aroraborealis

When last I posted, I was on Skopelos island in Greece, still in the midst of my vacation. A lot has happened since then, and I don't know quite where to start!

At this very moment, I'm having post-travel tired/blues, which isn't uncommon. After a big, eventful trip, getting home is both a relief and a disappointment, and shifting from the marked space of the vacation to the liminal state of travel and then into regular life can be jarring. This is not helped by jetlag, of course. But it is good to be home. I'm looking forward to sleeping in my very own bed.
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So, I'm tired, and travel-weary, but it's good to be back, and I have baklava, so it's not all bad. Also, my fantastic roommates left some fresh wasabi rolls in the fridge for me, so, actually, it's mostly good, and will be better after I sleep.

I'm slowly catching up on email and LJ. I will, as always, try to read everything, but if there's something you particularly want me to be sure to see, you should point me that way. Also, there are lots of you I'd like to see soon, but I leave Friday for my next trip, and what with yesterday's fumble, I've lost a day in my already-short week, so I will have to take a rain check for at least some of you.

Vacations always zoom by, and this one is no exception; I can't believe it's already Thursday afternoon! We leave the island very early Saturday morning in order to arrive in Athens in time for our dinner reservations at 8:30. (Our other ferry/bus option wouldn't have gotten us to Athens until about 9.) The bright side of that equation is that we'll have another (non-jet-lagged) afternoon in Athens. The down side, of course, is that I'm unlikely to get to the beach before catching the ferry at 6:30.

Yesterday and today, Lisa and omegabeth took some adventures, while I've stayed a little closer to home and enjoyed the patio of our house, and the nearest beach, and sleeping in. Mmm, sleeping in. I'm attempting to stock up a bit before our long flight back Sunday.

I've found it interesting how much of what I've seen, both here on Skopelos and in Athens, have cued "developing country" for me. I'm trying to figure out why that is, exactly. In one case, I can pin it to whatever perfume was in the soap a woman was using to wash her steps, which was completely Guatemala for me, but otherwise, I haven't been able to pin it down.

One of the down sides of being in a tourist town is that most of the shopping is pretty bland. As always, I'm tempted by some beautiful wraps and scarves, but I've been able to resist thus far. There's a lot of mass-produced junk and Looney Toons characters feature prominently. On the other hand, we saw some driftwood art that was actually gorgeous and not at all tacky, which I never would have expected.

We're here in the first week after the high season has officially ended, and it's clear that the shops and such are accustomed to having more people. I've gathered that there's a big influx not only of tourists but of seasonal workers here, and by all accounts, in three weeks, the town will be essentially empty.

Like many warm climate cultures, things more or less shut down in the heat of the day here, and then pick up again later. Most bars don't really seem to get rolling until after 1AM. Because of the long climb to our house, it's hard to get motivated to go out after dinner, even if we're feeling perky, because eventually, we're bound to get tired and then we'll have to climb the stairs to our place. I'm not sure what our house's elevation is, but I'm guessing about 500 meters, so it's a bit of a hike, though I'm delighted to get to wander through neighborhoods to get to it, and we have a kickass view, as you would expect.

Although the travel portion of this trip wasn't my favorite (I don't really sleep on planes unless I'm really exhausted, and since I slept fine on Wednesday night, the 5:30 departure on Thursday wasn't late enough for me to feel tired. We got to Paris around 6AM local time, had an hour layover before our flight to Athens, and arrived at our hotel there at about 2:30PM after taking the metro and subway. By then, of course, I was cranky and overtired, so I sent omegabeth and Lisa off to explore the city while I tried to nap. I did succeed, fitfully, for a couple of hours, and then we traded: they slept while I wandered around. Though I was careful to pay attention to where I was, I missed one turn and spent a short while quite disconcertedly lost. Obviously, however, I found my way again, and I got back in time for a shower before wandering out for dinner.
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I seem to be having trouble logging into my regular email account using putty, which is my typical approach when traveling. If you want to send me email (or lj comments) that I see before I return to the US on the 17th, you should email me at roaraborealis at gmail.