Suddenly Adriatic, Part 1

Two weeks ago, @freeminded asked on Mastodon if anyone would like to sail a transfer from Corfu to Ancona. I thought for a moment: Am I good enough? Do I have the time? Will it work with two or three complete strangers? Time was quickly arranged, leaving the others — but oh well, the flight was quickly booked, and October 3rd was approaching. I want to try to write the rest down as a log, because a lot happened.

October 3rd I take the train to Hamburg, where I, as always when I have an early flight, have settled into Kock’s Hotel at the airport. I’d rather pay 100€ than try to be at the airport by 5:30 a.m. for a 7:30 flight — which can already take two hours using public transport.

October 4th, 5:00 a.m. Alarm, shower, get dressed, off we go. Damn, why is it raining in Hamburg? And even more damn, why did I put on my cotton jacket instead of my oilskin jacket (which is in the sea bag)? By the time I reach the terminal, the jacket is soaked through. A great start, indeed.

October 4th, 5:50 a.m. Checked in, surprisingly at Terminal 2 — nowadays, when there’s hardly any staff left for check-in, it should actually be possible to check in at any terminal and drop off luggage at any belt — it’s sorted in the background anyway. Well, there must be reasons, even if it’s just “we’ve always done it this way.”

October 4th, 6:00 a.m. Coffee — I need coffee, even though I’m actually quite awake.

October 4th, 6:45 a.m. Boarding for Munich. I’m surprised that “boarding by groups” in Hamburg now works quite well — I’m allowed to board early, but I have just my small “grab bag” as hand luggage, so there's no stress.

October 4th, 8:35 a.m. Touchdown in Munich. At the airport, suspiciously many people of all ethnicities are walking around in lederhosen. Apparently, it’s “international alcoholism appreciation weeks” in Munich. I feel very out of place. Coffee is a challenge — I look for an airport bar that promises at least decent coffee, and find one near my connecting gate that even advertises Lavazza. The coffee, however, is rather meh. Oh well.

October 4th, 10:15 a.m. The connecting flight to Corfu was actually supposed to depart around this time. It didn’t. Due to a drone sighting, the airport had been closed for a few hours the day before, and the plane scheduled to take us to Corfu couldn’t operate its planned rotation. Unfortunately, it was already fueled with so much kerosene that it would have been too heavy to land on Corfu. Fuel dumping isn’t planned on the A320, the captain later explained to us, which is why it took an hour and a half. I wonder: did they use some kind of hand siphon pump for that?

October 4th, 11:30 a.m. Here we go. At least. It’s astonishing how close everything still is, two hours later…

October 4th, 13:20 …we land on Corfu. The distance from the plane to the terminal is maybe 70 m, which we cover by bus. Comfortable.

October 4th, 14:00 Waiting for the luggage

October 4th, 14:30 Waiting for the luggage

October 4th, 14:55 My sea bag has arrived. Somewhere in the 70 m from the plane to baggage claim a bit of time must have been lost. There was no official information, but unofficially it was said that something had gotten stuck somewhere. At least I had some fun in the meantime guessing city names in Greek script: Μόναχο – Munich Αμβούργο – Hamburg Ντύσελντορφ – Düsseldorf Στοκχόλμη – Stockholm

October 4th, 15:20 I have arrived at the harbor in Corfu.

October 4th, 17:00 Flo and I are on the ferry to Igoumenitsa — something has to work.

October 4th, 18:45 Flo and I have found the Quetzal in the harbor of Plataria and are on board. Pascal, despite some difficulties and apparently a wild taxi ride from the airport in Corfu to the harbor, made it onto the ferry and is safe for ton

October 4th, 20:52 Pascal is in a taxi from Igoumenitsa to Plataria, travel time about half an hour. Shortly after nine, the crew finally has their skipper. We want to set sail during the night, because the weather forecast is worsening over the next few days, as a low-pressure system approaches the Adriatic from the north.