1st of April, 2022.
Getting into Monastiraki Metro Station on a Friday night it is not easy task. There is this guy buy the tickets machine saying that we didn’t need to buy a ticket at all. I buy it anyway. One of the gates is actually open, so I pass by that one. At Kifisia though, a problem: me and a lot of other people,who passed that gate without validating our tickets, can not go out now. A lot of the youth are just jumping the gate. I obviously cannot do that because of my backpacks. Some sweet girls held the door open for me.
I was in the metro for almost one hour so now I run to get which is most likely the last bus to outside of town. I get it! But is is full of people. Mostly youth. As my day couldn’t get any worse, I miss my stop. It is not my fault! The name on the board is different from the one Google gave it to me. The problem is: we are far away when I finally decide to ask the driver about it, so now I will have to walk a long way back and he is not taking that way back because it is the last bus.
I try really hard not to cry.
I am walking on the streets at so late at night but I am not feeling scared. I ask for water in a already closed restaurant and the lady who opens the door for me anyway is lovely! I am greeted by two men just hanging out outside, I think they were eating and I am almost sure they were either homeless people or something closed. They were nice to me too!
I stop in a 24/7 snack place and ask for information. The ones the bus driver gave it to me start to get a bit confusing. The lady from the shop is super nice and help me a lot! She even offer me any food or drink if I want. I have both so I kindly refuse. She also offers me to sleep in her car, because she will be there all night. But I decide to find a place to camp. A taxi driver comes by and says this is a dangerous neighbourhood. I go through anyway. I don’t feel as it is dangerous at all!
Half way to the exit of town, I see what it seems a small park / garage, beside a company / apartment. There is a gate but it is open. There is also a car parked. On the back it is very dark and there are some trees. There are people living in both sides but I am so tired that I decide to camp in here anyway. My only concern is with dogs. But if there was any, they didn’t hear me.
In the morning, a surprise: there is a second car parked; the gate is closed and with a locker! What? I didn’t hear anything or anybody at night. Did somebody see me? The gate it is too high for me to jump with the bags. Luckily, on the left side, at the company building, there is a whole, so I can pass my small backpack, and it is slightly shorter than the front gate, so I pass The Hulk over it. Then I jump the front gate and fuck it!
There are several nice places to camp on the way to my hitchhiking spot. Of course I wouldn’t be able to see them last night. I stop in what used to be a snack / coffee place, most likely not long ago, and have my breakfast before getting to the toll station.