A Most Unforgetable Journey.

It is 1.39 am. At roughly 1.27 am yesterday we set off for our journey to Greece and just that alone has been remarkably memorable. Wer arrived in Istanbul this morning and were lucky enough to find a train to Edirne, which we believed had Trains which came straight to Thessaloniki. However, when we got there, we were met by a very dusty, deserted train station, in a town where very few people appeared to speak English. Eventually after a Burger King, which didn't appear to go down well on any of us and had the adverse effect to what we desired, we managed to get a bus to the bus station, where we thought we would be able to take the bus into Greece.

How wrong were we.

When we got there, we were told we had to take a bus to the Turkish town of Kesan, followed by another bus to Ispala, where we could then get to the Border and cross over into Greece. So much for a quick train ride from Edirne. The journey to Keshan took 2 hours and it was around 6pm by this time. We got the next bus to Ispala at 6.30pm and finally got there at around 7pm.

This is when the fun began.

We took a taxi to the border, and just as our taxi disappeared out of sight, we were informed that we could not cross the border without a car and if we attempted to, we would be shot, as the area between the two borders was a military zone. The Officer promptly advised us to hitchhike across the border, the idea of which seemed easier than in practice.

We tried our best to explain to Lorry drivers the predicament we were in, but many weren't willing to offer help, probably due to fear we were illegal immigrants. There was a British guy who was willing to help but wasn't himself crossing the border for a few hours.

And just when our spirits were at their lowest, a guy who appeared Dutch was telling he would be willing to cross us over.

Bear in mind, we had been travelling for roughly 20 hours at this point, If Charles Manson had offered a lift, I doubt any of us would have rejected.

Alhamdulillah, this guy took us across, and it was revealed that he was in fact a German, originally from Chechnya, a pious Muslim and it turned out to be that my first experience of Greece, was praying with him on the side of the motorway. The more amazing thing however, was that he took us all the way to Thessaloniki, 400 km away! He was going there aswell, subhanAllah!

Things were looking bright, a long day seemed to be drawing to a close..

Until we got to the city and couldn't find a Hotel because they were full for the weekend, but we did find one eventually around 1.20am and the first thing I had to do was to right this down, because it has been draining, frustrating and unbelievable at times, it's just that i think it's one of those scenario's you look back on and think "Actually that was kind of cool!"

A night in a Hotel never sounded so appealing.