Monday 23-06 - The bad day. or We need a change of scenery.

The day started off well. We woke up after a night in the wonderful hotel. We made our way down to breakfast and it was great. There were hash browns! Also tasty eggs and good cereal. We said our final farewells to the couples and to some of the girls. I was sad to leave to group and the comfort of the tour. There is something to be said of having everything arranged for you.

But not always. We had organised with STA travel and topdeck for a night of post-accommodation at the Achilleas hotel. This is where we spent our first Greek topdeck night. Before we went to sleep we had Niki check with the hotel that our booking was ok. She said it as fine. This morning we arrive at the hotel, escaping from the long hot walk to get there. We are told by the lady out front that there is no reservation for us and no voucher. So according to the hotel, we have not paid. According to our STA travel receipt and our documents, we have paid for accommodation until the 24th. Something is not quite kosher here. She says she is waiting back for the head office to call back, so we leave our bags and go out shopping.

We plan to go back to the markets and buy gifts and the like. Somehow we couldn't find the street we passed every day for 3 days before we left for the island. Which always happens when you actually need a place. We ran into the girls in the market, they were buying very breakable gifts and plates. We bought some things and headed to the hotel to see what was happening.

The lady got the head office on the phone who told us they had not received payment for our stay, but that we may book a night here if we wished. Like hell. This hotel was expensive and we were not spending that much extra money when we have a receipt saying we paid for the night. Someone, somewhere, has slipped up and we were not prepared to pay for it. So we politely declined.

Josh called STA in Perth, who said they would look into it and let us know. It was annoying and frustrating, having to suddenly rearrange everything. I called a hostel I found in the lonely planet guide to book some beds in a dorm. We walked into the heat again to get there. The hostel was a nice little place a bit more south. We hadn't really seen much of this area of Athens yet. The rooms were plain but the bathrooms were nice and the court yard was lovely.





It was full of blue tables and chairs,with a veil of vines above. A large TV hung off the wall played CNN. A buzzing vending machine with soft drinks and beer. It also had wi-fi. We sat in the court yard and started to upload photos. I went upstairs to get change for the beer machine. When I came down Josh was white. He looked at me and then at his ipod. Something was very wrong and his ipod had been completely wiped.

Everything. Music. Photos. Photos. Photos. All of them.

The last back up we made was the end of Israel. Everything after that which wasn´t put on the net was gone. Plus he couldn't reload anything until he reformatted the ipod on his mac, which was in London.

Josh was completely shattered. He was silent, but looked distraught. He couldn't move or say anything. I didn't quite know what to say to him. I was really upset for him. I thought about how I would feel if it happened to me. I know, they are only photos. Not like an injury or death (baruch hashem). But it is upsetting.

Eventually I got him up and we walked around Athens for a bit. He slowly got some colour back in his face. He seemed more relaxed. We returned to the court yard where I got some Amstel from the beer machine.



Then had Chinese food for the first time since London. Very much needed after so much pita.



We had planned to go out dancing tonight, which was still on the table. The original plan was an indie club called Decadence. Now we had to actually get there it was really far away, North and East. We had walked a lot that day already and our feet were starting to ache. So we decided to go South to Gazi for the club area.

This walk turned out just as long. We eventually got there and searched for some clubs. Maybe Monday nights are just quieter. We couldn't find the places Josh had looked up. The other places were quiet. No busy dancing clubs packed with people. I was falling asleep at that point, probably from the beer and drinks we had. Josh noticed and suggested we just call it a night.

The day wasn´t what I would call a good day. There were annoying mix ups, devastating losses and frustrating anti-climaxes. We decided that we needed the change to scenery a new country would provide. Or perhaps a new day.