AT THREE A.M. I was woken up by loud, lively drunken Greek banter in the outdoor taverna directly under our balcony. By the time the revelers turned in for the night I was wide awake. While Joy was blissfully snoozing I made coffee in the room and settled in to read my Urantia Book, and as the sun rose up over the harbor and I caught it on videotape.

When Joy got up we sat on the balcony with our coffee and wound the tape back to see what we had shot so far. We got to somewhere in Amsterdam then decided to look at the rest later. This was an unfortunate episode as I forgot to fast-forward the tape and, as I discovered later, wiped out everything I’d taped between Amsterdam and our arrival in Hania, including my nostalgic trip back to Corinth!

After getting dressed we sought a travel agent to inquire about the “Nissos Kypros” situation, as our tickets had been fully paid for and we were still determined to take the three-day “cruise” if the customs strike should end. We were told the strike could end at any moment and to call the shipping company at four, to see if the ship would sail the next day. This caused a dilemma as we didn’t know whether to stay on Crete another night or return to Pireaus, so we packed up our things and left them downstairs, just in case the boat was given the green light to sail.

At ten we picked up our laundry, having dropped it off at a small mom-and-pop operation the day before, then went around to see Joan and Kostas in the carpet shop. Joan let us use her computer in a small upstairs office to catch up on our email, which we hadn’t been able to do for a week. Her daughter came around to meet us and we took some pictures.

All day we were in limbo on the relaxing waterfront, going from one place to another for food and drink, and exploring every inch of the small town of Hania. We had wanted to “walk about the island,” as Jesus had done, but settled for “walking about Hania” instead. One of our major goals was to shop for wheeled luggage carts, hoping this would make it easier to haul our stuff around.

At four we called the shipping office and were told the boat would not sail until November 25—the following Wednesday. What should we do? One option was to return to Athens immediately from where we could fly to Cairo, thereby doing our planned trip in reverse. We could apply our boat tickets for same trip, but from Israel to Athens instead, when the strike was over. We both agreed that this was the smartest thing to do.

The daily ferry to Pireaus was scheduled to leave Hania at 8 p.m., but the ticket office informed us that due to bad weather it would not sail on time. We bought tickets anyway, for a first class cabin. We boarded, had a great dinner in the comfortable dining room, read our books, slept soundly, and when we woke up at sunrise the boat was still docked in Hania!

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