… and So the Adventure Begins

APRIL 24/25: Nothing was posted to this blog last night because I don’t have internet access at the hotel in Volos. That means no blogging, no internet, no WhatsApp, etc. It is a feeling of being cut off from the rest of the world. In spite of VERY loud music playing, I am very grateful for this internet cafe I discovered near the hotel — feel almost like a traveling journalist.

And, I have made so many positive connections. The first, and foremost, is Maria you’ve been hearing about. Here is a photo of the two of us after dinner and “Acropolis” cocktails the night before last:

Maria actually walked me through the Metro railway system and got me on the correct train to Volos. After that it was easy as long as you listen for the one word you need to hear — the name of the town where you are to get off.

From Athens to Volos I had a 1st class seat in a compartment for four which I shared with one very nice young man. Marcos is in his 20s and a computer programmer. He was just as anxious to practice his English as I was for conversation. He has a desire to visit the U.S. sometime and we discussed a good place for him to start.

When I alighted at Larissa I found a very confusing set of tracks with no clear indicators of where the train to Volos would come in. In this selfie I was confused, but trying not to act like it:

I had quickly figured out how to use elevators to go underground, cross over to the other side of the tracks, and back up to ground level — where there was a coffee shop! It was the first time to learn that a cappuccino outside of Athens was 2.00 euros as opposed to 4.50 or more in Athens.

A young lady, who was rather aloof, nevertheless responded when I said that I heard the name Volos in an announcement. She said that, yes, this was my train — and it was on neither of the tracks that ran by where we were sitting. She showed me how to get to it.

I had a 2nd class, unassigned seat, for the rest of trip to Volos. The seats were much better than those on airplanes and the train wasn’t crowded. In addition, a young woman who sat across from me, like the young man, was excited about talking to an American. She soon moved to sit on my side, with our luggage across from us.

Eftychia (“Effie because my name is too hard to pronounce”) is a student, studying to be a doctor, who believe she wants to specialize in surgery. She is bright, enthusiastic, and was a delightful way to spend my time on the rest of the trip to Volos.

She educated me on what foods and liquors to consume on Easter Sunday and I talked with her about my life in the U.S. She used the words “positive attitude” a number of time and I told her about Dr. Norman Vincent Peale’s book The Power of Positive Thinking. She had never heard of it and quickly Googled it to buy later. I also taught her about thoughts, words, and actions creating our future reality and assured her that it seemed to me that she was well on her way.

Even here I can be a Unity teacher and motivation speaker. LOL

When it was about time for us to disembark the train I told Effie where I was staying. She said that her brother, Andrew, was picking her up, that the hotel was not out of their way, and they would be happy to take me. That probably saved me a 10 euro taxi fare. Andrew was very gracious in accommodating his sister’s offer and took the photo above.

Hotel Electra is nice, clean, and offers a free continental style breakfast. But I quickly found out that their wifi offered me no internet access (my phone’s problem, of course, according to management LOL). And, there was no hot water last night, but thankfully it was warm this morning.

I went to dinner at a very nice open-air seafood restaurant overlooking the ocean and a marina with many yachts moored. It was very nice and I was able to access the internet there and made contact with the man, Gregory Rouillard, who is on contract with Unity Worldwide Ministeries, whose class Power Matters I had taken, and the reason I am in Volos.

He and friends from the Kalikalos Holistic Centre are coming to my hotel about 1 p.m. We will go to lunch and talk about what they do. I found his class to be very interesting and the covenantal system he teaches through his organization, The Way of Community, an exciting concept that I would very much like to implement more of for Silent Unity.