My long way back home from Lisbon ...

All the good things have to come to and end eventually. One typical example is the erasmus exchange programme.

I did my first erasmus in beautiful Lisbon. It was one of my best experiences until now and while i was there I couldn't realize that at some point I would have to turn back home!

My semester started in the middle of September and finished in the middle of January. This period seemed so short for me that I decided to stay one month and a half more, until I finally ran out of money!

I hadn't booked tickets back home, so I started searching for flights very late, two weeks before my departure. A direct flight existed only from Lisbon to Athens and it was very expensive so I couldn't afford it.

So, I started searching for a more economical way back home, even if I had to travel many hours. After many days of searching for a lot of alternative roots and with a lot of help from my friends, I found how I would go back home. I decided to take a bus from Lisbon to Madrid, then take a flight from Madrid to Athens and finally the night train ( because it is cheapest than the daily trains ) from Athens to my hometown, Thessaloniki.

I had to book only my flight and the bus in advance, so I did it.

Unfortunately, at some point the day of departure had arrived. I had already packed my stuff some days ago because i had to carry a lot of things. Imagine I had to carry two big suitcases, one big backpack, and my laptop.

Lisbon to Madrid

My friends came to the bus station to goodbye me and helped me load my luggage into the bus. My journey with the bus would last for 11 hours, so it would be a long night.

The bus station of Lisbon, Sete Rios.

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I was so tired and of course sad when i realized that I was leaving, that I slept most of the hours.

Madrid to Athens

When I woke up It was early in the morning and I was at the main bus station of Madrid. The bus station is underground, so I had to use two escalators to go up and had to find the station to take the public bus to go to the airport. Luckily, i had a lot of hours until my flight, so I wasn't so much in a hurry!

I asked few people where I could take the bus that would drive me to the airport but they were telling me that they didn't know or they were giving me false information. I went a few times upstairs, but i had to carry all my luggage everytime with me. Dragging the suitcases on the escalators and goind up and down without a meaning was very exhausting and frustrating.

After a lot of questions and different discussions without any literal help, I decided to go up one last time and find out what to do. I went up the escalators and I exited the bus station. I was so tired and anxious that for a moment I thought that I would miss the flight and stay there forever! The time was passing and passing and I was still at the bus station, tired hungry and thirsty and without any extra money to spend.

I called on of my Spanish friends that I had met in Lisbon who was from Madrid to ask her for some more information. I didn't had a lot of money in my phone and at the time she started talking, we lost connection and I ran out of money and couldn't call her back.

I sat down to relax a bit and start thinking of what I could do! At that point, a worker from a construction site that was there, came to me and asked me if I was okay. I told him my problem and he said me that he could show me where was the bus station. He asked me where I was from and why I was travelling with so much luggage. I told him shortly my story and he took both my suitcases and carried them until the bus station. The bus station was less than five minutes from the bus station and I was so surprised why no one from the people I had asked didn't know. He took me until the station and waited with me the bus to come. When it arrived, he helped me to put them into the bus and I thanked him one more time. I got into the bus and after half an hour I was at the airport of Madrid.

The outside view of the airport of Madrid!

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There were a couple of hours until the flight so I was not anxious. I found a table with a chair and decided to stay there and wait. I was so hungry that I was feeling very weak but I hadn't taken any food with me and my money wasn't enough to buy anything in the airport. I convinced myself that I could wait until the flight and that I wasn't so hungry.At some point I fell asleep for a couple of minutes but when I woke up I tried very hard not to sleep again because i was afraid that i would miss the flight.

When it was almost one hour before the flight, I went to leave my luggage and i started waiting in the line. There were lots of people and many of them were Greek.

Finally, I was one step closer in finishing my long journey. I entered the airplane and found my seat. I wanted so much to close my eyes and sleep but my empty stomach wouldn't let me so I decided to wait first for the food and then sleep. The time was passing so slow and the food came very late. I ate everything in maybe less than 5 minutes and then slept only for a bit until we landed in Athens.

