I went and turned in my keys at the front desk but asked if there were any room available in case I had to stay one more night. It was now Monday and people probably checked out the day before. I wasn't sure of their availability since it was a brand new week. He reassured me that they had rooms for me if I decided to stay. I felt a sign of relief! I needed to go to Noma and look for Kostas to see if he could help figure how the airport's website. I was confused.
Luckily he was there with some staff members. I told them what was going on but he was more concerned about running to Fira to get some things. It was slow at the restaurant and it would be a good time for him to run his errands. He explained I would have to go to a booking agent and Fira would be the place to find one. Since I had access to the restaurant's wifi I tried looking at flights myself. Some of them were unreasonable. I couldn't find a flight that would go straight to Bari. The flights I kept finding were heading back to Athens. Hmmm. This is getting frustrating.
I messaged my friend in Italy and told her what I was up against. Since originally I was suppose to have left last night to Mykonos and stay there today, she was under the impression I would be arriving in Bari tomorrow. She wasn't ready to get me from the airport tonight, so I had to make sure my flight would land there sometime tomorrow. Upon my arrival to Greece, her boyfriend's car was having problems with the clutch. She figured she'll get a rental when I arrived but there were no cars available for her yet. So much for the "playing it by ear".
Kostas came up and asked me if I wanted to ride with him to Fira. He had a couple of stops to make and I could accompany him. I said sure. I figured he could help me find a booking agent. I remembered that young couple I met back in Athens when I was trying to find the museum. They told me the airport at Santorini was a mess and now I understood what they meant.
Off we went to Fira. I was surprised by how much vacant land there is in Santorini. I saw more abandoned buildings too, but Kostas showed me where there were also new development. He is very proud to work there during the season. "Where else in the world could you work on an island like this?", he asked. Good point.
When we got closer to Fira I saw the charter buses ahead. Now I see the flow of people coming in. We stopped by an electronic store to pickup a new phone. The prices were pretty reasonable on major items such as washers and dryers. For the most part, there wasn't much of a selection on some items, but then again, island life wouldn't require the importance of such mainstream gadgets.
We continued on to two banks before we made our way to the market. Kostas grabbed his avocados for the restaurant as well as a huge bag of coffee. As usual, it was a hot day indeed and I could see how preoccupied he was getting. His phone kept ringing off the hook. I felt like a little kid riding around seeing and learning things I did not know about Santorini. I saw a group of girls get on some ATVs with the guide helping them with their helmets. They looked very inexperienced. Kostas said it was hard to determine who knows how to drive European, and who are tourists who have no clue. It was an unsettling feeling knowing those girls were going to ride the streets in those.
We rode back towards Perissa. Kostas reassured me he will help me book a flight once we got back to the restaurant. I guess that's a "no" for looking for an agent. Change of plans.
Once we got to Noma, Kostas went straight for the kitchen to drop off the items. I didn't want to be in his way so I found myself a table in the corner and started looking for flights since I was on wifi again.
I was getting frustrated. There were some flights that looked reasonable, but whenever I went to purchase them, the flight would disappear. I didn't understand if I was doing something wrong. I kept messaging my friend that I was stuck. She took my credit card information and started looking herself. Between me and her exchanging messages on when I'll land in Bari, seeing if she'll be able to pick me up at the airport, and how much the ticket would be, we kept losing the flights. It was beyond nerve recking!! Sometimes a staff member would ask why don't I go to the beach to unwind, but I had to find a flight to Italy! I was finding flights that would land me in Bari on Wednesday, and knew I had to take a train out to Rome on Saturday. I would not be spending much time with my friend and that was the whole purpose of me flying out to Europe in the 1st place.
