Life Journeys....

July 1978.
Nikos, my Greek friend came back to Sunderland after a year out. He had spent it working for his ship-owner cousin repairing and selling ships.
The day he came back I had steak for the first time in months in the best hotel restaurant in town. Two bottles of Médoc and a great night out.

He had driven back from London in a second-hand Land Rover he had just bought.
“We’re going to Greece for a holiday!” he announced.
“When are we leaving?”
“As soon as we find two adventurous girls willing to join us!”

Several expeditions to local night clubs failed to uncover a pair of Sunderland lasses open-minded enough to embark on a blind European journey so, a few days later, we loaded up our luggage and headed south on our own.

Just 35 miles down the A1, on the outskirts of Darlington, the engine blew up!
We tried to get it repaired but ended up selling the jeep for scrap!

Undeterred, we hired a van and drove to London where we bought two £28 return coach tickets to Athens.

I spent a wonderful month in a tiny Greek village enjoying the hospitality of Nikos’ family. We lazed around all day on the local beach, visited his relatives for coffee and baklava and then wined and dined the nights away in friendly country tavernas.

At the end of the holiday I left Piraeus on a nine-month sea journey that took me to West Africa, around the Med and all the way to Madagascar working my way from grease monkey to third engineer. Paid holiday!

The time of my life!