Athens to Thessaloniki

Before leaving Lisbon, I had talked with one of my erasmus friends that was in Athens and we arranged that she would come to pick me from the airport and I would stay one night at her place to rest and see her. Finally the plans changed and she had to travel back to Lisbon that days. However, she talked with one of her friends and I would finally stay at her place.

I found the bus from the airport that would take me to the center of the city, Sintagma square, where her friend would wait for me to take me to her place. The journey with the bus wasn't very long and I was soon at the station where I had to get down.

I tried to draw down my suitcases from the bus. At that point a strange guy offered to help me and I said yes because I couldn't do it fast by myself. A woman from the bus saw this conversation and told me to be careful of him. I got so mad with her and told her that is should not be of her concern and that it would be better if she helped me and not giving me advice. After the help that the guy had provided me, he asked me if I had some change to give him, but I told him that I was broke, so he didn't bother me and I just thanked him.

Across the station, the friend of my friend was waiting for me in her car. I found her, we introduced ourselves, placed my luggage inside the car and drove to her place.

Her place was not far by car from the center, so after 10 to 15 minutes of driving, we were there. When she opened the door, I saw inside the house ten of her friends having a barbeque. I introduced myself to them, played a little with the cat that she had and sat down to chat with them.

I was so hungry but when I saw all the food that they had, I was full even with only a look. They told me that I could eat as much as I wanted. On the table there were all the kinds of greek food that I had missed : tzatziki and tirokafteri dipps, fried zucchinis, feta cheese, potato salad, greek salad and all kinds of meat. I ate a lot of chicken and all kinds of siders.

There were also plenty of beers and plenty of greek cheap white wine called retsina, which is also my favourite. I drank some glasses and started sharing my erasmus experience with the people. They also asked me for some information because some of them wanted to go erasmus. I helped them as much as I could, but after an hour I was feeling so sleepy that I decided to go to sleep.

I took a shower because I was feeling very dirty from the trip and went to sleep. I fell asleep in seconds.

The next day we woke up, drank a coffee and ate some of the food that had been left from the barbeque. Then I spoke a little with my mother on the phone to tell her that I had arrived and I was okay and I also checked the timetable of the trains. The train that I wanted to take was supposed to leave at 12 in the midnight, so we had a lot of time to waste.

We decided to go to the center for a coffee and stay there until the time that I should leave. We went to a very nice place, that was indoors but looked like a beach because it had trees and sand on the floor. I liked the place very much but unfortunately i cannot remember the name of it to share it with you.

We had long conversations and the time passed so fast that we didn't realize that we had to leave and also be fast. We went inside the car and she would drive me until the metro station that I should take to get to the train station. The time was 23:30 and the time was pressing us. She drove a bit fast and finally we were at the metro station. She told me the station I should get down at, and I got inside the metro. When i got out, the time was 5 minutes to 12 and I still had to carry my suitcases on the stairs and buy a ticket. I realized that I would miss the train for sure, so I just sat down and decided that I would sleep there and take the early morning train.

At that point, a ''small miracle '' happened. Two guys who came out of the same metro with me, started running towards my side. They just took my suitcases and told me to run with them. I just started running after them and I didn't really know where we were going. In some minutes we were at the ticket's office and the one of them bought a ticket. I bought also one for me and the guy from whom we bought the tickets told us to be extremely fast because in less than a minute the train would leave.

We ran very fast and they threw my suitcases inside the train. Me and one of the two guys entered the train and at that moment it started moving. I told him thank you maybe 100 times in 5 minutes, but he didn't know greek, but i think he understood what I was saying from my expression. He helped me to find a seat and put my luggage to a place where there was some free space.

The outside view of the main train station in Athens.

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I couldn't believe that I was inside the train, so all my worries went away that moment. After half an hour the guy came back again and brought me a coca-cola. I told him thank you a few times more and then just listened to music until the train arrived, after 7 hours, to my hometown, Thessaloniki.

The train station of Thessaloniki.

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My mother was waiting for me with the car to drive me home. I couldn't believe that I was home and I was so excited when I thought that without the help of strangers I would still probably be in Madrid waiting for my parents to send me money to find a way back home. Sometimes, the saying ''don't trust the strangers'' has the totally different meaning, and without the help of them you can get completely lost !

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