Consolation in Corfu

Corfu? Yes I am in Corfu. After the harrowing news of my Iranian visa, I went through the motions of assessing my options. Never having been to Venice I noted there was cheap flight on Easyjet from there to London, to which I could change my Istanbul flight. I also was aware that:

a) My brother was leaving London for a couple of weeks and may need a house sitter
b) A mate could get me some work as a bicycle courier for a couple of weeks in London and
c) the final and most consoling/exciting prospect, Heather would be in the region of Venice/the Greek coast line, and we might cross paths.

It seemed as though all these events were timed to perfection to coincide with my meeting Heather and then flying on this cheap flight to London, just in time to housesit (having a whole house, dog and even gym access for the duration in London) for a couple of weeks before flying to India with Heather.

So I left the Turkish apartment in Bostanci at 6:50am yesterday morning. Arriving in the city centre moments before the scheduled shuttle bus to the main bus station was due to leave - but the shuttle was non-existent (despite calling them the previous evening to confirm) - so I conned my way onto a shuttle with another company and after sorting out a ticket in the main Otogar was on my way to Thessaloniki.

Thirteen hours later, at 11pm, I arrived in Thessa - about 50 days ago I had the same midnight snack at the same cafe then slept in the same gutter with Heather - this time I was by myself - but on my way to see Heather. The bus to Igoymenitsu left at midday the next day and I amused myself by playing the guitar and singing loudly in a semi-delirious state. The bus to Igoy was 6 hours without a hitch - although I almost got left on the side of the road when I fell asleep at my table during the lunch break, the driver having to stop the bus and run back to wake me up - hehehe.

The ferry to Corfu from Igoy was 1.5 hours of relaxing and going to the toilet after none of the buses had a bathroom. I'm now checked into a hostel that resembles a resort more than anything - but it will tie me over until Heather arrives in a day or two.

So as my brief stint as a solo traveler is about to draw to a close I thought I would quickly share some of the thoughts I have on the topic of solo travel.

When you haven't said a word to anyone in 36 hours of bus travel you start to wonder if your voice still works and what it sounds like - what would it be like to have a conversation with a person again? In our everyday lives, 'who we are' is defined a lot more by precedent of who we are with all the people we have around us on a regular basis. But when you are (or I am) traveling alone, the edges start to go blurry of that previously crisply defined self image - I don't think that is either a good or a bad thing. But when you meet someone and you are otherwise alone, you don't have that boundary of 'who you are' to restrict you.

Anyone who knows me knows that when I get lost in a train of thought, I get lost, the world outside my mind ceases to exist entirely. After a little while of traveling alone I was suddenly more acutely aware of when I would draw into myself and exist only in the world in my head and when I was only conscious and aware of what was going on around me. Sometimes, in this inner world of emotion and rationality fighting each other, and not having someone who knew me as a point of reference, it felt like my mind and 'who i am' or 'who i think i am' was a pack of cards thrown into the air - no reason and no 'pattern'. But after observing myself meeting many different people in different situations a pattern emerges and you can see yourself with even more clarity than before.

I am running out of time now on this computer, but I just wanted to finish by saying that a part of me is glad that I didn't make it to Iran or Afghanistan alone. As my brother said - no-one will really know what you've seen or done, only you. I want to share experiences with people, and talk about them and analyse them - so Turkey was great to travel alone in - loads of other travellers to meet and enjoy their company - but Iran and Afghanistan would have been an unshared experience. So I'm looking forward to seeing those countries one day. But the part that makes me the happiest is that I will have Heather in my arms again in one more day.