Another overnight ferry ride.
Take bus No. 13 from the ancient city of Chania to the ferry terminal. When I got off the bus, there were probably only five or six people left in the bus. A young man made a gesture asking us to get out of the car first, as if inviting him to dance. In my mind, this should be the second time I saw such an elegant gesture of "please" in Chania.
The young man saw the look on our faces after we got off the bus and said that he was also going to take the ferry. He pointed us in the direction where the cruise ship was docked and showed us the way.
He took us to a ticket booth at the boarding area. In fact, we had already bought the tickets. It was about an hour before boarding time. What we wanted to find was the waiting room, not the ticket office. He looked at our tickets and understood immediately. But this pier is not as fully equipped as the Piraeus pier in Athens, and there is really no waiting room.
But we can’t just wait in the sea breeze by this dusty pier where large quantities of goods come and go.
Soon, we found a coffee shop on the corner of the road twenty or thirty meters away.
The young man said, wait for him, he will accompany us. He had to buy a boat ticket at the window first.
Then, carefully avoiding the passing trucks, we walked to the corner cafe. On the way, he told us that his name was Eddie and he was from Albania.
"Albania? Is it near Italy? A country on the Balkan Peninsula?" I spoke out my vague impression of this country without thinking.
"In northern Greece...I'll point it out to you in a minute."
When we arrived at the cafe, there were a lot of people, but Eddie immediately found a seat for four.
I opened Google Maps on my phone, found Albania, and showed it to Eddie. Eddie said, yes, yes. Then we exchanged ideas about our travel experiences in Crete and Greece.
Eddie spoke quickly, like the Greeks. Moreover, when he describes experiences, stories, and experiences, his expressions are very rich, and he has a bit of actor's humor. When he talked about his experience of visiting the Grand Canyon in Crete, he also asked me for Google Maps on his mobile phone to find the location of the Grand Canyon. Later, when he talked about his country, Albania, he told us on the map that a beautiful lake area called Pogradec was the place where he stayed when he was in school. He hoped that we would definitely go there if we had the chance.
He then shared with us some stories about his Spanish friends, his knowledge of the French, the experience of one of his Chinese-speaking friends, etc., and told us why Greeks generally speak English so well: because in Greece 80 % are foreign tourists. Greeks, especially in areas with many tourists, will find it difficult to get around without English.
After chatting for about an hour, it was time to board the ship. Again we cautiously made our way through the chaotic traffic lanes filled with trucks. Eddie also helped me carry my suitcase for a while. We said a hasty goodbye at the stairwell of the cruise ship. Maybe we will never see you again in this life.
The relationship between people is amazing. Some people just pass by and are completely strangers. Some people just say hello when they meet, or even just look at each other and smile, and then they become strangers to each other. Some people will have a conversation and may exchange many stories and experiences, but they will become strangers from then on. Some people travel with each other or meet for a few days due to a short-term contract. They get along very happily, but they never meet again.
And for some people, it was just a light relationship at the beginning, and they never thought that they would meet again and again, and they gradually became familiar with each other, recognized each other, and became very good friends. Some people met through seemingly unreliable channels and traveled together again and again, becoming rare travel companions. Some people feel warmth at first sight, worry again at first sight, peace of mind at third sight, and finally become partners...
We have no way to predict the direction of relationships between ourselves and others, nor can we even set the direction of relationships. It took five hundred times of looking back in the past life to get one pass in this life. This sentence is an exaggeration, because you don’t think you have ever looked back at a person five hundred times in this life, but you will probably pass by countless people in your life.
People often lament that they meet countless people and call them friends, but in the end very few of them stay. Some people feel sad about this, while others feel proud of it.
During the journey, the relationship between people is very simple. Because you have nothing to ask for, you will belittle the direction of the relationship. You don't ask for goodbye, and you don't refuse to say goodbye.
