There was a talk with the landlord just now and we talked about rolling out of here. It's very important to get to the UK to register for NHS health insurance. I've seen a small studio flat in London for £199 which is somewhat less than I am paying here (note the conversion for dollars to pounds is even worse than for euros so the effective cost of the rent is similar even though it appears to be lower). There will be further research as London is exceptionally expensive so it should be possible to find something outside the city which is more affordable to me.
This is going to happen soon and I know some of you think it is harebrained but it is necessary. The Internet problem obviously has to be solved but I've run far too long without health insurance and that one cannot be ignored. It cannot be solved in Greece so there is one remaining alternative. Going to America doesn't solve it as the VA insurance was a bad joke.
Despite the risk, embarking on this adventure is worthwhile for a less than obvious reason as the only time I smoke is when I'm in front of the computer. I don't smoke at all otherwise. There's no possible way I will smoke very much on the road and possibly this leads to quitting altogether. Sure as hell, nothing else has worked.
It will be more difficult to post the story to the blog but it will happen in any case. There is WiFi everywhere and usually it's available for the price of a cup of coffee. I don't drink coffee but maybe I will start!
If I drive one hundred kilometers a day it will take about thirty days to get to London. One hundred kilometers requires four or less litres of fuel and that's a bit less than six euros or one hundred and eighty euros total for the whole run. Barring some contributions on the Support the Search for Ithaka campaign, that will mean a lot of sleeping under trees but maybe that's how it needs to go. I have no idea if I will get away with doing that but there aren't any other choices. Even if I don't get away with it an Italian jail would at least be dry!
As to singing for my supper, who knows. I'm not looking for that but I would be willing to try it. I guess how that would go is if someplace were interested I would suggest listening to the the live songs on the podcast to decide whether they want me to do it. I sure wouldn't cost much as fifty euros would take me five hundred kilometers!
On with the adventure!
Update:
I absolutely farking hate it here. If the scooter blows up then so be it. There is NOTHING that is worth putting up with the shabby Internet connection as it hasn't been this bad in over twenty years. Everyone is pissed off with me and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. I will get more bungee cords tomorrow and screw finding the tent. There's no way to find any damn thing here and even if find it online they won't ship it to Greece or it's at an exorbitant cost. I need to roll out immediately.
This is going to happen soon and I know some of you think it is harebrained but it is necessary. The Internet problem obviously has to be solved but I've run far too long without health insurance and that one cannot be ignored. It cannot be solved in Greece so there is one remaining alternative. Going to America doesn't solve it as the VA insurance was a bad joke.
Despite the risk, embarking on this adventure is worthwhile for a less than obvious reason as the only time I smoke is when I'm in front of the computer. I don't smoke at all otherwise. There's no possible way I will smoke very much on the road and possibly this leads to quitting altogether. Sure as hell, nothing else has worked.
It will be more difficult to post the story to the blog but it will happen in any case. There is WiFi everywhere and usually it's available for the price of a cup of coffee. I don't drink coffee but maybe I will start!
If I drive one hundred kilometers a day it will take about thirty days to get to London. One hundred kilometers requires four or less litres of fuel and that's a bit less than six euros or one hundred and eighty euros total for the whole run. Barring some contributions on the Support the Search for Ithaka campaign, that will mean a lot of sleeping under trees but maybe that's how it needs to go. I have no idea if I will get away with doing that but there aren't any other choices. Even if I don't get away with it an Italian jail would at least be dry!
As to singing for my supper, who knows. I'm not looking for that but I would be willing to try it. I guess how that would go is if someplace were interested I would suggest listening to the the live songs on the podcast to decide whether they want me to do it. I sure wouldn't cost much as fifty euros would take me five hundred kilometers!
On with the adventure!
Update:
I absolutely farking hate it here. If the scooter blows up then so be it. There is NOTHING that is worth putting up with the shabby Internet connection as it hasn't been this bad in over twenty years. Everyone is pissed off with me and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. I will get more bungee cords tomorrow and screw finding the tent. There's no way to find any damn thing here and even if find it online they won't ship it to Greece or it's at an exorbitant cost. I need to roll out immediately.
13 comments:
Little scooters have a tendency to break down on long journeys, because they're not built for stuff like that. Also, it's probably not insured outside of Greece. It might be better to sell the thing and use that money to get to the UK. That way you also won't have to worry about where to sleep at night and there's a lot lesser risk of being robbed of your guitar, money or worse along the way.
All good points but there's no chance of replacing it if I sell it. There's no chance of replacing the guitar if it's stolen so it's complicated. I rode a Kawasaki 90, even less CCs than the scooter, from El Paso to Albuquerque and that was about 430 km with my duffel bag, etc strapped to it. That one held up ok. Not much chance of being robbed of money as I don't have any (laughs).
I do appreciate the thoughts and you're not the only one with concerns as to whether the scooter will make it. I guess we shall see!
If you make it to the UK, you won't need the scooter anyway. London has got a great public transport system. Easyjet can take you there (from Athens) for less than 200 euro's on June 19.
The problem is that selling the scooter means I would permanently ground myself there
How so? Don't they have a bus or something over there, that'll take you to Athens? Or maybe Harry can drive, if you pay for the gas or something.
430 km is a little less than over 3000 km. what about getting to athens, sell the scooter and buy a plane ticket? that's cheaper too. 3000 km is 150 liters of fuel, plus ferries, plus 30 nights camping, plus food for 30 days. i say: way cheaper, even if you don't sell the scooter.
It's five hours one-way to Athens. Trying to do that on anything close to a regular basis would be grossly impractical.
P.S. I'm not even considering riding on the Autostrada. Quite apart from the tolls, the scooter would burn up on the first day doing that plus the cars are doing 130 - 150 kph.
so 5 hrs by bus to athens. get to the airport and catch easyjet to london. cheapest way. but hell, a ride though europe on a crappy scooter with as an extra lots of chances to be robbed from your guitar, laptop, ipad and even your life camping under a tree. man, that's rock 'n' roll.
You'd only have to get to Athens once. To catch the planeride. On June 19. Ever considered riding up to Athens on that scoot-thing and ditch it there?
Even in the heart of Africa, there's taxis and busses that go places every week or so. Once in Athens, you get yourself a ticket and hop on a plane to the UK. If you sell the scoot to Harry for 500 euros, you can afford all that and bring the guitar and stuff too. And he'll get over the 500 euros easy: all he's got to do is fix up the scoot a little and sell it for 1250 euros to the next American that stops by ;-)
I have to leave. It is totally hopeless here. Even if I don't make it getting out of Greece would be worth it. I absolutely hate it here.
Every day it sucks the hope out of me a little more
Post a Comment