After a while of being discouraged, I noticed that Kostas seemed to be upset that I did not want to stay longer in Santorini. I tried to explain to him that I needed to see my friend. I understood his sensitivity of me wanting to leave Greece so soon, but in the end, I still had to fly to Italy. He decided to take actions in his own hands and started to look for flights for me when he had some downtime at the restaurant. I can see it from his perspective that he just didn't think I experienced Santorini that much and that one day and a half was not that long. But he found a flight to Athens for about a 100 euros leaving at 9:30pm that evening. We had to think quickly so he continued to look for flights from Athens to Bari but only one that popped up seemed reasonable. I would land in Bari the next day around 2:30pm, but to get there was not as easy as it seems. I had to fly out of Athens at 6am; land in Turkey for a 3 hour layover, and then fly out at 12pm to land in Bari. That was a lot of flying. I agreed to it only because I would land in Bari the next day. Any other flights that popped up would have me landing there on Wednesday, and I did not want to miss a day more without my friend. We had our own plans and I did not want to miss something. I hit purchased with a sign of relief.
But then I remembered my conversation from the couple I met back in Athens. The ones from North Carolina. Their voices echoed in my head. "It was very unorganized." Hmmm. What did they mean by that? I figured I would play it safe and head there two hours ahead. By this time it was already after 5pm. I went walking down the beach to kill some time. It was getting busier at the restaurant and I did not want to get in their way. They held my luggage for me.
Some time passed and I knew I still had to make it to the airport anyways, so I walked back to the restaurant and they called a cab for me. I said bye to Kostas and the rest of the staff, but I couldn't find the father and daughter back at Ntomatini. Luckily me and the daughter had exchanged info that night we all went out, but I felt sad leaving like that.
I walked back to where the beach was closed off. I knew that was the pick up spot for my cab. I didn't wait that long. It did take about 15 minutes. A good looking cab driver pulled up next to me. Only when I'm leaving would something like that happen! We started to talk about Santorini as we were driving through the island. He said about 15,000 people live here and he's one of them, even during off season. I love talking to the locals about their way of life. It gives you an inside perspective that you wouldn't get off from some tour book.
He repeated the same thing that I heard from the other cab driver I had encountered the night before. He is one of the 39 cabs that circulate in Santorini. When he pulled up the airport he flirted with me and said next time he'll invite me over to his house for some wine. lol. Sure. "Next time."
I walked into the airport and sure enough, it was mayhem. Lines were forming outside of the entrance. I saw a ticket kiosk and tried to print up my boarding pass. After several attempts, I could not get the settings to go to English, so I grew frustrated and stepped in line for the check in. Hopefully the agent will see my information that I have purchased my flight. Kostas had printed up my confirmation number on a piece of paper. I couldn't get wifi at the airport. I looked around and saw that people were having the same problems with the kiosk. I just don't understand why they won't put an "out of order" sign on it. People were lining up to a lady sitting behind the glass office by the entrance. All she kept telling people were to get in line and they will help you. At one point she disappeared and people at the kiosk looked very confused on what to do next since they couldn't get that thing to work.
Finally it was my turn. The man behind the counter checked my confirmation number and looked over my passport. He asked if I had a carry-on but I knew my bag would be too heavy so I checked it in and paid the 35 euro fee. He told me we were all set and off I stepped to the side. I was getting very anxious again, so I decided to take a melatonin, even though I knew it would be a 30 minute flight. The thought of getting in a small airplane and flying over the sea was terrifying to me. Out of no where I see the man behind the counter lugging my bag around and putting it on the counter to go through the x-ray machine. He looked very frustrated.
I got into another line to go through security and that took a while. I wasn't feeling any better. Once I got through, I had to go to the bathroom. Luckily no one was in there because it only had two stalls. This airport was tiny. People had no where to sit.
They announced our flight over the intercom and people got up and formed a line. A bus took us to our plane. I was praying that the information was correct that it would be a 30 minute flight. We haven't even took off and I'm terrified.
They didn't turn on the air conditioner til the plane was fully packed. It was getting unbearably hot in there. I was having a hard time trying to calm down. I popped another melatonin and prayed over and over again. Finally we had our takeoff. The lady next to me had her window shade up the whole time. People had the gps screen on their video screen. I started to relax once I saw the number of islands we were passing. Sure enough, Athens was in the horizon and I knew I was going to land soon. I felt so relieved!
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