By 1 pm, it felt as though we had never left and the fact that we began our day yesterday in Turkey and this morning in Samos was just a distant dream. Between the ferry's arrived at 10:55 am and 1 pm, I had dragged a heavy backpack up the hill to our house, negotiated with an overtired Sennen to take a rest, taken our dirty laundry down the hill to the laundry service, paid for the clean laundry and arranged for it be delivered, grabbed a few grocery items from the organic store in the town square. picked up our freshly washed car from the car rental and paid the remaining balance of our two-month contract, stopped at the bakery for bread, pulled money from the ATM, bought meat for tonight's dinner at the butcher, did a complete grocery shop at Alpha Beta, parked the car at the lot we use on the back end of town and schlepped the perishables up the hill since Alpha Beta's free delivery doesn't allow for perishables. By the time the last yogurt was put away, so was any feeling of Turkey.
At the same time, we feel home. Better yet, if I did that many errands at home, it would certainly have taken longer than two hours – and no one delivers anything (although we don't have a steep, narrow street inaccessible to cars in Westlake Village). With the administration of our household complete, we can return to Patmos life as usual.
However, the return to Patmos itself was not such a pleasant couple of hours – at least not for Emily and Ailyn. Our ferry was a high-speed catamaran aka "the fast ferry" in local nomenclature. It did indeed go much faster than the boat we took to Samos and it had great air conditioning and comfortable seats. But where the waves picked up, so did the boat. We foolishly sat at the front of the passenger cabin where the boat rises and falls most. Ailyn was the first to need a barf bag, and then a second. Thankfully, the ferry was well stocked and one was always within reach. As Emily too became queasy, I suggested she move to a seat near the window and look outside. Ailyn then moved to the same row and they shared their misery awhile on the port side of the boat before Emily needed a barf bag, and then another. Then they napped.
While I brought and disposed of barf bags over choppy waters, Sennen was happy as a clam watching TV shows on his iPad and Matheus was content listening to music. It just goes to show, some people get seasick and some really don't. Sadly, Emily had taken a dramamine and was wearing anti-seasickness pressure-point bands. Everything had failed her.
One of the crew suggested we all move to the back of the boat where the ride is more stable, but Emily couldn't bring herself to get up and move – and decided to just nap it out. Matheus, Sennen and I did move and again, the boys were fine while the girls passed out in their seats.
From a cafe on solid ground where a recovering Emily was later working as I passed by her, bags full of perishables in hand – Emily felt she may have triggered the problem by working on her laptop for the first portion of the trip.
In this case, it may have backfired – but one of the incredible blessings of this trip and advancements over nine years ago are our phones which can act as wireless hotspots. Emily and I pay for the unlimited talk, text and data international plan so we can do our jobs with ease – an investment in making sure the summer works. So, with few exceptions, we have access to high-speed internet everywhere. That made it so I could catch up on emails and Emily could work from the Blue Star 1 ferry between Athens and Patmos since most of the time, ferries run close enough to islands to still pick up cell service. Emily also worked between Patmos and Samos as well as from Kusadasi to Samos. We worked from our lounge chairs on Petra, our favorite beach which has no cafe, and therefore no WiFi. The list goes on.
Of course the data access itself wouldn't have been much use without major advancements in battery life – both in our phones and laptops. In 2010-2011, Emily worked on a power guzzling Toshiba that weighed more than a newborn baby. Her manufacturer listed four hour battery life dwindled down to one and a half within a year. Things got worse when the power adapter blew in Singapore – which thankfully was the right place for a breakdown. A quick visit to the Sim Lim Plaza IT mall had Emily back up and running in less time than it takes for AAA to reach your flat tire. I had less of a power issue since I worked on an iPad which rang 8 to 10 hours per charge. But at the time, no laptop could have given me that battery life.
Emily has gone from a heifer-weight Toshiba to a MacBook Air which is not only light as well, air, but has an 8 to 10 hour battery life that hasn't declined drastically. My slightly newer MacBook Pro has about the same battery life. Our iPhones can last even longer. As a result, we are far less restricted. Emily can knock out some work during dead-time on a ferry. I can take a break from the beach to go take care of some emails and make a call. We can pick any restaurant or cafe to work at, not just ones with outlets and WiFi available. In other words, the world is ours – just so long as the boat doesn't rock. Then it's just mine.
For Sennen and Ailyn, the world is always theirs. After getting back, fussing a bit, resting and eating lunch – they went to the nearby beach with Matheus. The sand and sea are their happy place and they are back to what they do best – playing with sand toys, building sand structures. swimming, doing flips in the water, singing songs, and performing on the beach. For kids who wanted to stay in Turkey forever, they have shown great resilience in getting back to "the grind."
