Sweet, I'm on vacation! I had to endure a broken down plane in New York and missed connections in both London and Athens, but I made it to Santorini Island something like 28 hours later. I can also add "slept in Athens airport" to my travel resume. This wouldn’t have been so bad but Athens had some pain in the ass police woman that kept chasing all of us airport refugees up and out of the various encampments we kept trying to set up saying “sleep not allowed”. I eventually “slept” sitting upright in the McCafe until my head bobbed too much and a soda straw went up my nose. That’s when the manager approached me and said “time for wake up”. Agreed.

I had some time on the island before I embarked on the real reason I came here. Sailing. In a few days I need to meet the skipper and fellow crew for a ten day sailing trip around the Cyclades Islands in the Aegean Sea.

So what to do and where to go until then? Well, the first thing I learned about Greece is that they are quite the slackers compared to the rest of the European Union when it comes to enforcing rules and laws. In fact, in hindsight, I can probably count the number of police patrols I saw on one finger while cruising around the island without a motorcycle license while riding my Yamaha motorcycle that I wasn't supposed to be allowed to rent. The nicest spot to visit on the island was the village of Oia. Destroyed by the 1956 earthquake, it was restored by burying all the cables and power lines. This makes for somewhat authentic photos of the place as it might have been in the old days. The sunset here is also famous but I’ve decided it’s a marketing ploy to get the crowds out here to fill the bars and restaurants. Sunsets in Erie are far more spectacular but Oia wins the prize for charming character and atmosphere.

After several days cruising around, it's time to get on the sailboat.