From the idyllic village of Dunster in Somerset England we set out for another hitch-hiking trip, this time to Greece :) But there's a slight twist to this session as it involves an airplane from Gatwick Airport just outside London.
I'd heard on the grapevine of travellers that there's an outback office at Gatwick that sells seats on flights. Obviously they are seats that are late cancellations. We were on our way to check this myth. I say myth because "they" say these seats are so cheap the only way cheaper to get to a destination would be to walk!
3 people hitching together is not an easy task! 2 can be difficult on the best of days and of course 1 is a breeze. :) So today could be very long or just right. By "just right" means getting to your destination within the given time frame. A time frame is the amount of time to hitch-hike to your destination from door to door. For example: to drive from Dunster in Somerset to London on average takes just under 4 hours depending on the traffic. For a hitcher you need to include walking to your hitching point, standing around time plus other situations like the weather for eg. I've added 2 hours to this as an average, so to hitch to London should take 6 hours or so covering around 230 miles.
Well on with the flow we go :) Our day of hitching can be described as just right. 2 reasons helped us achieve this. We took it in turns to do a "hide", and of course we used our fantastic smiles. A "hide" is when someone hides not too far away from the scene and is generally within shouting distance. When a car stops, you talk and explain to the driver that your hitching buddy is taking a leak. You shout to your mate " Oi! Finished your leak yet?" and then we are on our way :)). Our hitch to Gatwick went like this all the way! But not always going to take a leak :))
At Gatwick we ask a number of staff about this fabled office and no one knows or has even heard of it. Eventually we are pointed in the right direction and after walking down corridor after corridor we find a tiny booth manned by 2 guys. We ask for tickets to Greece as soon as possible, preferably Rhodes. Athens was coming up as the only option. A number of clicks are heard on the keyboard and moments later a chap says there are 2 seats available on the next flight and the following flight may have a seat available but this seat is not guaranteed yet.
A quick discussion about the questionable seat pursues between us and the decision is made to take the chance. The conclusion was that we had found this mythical bargain basement ticket office and there are going to be more flights available so even if 2 of us have to wait a day in Athens then no worries. :) We are travellers just heading somewhere so there is no rush!!
Myself and Fiona take the first flight and say a huge good luck to Darren as he waits for the confirmation of his flight.
We arrive at Athens airport elated. As a backpacker it's kind of a necessity to buy food, places to stay and of course travel tickets as cheap as possible. We hung around in anticipation!!
A few hours later Darren walks through the doors!! "YEEEE HAAaaa!!" I shout as we congratulate a successful hitch-and-scrounge!!
Our plan is to cruise around the islands for a while, head across to Turkey and look around there, then we'll see what happens. :))
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