Let the Adventure Begin!: My Journey From NYC to Crete

I’m kicking off my next big adventure: 70 days of cruising around Africa onboard the Zaandam with Jeremy.

First stop, Crete!

In typical Katie fashion, my journey wasn’t exactly smooth….

My journey from NYC to Crete went like this:

Washington Heights to JFK. JFK to London. London to Heraklion. Easy peasy!  Right? WRONG.

(PS The food on the American airline flight was horrid. See the Instagram video below!)

Crete is big. In fact, it’s the 5^th largest island in the Mediterranean Sea with an area of 3,219 mi². 

I booked a flight to Heraklion, but the port where I would be joining was 133 km away. WHOOPS.

So the journey continued with a 2 ½ hour private car transfer for 153 euros. (I COULD have negotiated the bus system…. but with no sleep and 2 mega suitcases, that seemed flatout impossible.).

I finally arrived to Chania, Crete.

But wait, there’s more!

I shrewdly booked a hotel in the historic downtown area. Which isn’t accessible by car. So I lugged my two suitcase down the cobble sounds, causing a deafening sound that echoed among the happy European dinners enjoying wine and feta.

After a few wrong turns I finally found my hotel, Hotel Elia Dorotheou. But there was no lobby and the door was locked. A Greek man sitting at a café noticed my distress, and came to my rescue. He called the number, informed me that I had to check in down the block. He probably smelled the lingering aroma of my New York anxiety – “Relax! You’re in Greece now!”

I loudly lugged my suitcases to said check in area. The woman said, “I think we have a problem. Your hotel is a two story walk up. Too much with those suitcases!”  After furious clicking she informed me that a night in a hotel with an elevator would be 65 euros. My room was only 40€!!!!

In the battle of convenience vs frugality, frugality won.

Once again, I must have looked quite distressed. She called a colleague to help carry my suitcases back to Hotel Elia Dorotheou and up the two floors (which weren’t TOO bad) The room was clean and lovely with great shower.

I shook it off, cleaned up, and headed out to get a gyro and explore.

Let the adventures begin!