Hotel Erdano Sarande

... heavily guarded by some ill-tempered soldier with a massive, loaded G3.

Car:
Vehicles are not allowed on the passenger ferry and arrive two days later on a very rickety cargo barge. Getting the vehicle through customs requires another two to three days and more nerves – not to mention baksheesh (bribes).

Second ferry experience: Nuweiba (Egypt) – Aqaba (Jordan): approx: 70km

The ferry here is actually an old Danish ...

... Greek wine and their local Ouzo. I ate Pastitsia, a pie with layers of pasta and meat but I kept eating Stee's dinner of this fish cooked in peppers and onions. Vance doesn't do fish so he had a harder time with the menu options. Everyone was in a great mood so we ended up just sitting and talking and laughing and drinking and eating for quite awhile.

Hello Friends!!!

I'm torn between it being a relief and a disappointment that I now speak English freely among all the other English-speaking folks. (I'm on the cruise.) While there are over 40 countries represented by visitors, America absolutely took the cake by almost triple that of any other country. I also don't know whether I'm proud of that fact or embarrassed by it. You might say that I'm going through a patriotic self-crisis.

The cruise has been fan ...

... the day looking at the old forts, the unique streets and of course shopping. Olivia has a pair of Dior (????????) sunglasses now for the mere price of $14NZ, so many terrible take offs here.

Next day - Santorini. Opened the cabins curtains to see a sheer cliff with a town perched at the top. The only way to get up was a zig zagging path or a cable car. We were ferried by boats to shore and Chris started making noises about walking up. Robyn ...

We had a whole day of just hanging around Corfu town so we went for some breakfast and then picked up our laundry and popped back to the hotel to pack our bags. The weather is not so good today raining and a little cloudy so for the most part of the day we just mooched about shops and did some stuff on the internet. The batteries in the camera keep going so as soon as we can get some good ones then we will post the pictures.

As it was the friday before the ...

There is a town north of Corfu and it's really cool, but it's a village in some way.Though, I did visit the Corfu town and I must say it is AMAZING. All those fortresses and fancy resturants and bars were a total hit! Everybody was so relaxed, people aren't that stressed at all. I ...

... being a ****ing hero (revealed to be a fraud several days later) for waking up and signing us up for the booze cruise
Cliffjumping
-Smitty buckling his nuts in his naked jump (you could hear the slapping sound from the boat). He wondered why all the guys were grabbing their nuts while jumping ("Stop being ******* bys")
-Callahan's near-death experience with the climb up followed by displaying impeccable form in the jump
Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece iansmitty

... neighboring popular island of Corfu. I didn't like the city that much but I was compelled to stay hoping that I would be able to find some spare tubes for my tires, in light of road situation in Albania and since I was down to my last tube. That evening I received a free "bike wash" in one of the city's many car washing stands and the owner later led me to a relatively cheap hotel. In the evening I went out to ...

... pop into a grocery for our usual picnic lunch, then get back to the boat. The first store we go into, I ask if they take Euros. The clerk rattles of something in Albanian, then asks if I speak Italian (in italian). Apparently, those are the two languages they speak in Albania. He asks around a bit, but no one in the store speaks English, so we head out to try our luck elsewhere. We find another grocery (they seem to be on every corner around here ...

... shrugged his shoulders and said 'Ne'. Disheartened but glad to have at least found the hotel I thanked him and turned away. As I moved to the door the old man went to the booking register and asked 'Ow many ?'. 'Two', I said, holding up my fingers and remembering suddenly that 'ne' meant 'yes' in Greek.

The price was higher than expected but I was clearly in no position to bargain. I tried to explain in sign language that I would take the room but first had to ...