Larnaca

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July 13, 2015 – Apparently Paul did not get the memo. He came at 2am, a full hour early. I was asleep and pretty freaked out when the bell rang, and then I was a bit out of it while I got ready. He helped me get a taxi outside and I got to the airport a full 90 minutes before I could check-in. I sat on some artificial grass under the escalators that I heard all the backpackers sleep on when they get to the airport early or arrive too early in the morning to get into town. I didn’t sleep, but it was a good place to wait half dazed. I checked in at 4:30 and then went to the gate and laid down on a bench for an hour. They started to board just before 6am and I slept a lot of the three hour flight to Kiev. From there I had to wait a little more than an hour between flights and then fly to Larnaca, Cyprus, for another three hours. The flight arrived 20 minutes early, but then had to sit on the tarmac for 20 minutes anyway. Once I got through passport control, I picked up my bag, got directions to the bus, and headed out. I got to the bus just in time – it only comes every 30 minutes. I told the driver where I wanted to go and he told me when to get off. He helped everyone – it was great. It seems everyone here speaks English, as well as Greek. Excellent.

It took about 15 minutes from the bus stop to find the apartment that I rented a room in. All the rooms in this place are being rented on airbnb, rather than it being a room in a house where the owner actually lives. It’s ok, but not great – kind of hotel feeling, and of course the internet does not work in my room. Always, right? Also, there is so a/c, so I am melting. It is full sun and crazy hot here. Like upper 90s. No fun at all. I had to email the owner to see if I had a towel somewhere, since there was not one on my bed. And to let him know that the internet did not work upstairs. He told me where to find the towel and said he would send someone over with something that would fix the internet. But it never happened.



Today was my only day in Larnaca, and I only had a half day, so I got started. I grabbed a kebab near my place and walked down to the beach area, and it took about 25 minutes or so to get there. Once there, I sat on a bench and ate the late lunch. Then I realized I had no idea what to do. I’m not really good with beach places, which always seem lame when you’re alone. No intention to swim today, so I just walked along the beach, put my feet in the warm water, and also walked a bit into town. That was about it. I saw a Starbucks and a Fridays at the beach and proudly decided not to go to either one. Called it an early night to try to catch up on lost sleep.

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