If you are not willing to risk the unusual you will have to settle for ordinary. – Jim Rohn
My heart was pumping so much blood like was willing to take off. I lost the control of my body, it was trembling, maybe it was its way of saying that’s too much adrenaline and cortisol for such a short period of time. I brought together my palms, sweaty and shaking, as praying and imploring the universe or God or whoever has the power to save my life.
I could hear the voices in my head: “what the hell, Ramona? how could you do this? I know you love and trust people but some precaution would work well, at least from time to time.”
Off to Greece
After 2 months spent in Salerno together with my brother and his family and after investing some time and effort in making money from a summer job, the cruise ship that goes to Greece gave the signal that we were leaving the port from Bari, Italy.
Wow, a night on a cruise ship and then to Athens. I was finally going to visit the cradle of democracy and the streets where Socrates was making use of maieutics to stimulate critical thinking. It was my dream as a student in Philosophy.
It was the first time I stepped onto a boat of such dimensions. I was impressed by the magnificence of the salons and the glass elevators. However, this extravagant lifestyle didn’t bring as many sparkles and butterflies in my stomach as the thought I would finally visit Athens.
I found my seat in the deck space but couldn’t stay still for too long. I went out to watch the sea. Ahh, such a cold but refreshing wind that almost blown me away.
I met some cool travelers, a girl from Brazil that came to Europe to study, and a German guy that was traveling around Europe. The idea of crossing the seas and oceans and visiting as many countries as possible seemed such a daring dream but seeing people that were already doing it gave me confidence.
Near to my seat was a boy that introduced himself in Italian. I presented myself and apologized for not speaking Italian very well. He had some familiar accent.
We laughed.
A long night with many stories shared. In the morning we considered ourselves friends so he proposed me to give me a lift to Athens. His friends, 2 guys from Albania, were coming to pick him up and they were going to a small town near Athens.
He said his friends are very nice people and they would definitely love to make me this favor. I didn’t accept. How could I? I didn’t even know them and why would I have troubled those people? He insisted and took my refuse as an insult for not trusting him. I gave up, what could go wrong? In plus, if his friends accepted I could have saved some money. Wey.
We reached the port, we took our luggage and here we were. His friends arrived and my, now, Romanian friend asked them to take me with them. At first, they watched me suspiciously but finally agreed.
The trip to Athens together with 2 Albanians and another Romanian in a car
We were on the freeway and the driver pulls into a parking and asked my “friend” to go out of the car. I was left alone in the car with the co-driver that was speaking to me in Italian and showed me a Romanian ID. I then realized it was a fake ID, he didn’t even know to say “hi” in Romanian. The Romanian guy and his Albanian friend were gesticulating a lot and looked like they had a disagreement. Their conversation lasted for more than 10 minutes, that for me anyway felt like an eternity.
Meanwhile, the other Albanian that I was in in the car with, asked me lots of questions about my personal life. I freaked out. I didn’t know what to do. I felt I was in danger but how could I have saved myself? I could end up even dead or sold into prostitution. This thought made me almost lose my consciousness. I felt I was asphyxiating. The guys returned to the car.
We were back on the freeway. The driver asked me many more and detailed questions about my personal life and about my particular reason for visiting Athens. I told them about my dream of visiting Greece but he insisted that it’s very strange to him that such a young girl was traveling alone. I finally asked them what do they want from me, I didn’t have much money but I was willing to give them all that I had.
They laughed.
I felt I was going nuts. The Albanians started speaking in their own language and the Romanian guy looked at me but I couldn’t read any thoughts on his face.
I just prayed and hoped that all will be fine.
Everything turns out to be OK
The Albanians start speaking to me in Italian and their tone changed. They started making jokes and assured me that everything is fine and that they will take me to Athens. I didn’t know what to do, I had just one option: to believe them.
Suddenly, the atmosphere inside the car relaxed, the guys became nicer and they opened up. They told me that they had some problems in Italy and that they were now searched by the Italian police and the INTERPOL.
My face dropped.
They were afraid I was from INTERPOL because it was strange for them that a girl could just go in a car with some strangers for quite a distance.
Oh, I reassured them I didn’t have anything to do with any authorities….I’m a crazy girl in love with travel that wanted to discover Athens.
We arrived in Athens and because they don’t know very well the city they asked a Greek taxi driver to take me to my hotel and required him to not overcharge me, and he did so.
We agreed to meet and have lunch the next day in Athens.
After a year they visited Romania and came to see me in the city I was studying. We kept in touch for years.
Hehe, she doesn’t speak English so no chance to find out now, after 12 years….