Day 21 - last island stop: Paros

---

(Wifi is still awful, no photos)

This morning was absolute chaos lol - first my car wouldn’t start - it took me a stupid long time to realize I had somehow locked the steering wheel so that was fun. Then the shuttle wouldn’t guarantee a departure so I had to suck it up and pay the taxi from the airport to the port. But that’s ok - got there early and enjoyed a cappuccino fredo and people watched in the shade before the “Seajet Games” began.

Santorini port. Holy shit organized chaos haha. They herd you into a waiting area with no info other than: wait there. Do do do. About 10-15min before the boat they yell to form two lines (this is pointless) and they start moving you outside. Pro tip - outside has no shade. I hung back a bit and let people go in front so that I could stay in the shade. Boat arrives. The entire frickin’ boat empties itself in a massive mob of tourists - police blowing whistles, boat tooting its horn, just chaos. Then you add cars. More whistles to try and move exiting passengers.

Ok all out? Now GO GO GO!! Those two lines? HA! They’re now yelling at you to just GO GO GO. I zipped around the outside - joy of travelling alone - and got on no problem. Went to the far end of the luggage rack, played some Tetris, got my bag in and boom ran upstairs. This is key bc another pro tip - as soon as everyone is in the car hold, that boat is leaving… and the car hold, she ain’t air conditioned lol. So you want to leave your bag and get out asap. It really is an event lol - it’s like they leave no room in the schedule for embarkation/disembarkation so it’s just a race against the clock at every stop.

Ah, such a relaxing morning lol. Also Seajet has assigned seating and it’s total bs bc the boat will be more than half empty and yet they still squish all the passengers into one area. I was stuck in a middle seat in a middle row. Nah, not me on my bday! So I went to reception and played the “hiiiiii it’s y bday… can I have a free upgrade?” card… and they did! Oh bless. So I lived it up in business class lol good thing too bc it’s almost a 3hr ride.

Arriving in Paros was pretty straight forward. Bus station right to the right, got a ticket, got told which bus to get on. Uh, side note? The bus I was told to get on doesn’t follow anything I saw online re: the routes???? But hey I made it!

Piso Livadi is so chill. It’s basically a tiny little beach, boats and seafood restaurants. I’m already feeling this vibe way more than Santorini tbh. I even got a nice sunset from my balcony tonight lol. I’m saving my big bday dinner for later - today was mostly apps and random treats - including a sugar donut the size of my face, Greek delights and the best zucchini fries EVER.

---