Trip Day One

Well, we got off to a bit of a rough start but I must say Crete is awesome, and even after one day I can say, if you’re choosing your next vacation spot, this would be a good choice. Our flight from Prague was only delayed by half an hour, no biggie there, but it was absolutely pissing down rain when we took off and my thoughts rather inevitably led to Buddy Holly, Paul Wellstone, that one heavyweight boxer whose name escapes me because I’m not a big boxing fan, John Kennedy, Jr. and all the others who probably should have stayed on the ground that day. The flight to Zurich wasn’t especially rough, or eventful, except in my own mind. When I asked Sam and Isabel how they’d enjoyed the flight, they kind of looked at me as if I’d asked how they’d enjoyed their walk to the grocery store. “Fine,” they said. They are relaxed fliers as much as I am a panicky one.
Then we had to spend the night in Zurich airport, sleeping fitfully on seats not really meant for sleeping, but every single person there was doing it, some more successfully than others. Again, Isabel got in several restful hours. I probably didn’t sleep for 30 minutes straight the whole night.
The flight from Zurich to Chania, on Edelweiss airlines, was lovely. Breakfast was kind of an oatmealy, yogurty thing with blueberries, a strange sort of mini-cheese crepe, bread with butter and cheese and jam, and a cookie.
We’d been told we could catch a shuttle bus to our apartment, but that was a bit of a lie. We could catch a public bus, and then switch to another, and then walk a bit, uphill, if we were willing to wait 45 minutes, so we decided to splurge on a cab. Don’t want to disparage the cab driver too much, not everybody can know every location on the island, but he didn’t have a fucking clue where he was going and tried to drop us in front of the Cactus Restaurant, which was not at all the Cactus apartments. Still, he didn’t give up and, several phone calls and wrong turns later, he got us there, and we only had to wait about 40 minutes for the owner to show up and check us into the room.
The view, which is what sold us on the place, is truly as spectacular as in the brochure, and we do indeed have a balcony with an overview of the Mediterranean. It’s just about a 20 minute walk down the hill, and you have to take that 20 minute walk to eat, to shop, to do anything because there is nothing at all closer than that except olive trees, cacti, and stark, searing heat.
Anyway, walked into town, had a great lunch, swam in the sea, lounged on a perfect sand beach, did some shopping, struggled back up that hill and had dinner on our balcony, staring out at the sea, the ancient, historical, beautiful sea as the sun went down.
Now, I’m going to bed and I feel I’ve earned it.