Day 17: Crete, Here We Come!
Sunday, August 10th
Today we’re fortunate to have two travel blogs for you. The first one is from Kahli in Ms. Amelio’s English class.
Headed to Crete
As the doors of the elevator creak open, I make direct eye contact with two of my classmates. The smell of metal rushes to my nose, and I note that the elevator can only fit a few people, like two peas in a pod. They offer to take both my suitcase and my roommate’s, despite the limited room, so we don’t get crushed like a can. When we all meet up in the lobby with our belongings, we learn that we have to store our luggage in a storage closet on floor -1. We begin piling suitcases into the elevator, and I get in with them to help put them away. However, instead of going down, the elevator has the audacity to go up and down like a yo-yo. It takes forever to finally get to the destination. Soon, we lock the doors and head out into the town in groups, since we still have time before the ferry.
For breakfast, my friends and I end up in a veritable Disney Land. It’s a magical place of Greek twinkle lights, fake flowers, moving animatronics, and decorative cutouts ready for your next Insta moment. We were in “Snow White in KookLand,” a perfect breakfast spot in Athens to enjoy a cheesecake, a fruit salad, or any magical dessert your tastebuds could desire. As we sat there laughing, chatting, and taking photos, we realized we had been there for a couple of hours and had to get back to catch the bus.
Windy roads led us gracefully to the port while we listened to Kahli’s music blasting on the bus—the perfect backdrop. Little did we know we were in for a surprise. Under the hot, blazing sun, we waited for hours while the port authorities frantically tried to organize a thousand people. Whistles blew here, whistles blew there, whistles kept blowing everywhere! We were herded like sweaty cattle onto the awaiting SeaJets. Ferries have a funny way of boarding people, and we truly looked like a herd of cattle.
After what felt like a lifetime, our long-awaited journey to Crete finally began.
I wish I could tell you what went on during the ferry ride on the famous “Vomit Comet,” but truthfully, I was sleeping. Luckily, I’m a good sleeper, and those who weren’t simply took gravol. The ones who didn’t felt sick from the gentle rolling of the sea. As I slept, my friend Mikayla from the Ancient Civilization class was working on her essay about Alexander the Great. She explained that not only was Alexander “great” but so was the ferry. She admitted that she “actually really enjoyed it, and got a lot of sleep!” According to my other friend Zara, from the photography course, the ferry was simply “chaotic.” How different each of our experiences were. For Zara, “it was kind of like being on an airplane,” with all the seats facing forward and turbulent at times, but it got us there nonetheless. Sadly, when I asked her how her day went, she said, “Not good, I give it a 3/10.”
After a day that felt like it would never end, we finally made it, with everyone’s two feet back on the island of Crete! But the challenges didn’t end there. We continued our journey as a herd of cows in cars and buses as everyone attempted to leave the port all at once. Luckily, it was only a 15-minute drive.
By the time we got to the hotel, ate our dinner, signed in, and did room checks, it was just past midnight. As I waited my turn to shower, I thought about everything that had happened today and on this trip. I thought about the people I’ve met, the connections I’ve made, the new places I’ve seen, and the new experiences I’ve tried. Yes, we ended up stranded on Tinos for another day before going back to Athens and then to Crete, but it’s about the journey, not just the destination. And that’s what truly makes it magical, special, and unforgettable.
Follow us tomorrow as we have our first full day of classes and whatever adventures await us. Hopefully, our mysterious luck holds up!
The second travel blog comes from Callum in Ms. Hrvatin’s English class. Enjoy!
The Vomit Comet
I could feel my skin roasting under the scorching sun as we finally walked to the ferry. It was early afternoon, around 1:45 p.m., August 10th, 2025. But let me rewind a little.
Speaking for the group, I would say that we had just gotten the best sleep of the entire program on this quick stopover in Athens. Simon, from the photography class, even exclaimed that, “These beds felt like sleeping on a cloud!” – and he wasn’t exaggerating. We began the day with a delicious breakfast at the Achilles hotel, which Bertan had managed to book for us at the last minute.
Now you might be wondering, why the last-minute change. It is a well-known fact that the winds on Tinos are quite unpredictable… and they did not blow in our favour on August 8th. This left Bertan and the Global Summers Academy head office to figure out how they would get us to Crete safely. In the end, the team came to a solution: we would stay an extra night in Tinos, take a ferry back to Athens, stay the night, and finally take the aptly nicknamed “Vomit Comet” on Sunday to the island of Crete.
So there I was, walking through the streets of Athens, dragging my luggage. It made a soft click, click, click sound as it rolled over the smooth, shiny stone sidewalk, worn down from hundreds of years of foot traffic. The morning had been relatively uneventful so far, and we were given a couple of hours of free time after breakfast to explore, as we had to be checked out of our rooms by 10:15 a.m.
Most of us decided to wait in the lobby during this free time, as the scorching heat of Athens is no joke. The bus ride to the Port of Piraeus was a sweet relief; the icy-cold air conditioner helped to combat the relentless heat. However, all good things must come to an end, and the sweltering temperatures returned as we disembarked the bus. The waiting area at the port was completely outdoors and offered little to no shade, making what was only an hour wait feel like an eternity.
Finally, we saw the catamaran-style ferry enter the harbour, with the words “SeaJets” painted on the side. Our ferry began to dock, making a heavy WRSSSHHH sound as it drew closer to land. The ramp at the rear began to unfold and crashed into the ground with a loud thud. Moments later, people and vehicles began to pour out the back like ants leaving their mound.
When the unloading was complete, the port became a melee of people moving towards the ramp to board. I decided to hoist my hefty suitcase above my head and slip between the many cars. I swiftly wove my way to a rack and placed my luggage on the middle shelf before heading up the stairwell towards the ticket check.
Once again, the refreshing blast of air conditioning was welcomed with open arms. Everyone from the Global Summers Academy group was seated in one large section, and as you might expect, we swapped seats around so that friends could sit together… in a rather disorganized fashion, as would be expected of teenagers.
Just as quickly as it had docked, the SeaJet began to pull away from the port. According to Calleigh from the history class, the open sea appeared to “roll and dip more than the dunes of the Sahara desert”. I popped my earbuds in and drifted off to the land of sleep.
When I awoke, I was starving. My instincts told me what to do: purchase a SeaJet delicacy, the sausage roll. Although the food was simple, it felt like a 5-star curated meal, perfectly satisfying my hunger.
I returned to my seat and began to watch the show Invincible with my friends, although that was very short-lived, as we only had a couple episodes downloaded. For the final stretch of our odyssey, I decided to read some more of the novel Circe for class.
Before I knew it, we were docking in the Port of Rethimno. We grabbed our luggage, disembarked the ferry, and hastily loaded everything onto the chartered bus. When we arrived at the Olympic Palladium Hotel, it was past 11:00 p.m., and dinner should have been long finished. However, the glorious staff had kept the buffet open just for our tired crew, which was a very pleasant surprise. After dinner, we were shown to our rooms and entered what can only be described as a well-deserved deep slumber.
That’s all for today. Check in tomorrow for a post about our first full day on the largest Greek island, Crete. There are numerous settlements and ancient civilizations to explore, plenty to share when we return to Canada, now only nine days away.
Blog writer Callum signing off…
