Combat Eating.

Skiathos, Sporades Islands, Aegean Sea, Greece.

Resting on our veranda after the luggage schlepp up a million quaint hillside town steps. The view was worth the work (and probably burned a few calories…)

Scene:

I’m lying on my little twin bed with the turquoise cover, laptop on my lap. French doors open and sea breeze coming in. This room is teeny weenie tiny and the bathroom is not quite as advanced as those on our yacht (we board tomorrow), but for now, this is home. 

My teammates are snoozing quietly in their bunks, during this afternoon nappy time. I’ve written about this before - the delicious hours of 2-4 pm on any Greek Island when every shop and business is shuttered and there’s nothing we can do but lay down and comply with the local custom of afternoons off. I’d call it “quiet time”, but there is singing. Our roommate (I thought I rented a private flat for us from Airbnb but we somehow have a roommate) is a lovely Greek-Ethiopian-Nigerian man and he is sitting on our terrace singing along to his boom box and Sade’s Smooth Operator. It’s a mismanaged singalong but he’s giving it his all and none of us seem to mind. Richie, Lulu and Simon are all napping on and off, and I am resisting the fingers of fatigue raking across my lids as I type.

Views from the air leaving our layover in Canada and arriving in Athens, our team reunited in Richie & Lulu’s hotel room, and oh my ahem welcome back to Greece!

The Acropolis from the roof of our Athens hotel.

We’ve earned this nap, as we have all been in transit for days, and hit the ground running after our arrival on the island of Skiathos today, scouting supermarkets and securing two weeks of internet and identifying “Our Guy” on the yachting dock. And also the Combat Eating. 

Lulu said it this morning at breakfast. She called it combat eating. When you have a lot of walking work ahead of you and you don’t know if or when your next meal will find its way into the day, you eat a lot at breakfast in the event it has to sustain you until nappy time. Seems sensible, right?

The thing is, we have been combat eating since we got to Greece about 30 hours ago. And in spite of our (constant) cautionary preparation for a fast, we’ve yet to miss a meal. I’m proud to say I arrived in Greece having shed my pandemic 5 (ok ok so it was more like 8 or 9, still) and feeling pretty fit and trim. After the last day and a half of combat eating, I’m not sure I’ll feel so slim come Sunday when our guests arrive. At the moment I feel stuffed like a grape leaf.

I must say, it hasn’t been a chore, all this eating. The food in Greece is nothing short of fabulous (and plentiful). It would turn even the most restrictive monk into a gluttonous chow hound. So okay okay I’ll try to skip dinner. I will fail.

Two days of lunches. Nice work everyone.

On SwimVacation, we love to travel far, then go a little farther. For this trip, Simon and I left Maine to rendezvous with Richie and Lulu (who came from Portugal) in Athens where we all staggered through an evening and morning and two rounds of combat eating before flying on to the tiny island of Skiathos (where we did manage to find lunch). 

There is a global pandemic. I can’t and won’t obfuscate that fact here, especially as the weight we have all carried for the last 18 months has made us sad, mad and weary, and so many continue to suffer. What is also true is that travel is once again possible, and feels less risky now that I am out and doing it. There are hoops and precautions and restrictions, to be sure. More patience, time, flexibility and cooperation are required than before. I suspect this will be the case for a long time to come. But our travel thus far has been smooth, and we have encountered other travelers who are giving one another space and wearing masks and behaving well and as if they are grateful to be out in this world. Grateful to be someplace else.

And Greece seems genuinely glad and grateful to have us. We’ve had enthusiastic drivers and cheery hotel staff and generally helpful people at every turn. 

We feel welcomed. 

And I, rather quickly considering the break, feel quite at home.

Travel all the way to Skiathos has been smooth, even with an insane amount of gear, a taxi trunk that wouldn’t close, and hauling all of those bags up many many (many) ancient Greek hillside town steps to our rental flat for the night. Back down again for recon and yet another meal.

I’ll get this posted and add a few photos and maybe let sleep take me for a few minutes before Lulu comes to rouse me for one more trip to Vodafone and another meal I don’t need but can’t resist. 

Richie & Lulu fantasize about taking in a film at the movie house in an ancient building. Ha ha that’s so funny you guys back to work.

This part of Greece is new to us, but the hospitality, incredible food and stunning scenery is what we’ve come to expect after three prior trips here. I’d say that after so much time without visitors on Greek shores, the locals seem perhaps even warmer than before. Or maybe I’m just more grateful than ever to look into the faces of each and every one I meet. Or maybe it’s both.

Tomorrow will be our busiest of busy days with all of the provisioning to be done and moving everything - all 8 big bags plus 4 little bags of gear and boxes and boxes of food and drink - to the clean boat, which we will trash, then clean up again before our guests come aboard on Sunday. Hmm. I wonder if there will even be time to eat….As. If.

Efcharisto, Greece. More than ever, it’s so good to be back.

Heather

Sure let’s get gelato why not. xx