Almost exactly two years ago, we drove a small moving truck--ok, Sam drove the truck--up to Sam's mom's place in Maine and we stowed our remaining possessions in her barn. Yesterday we did the same thing but with an even smaller van and the drive was shorter because it was from Rockland, Maine instead of from DC. Yay for not having to drive through the New York metropolitan area (or Baltimore or Philly or Boston...or even just through the District)! It's much nicer when a place like Camden Maine is the biggest traffic congestion worry on a drive.
Two years ago we flew from Maine to Greece. We'll do that again, on August 31. Only on this trip we'll stay within Greek borders for more than just a few months. But it's not exactly a trip is it? We plan to stay in Greece and seek resident permits. So is this a journey? A move? We still keep saying we're leaving on a trip; we haven't found the right word for it. The plan, at least for now, is to visit some of our friends in Athens for a few days. Then, just as we did two years ago, we will go to Alonissos for a month of swimming and enjoying small island life. Then, also like two years ago, we'll go onwards to Thessaloniki, where in October we'll look for an apartment to rent so we can apply for those resident permits. And ultimately we'll see if we like living there long-term. It's an experiment. As we have often told people for years, we love Greece, but we want to date it longer to decide if it's a trustworthy boyfriend. Maybe we're about to officially go steady for a bit to see if it works out. No marriage just yet!
It's a different world that we're venturing out into this time, but we feel lucky that we can have a redo of sorts. Maine has been a great place to be and it's bittersweet to leave. But we're excited to get back to Greece...hard to believe we'll be in Athens in less than 2 weeks.
We made a little cheatsheet to spell all this out from 8/31 onward...
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| Early morning snapshot before we took the van up to Serena's barn |