because I remember seeing that they left me a roll and orange juice on the tray in the empty seat which I was very grateful for but it was only a few minutes later that they came by to take the trash so we could land. Once in the airport I had free internet so I check all the bus stuff and tried to figure out how to get there. I finally gave up and asked a lady at the info stand. (Oh they never stamped my passport despite being leaving the main area, nor did they stamp it when I entered Slovakia. It was very strange so as of now I only have a stamp for Greece). She told me to take bus 100 to the last stop and there would be the metro. So I go and withdraw 200CzK which I think is 26 is right about 1 euro, so it wasn't very much at all. I only needed like 39CZK but unfortunately 200 was the least I could withdraw, and Prof. Magdolen and my Lonely Planet guide said to avoid the Airport exchange stalls.

I bought my tickets and I ran out to catch the 100 bus I see pass by where it said to catch busses in the airport signs. I get on the bus and think all is well but the first stop is the terminus and the bus driver is like GET OFF. I go up to ask him for help and he opens the door to the driver seat steps out and indicates to get my stuff and follow. So I do and as soon as I do he hops back on and drives off. So now I'm totally lost in Prague near the airport. I wander around a little and find a bus stop for both the 100 and the 179 As I am approaching from the other side of the street I see the same 100 bus and driver going the direction that I guess I really wanted to go the first time. A little peeved I wait for another buss and the 179 comes and I realize I can take this further into the city. I take and the entire time while riding with my giant suitcase I was stared at by all the passengers. It took a really long time to get from the airport to the metro that I needed. The metro was easy but the signs didn't say which way the trains were headed thankfully when the next train came it had the terminus on the front and sides so I was able to figure out where it was headed. Like on the bus, I was stared at while on the metro. It was a bit Unnerving. When I got to my metro stop, I again ended up wander around the block before finding the buss station. At the bus station there was free wifi. I hoped to find my ticket e-mail waiting for me, but alas no luck so I try the reservation number at each of the various booths. They all tell me it's not for their company. So I ended up buying just another ticket. After getting my ticket it said I was going to a different bus station than the one I was originally intending to go to. This caused another minor freak out but I looked it up and quickly found out it was the same thing. The bus ride was uneventful. I dozed off for most of it which is unfortunate because every time I did stir and look out it was very very pretty, unfortunately my camera was not in easy reach. Once I got to the bus station I realized I had no idea who I was looking for and Prof. Magdolen was in the same boat. I did see someone who looked kind of professor in the same manner as Dr. Enikov and I guess I must have looked enough like an exhausted and terrified student, because this was Prof. Magdolen. He drove me to my dorm and I was finally able to get rid of that god awful suitcase and take of my backpack.

After dropping off my stuff and taking care of a few of the administrative things at the dorm we drove over to the university. The walking distance is really only a little bit further than my place in Sam Hughes to the Student Union at the U of A which is really nice. I won't have to deal with the trams or a car or anything. Anyway he drove me over to their main building and I walked back. Once back I nearly passed out from exhaustion but I managed to unpack and shower before I went to bed.

It was a very long and at times a bit terrifying journey but in the end I made here it safely with all my stuff.

I'll write more soon.