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| Thread: My Trip at Halkidiki | |
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted July 01, 2011 01:13 PM |
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Edited by Elvin at 13:15, 01 Jul 2011.
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My Trip at Halkidiki
As you may have noticed by ohforf's recent unchecked spamming rampage, I was away for a few days ^^ A lovely trip with excitement, good memories and of course messy situations. As some of you may know a martial arts organization, budofest, had secured a seaside camping place for an aikido seminar and our sensei - being one of the two seminar instructors - had invited us to join him. Something between training and holidays, aikido practitioners from all over Greece would be there too which was a most promising notion. Being on Northern Greece I had to catch an early train for Thessaloniki and then check the bus routes till Halkidiki.
After a comfortable ride and six hours later(...) I was in Thessaloniki and by chance the bus I was looking for appeared the moment I stepped out of the station. From what I heard it only passed from that spot every 30 mins, good timing. Half an hour later I was in the ktel station that would leave for Halkidiki and.. I see that in 30 mins was the last ktel for Halkidiki. Had I missed the bus earlier I would have no way of getting to the camp that day  It was a long way too, more than a couple of hours but the scenery was rewarding and a nice distraction. Eventually I reach my destination Nea Roda and.. find out that I still have to walk one hour till I get to the camp. With my baggage. No taxi, no bus, nothing. The sun would soon set, it was 8 in the evening or so. Half an hour later the road splits and there is no sign as to where I am supposed to go. I take the uphill road and continue. A few cars pass my way but none stop for me to ask for directions. Finally a young couple stop and tell me I'm on the right track, they are surprised that I'm going there on foot. Eventually they ask me to get in 
Finally I enter the camp, get the key for the small wooden hut I had reserved and head for the beach to find the others. By then it was getting dark.
See this? Our hut was disappointing in comparison  Scenery was nice though, trees, greens and quiet.
We had one hell of a time in the beach and then went to the beach bar for a drink. Tomorrow's seminar would start at 8 in the morning but you know how it goes  If there is one fond memory I have from this place is the feel of freshly-cut grass under my feet when we stepped into the training place. Morning sun, wet grass and a serene sea in the near distance, perfect way to start the day.
Did I tell you I was supposed to be there with a friend? The idiot found a job 2 days before I left for Thessaloniki and promised that he would come on Friday afternoon. I was counting on him since I reserved the hut for the both of us and would pay double otherwise. So I call him and he says he's in Athens  He just decided not to come after promising and did not even bother to tell me. His excuse was he does not have a good relationship with the phone. And that he is sorry that he had to make a decision that he did not like. I suppressed the urge to tell him a few things, it was a beautiful day after all.
Rest of the day was spent on the beach, evening training, tavern and of course the bar A couple of most fulfilling days passed, the place was fun, we missed nothing and the aikidoka that soon joined us were open, warm people. The only thing I actually minded was.. ZE MOSQUITOES! I still have marks from the irrational scratching  Imagine I could see a friend's mosquito bite spots on his legs at 10 meters or so. A beautiful moment on the evening of the second day, we were training under a sky darkened with stormclouds with the wavy sea in the background  At some point I returned to the hut, sat on a chair outside to watch the heavy rain and tried some breathing exercises. Man that felt good. I had read an article on ki breathing a couple of days ago but did not believe I would try it anytime soon.
Unfortunately Sunday came too early. After the morning training a couple of friends were leaving for Athens so I asked if they could give me a lift till Thessaloniki. I had bought a return ticket in the beginning of the journey and it would be a waste not to use it. When I got in the train station I found out why the return ticket was cheaper. I would have to pay 16 extra euros to return via intercity train(as the one I had come) OR wait till 11 in the evening to take a regular train. To my horror I realized I could not meet the price, my coins slightly less  Because of my friend ditching me I had joined some friends from aikido to split the cost but as I later found that meant losing my reservation fee, 25 euros. A rule about having to cancel my reservation at least 21 days earlier  And 10 euros from another return ticket that I did not use because my friends gave me a lift. Naturally I could not return the train ticket so I was thoroughly screwed. I called my friends to return and joined them, I did not feel like begging for a few coins to take the train after I called them to return. Ugh. The journey back home was nice though, at least I had company. When I later confronted my idiot friend about his irresponsible behaviour he said that I was right in saying I cannot depend on him and that he should have told me he was in a weird phase those days. *blink blink* He thought the issue was money. And told me to spare him, when he would be in a stable mood he'd return and be the friend I knew again. What the hell, I felt like I was talking to a messed up girlfriend. I guess that's one less friend I can count on, I still have trouble conceiving he could be such a criminally irresponsible idiot.
Anyways monkey business aside it was a trip well worth it and just a few days later I miss that place. Returning to Athens to find myself away from nature, away from the sea and stuck indoors because the bus/metro drivers were on a 48 hour strike did not do wonders for my mood.
So, pic time!
The bar, nice little place.
Let me tell you, training in the open feels glorious
Fun fact, I had no jo on me so I had to look for a broomstick
See the guy with the blue stick? Behold yours truly.
I'm in the back row, second from the right.
Sensei at work.
A pic at the bar. Pardon the smirk, I just have trouble keeping a smile in front of a camera. Especially if the one taking the pic takes his time.
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H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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Doomforge
Admirable
Undefeatable Hero
Retired Hero
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posted July 01, 2011 01:58 PM |
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Awesome - looks like Besaid island from Final Fantasy X
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We reached to the stars and everything is now ours
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Vangelis21
Supreme Hero
Manchild
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posted July 01, 2011 09:17 PM |
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Quote:
Awesome - looks like Besaid island from Final Fantasy X
lol, good old final fantasy times!
@ELvin: were you in Halkidiki or in Hawaii? liar! last pic is "all the money"
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Heroes VI is here and Necropolis is serious trouble!
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted July 01, 2011 09:21 PM |
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Nah, maybe next time ^^
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H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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wog_edn
Promising
The Nothingness
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posted July 01, 2011 10:09 PM |
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Only 8 girls? Sausage-fest
If you don't count the trouble it sounds swell though! Cozy little hut too
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted July 01, 2011 11:17 PM |
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You got that wrong, our huts looked nothing like that. They sucked Always compared to their price of course, staying in a wooden hut with friends is cool.
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H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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wog_edn
Promising
The Nothingness
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posted July 01, 2011 11:21 PM |
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Oh well, if not for the mosquitoes you could've slept outdoor. I don't think you spent much time in the huts anyway, so no harm really
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TDL
Honorable
Supreme Hero
The weak suffer. I endure.
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posted July 02, 2011 12:57 PM |
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That kid looks like he's had quite a few more than yours truly, so you weren't that far behind.
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blizzardboy
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Nerf Herder
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posted July 03, 2011 02:31 AM |
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A pic at the bar. Pardon the smirk, I just have trouble keeping a smile in front of a camera. Especially if the one taking the pic takes his time.
Apology accepted, though I must say I didn't picture you as having long blonde hair.
Neat little training place. I love the straw-covered beach hut. For some reason it made me think of the beach scene in the old Mortal Kombat movie.
Gotta love the beach. I took a little trip today myself.
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"Folks, I don't trust children. They're here to replace us."
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