Navigation

Well, I guess I should just admit it. I know everyone has known this for quite some time now - but here goes: I am American, and because of that fact - there are some things I just don't know how to do. phew.

When Becky and I decided to go to Crete (many thanks to Aunt Chris for helping us find a great place to stay) - we were immediately and overwhelmingly told that we needed a rental car. No big deal, right? Wrong. a. Neither Becky nor I knew how to drive manual transmission, b. we had no maps. However, we were fully confident in our navigational skills and my ability to quickly learn stick shift. My younger brother, Calvin, started giving me lessons on his truck (I think it's a 1990 Ford Ranger Sport - old, rusted, and hence we lovingly call it 'the smuck'). Calvin is a very patient teacher, and I think he should probably go into that business someday. After 3 lessons and many, many stalls - we had done parking lots, neighborhood streets, and the terrifying town of Fairfax - I didn't think I was entirely ready, but Calvin had faith that I could do it. Lots of pep talks - even a pep text at the airport, and I had a do-or-die attitude. Becky, meanwhile, was all prepped - she knew her role was to be 'very, extremely calm!!!'

We land in the port of Heraklion after 20 hours of flying, a few layovers, and a 7 hour ferry ride. It's dark, and we couldn't find our vehicle or our rental company. Panic ensued. But after 45 minutes of searching, we called up our Greek buddy, Chris, who immediately got on the phone and helped us connect with the Sixt people. We signed some papers (who even knows what), got vague directions to the highway (oh yeah, still no maps), put our bags in the car, and got into our tiny, grey Nissan Micra.

I took several deep breaths, put in the clutch, and we were off. I won't lie and tell you that it was an incredibly smooth ride. But we only stalled a couple of times, and this little car was SO much easier to drive than the Smuck. (definitely a good way to learn - start with the toughest, and then everything else is EASY) Well, we found the highway and started driving up, up, up the mountains of Crete. Back and forth, so many switchbacks. Maybe Becky knew that Crete was mountainous, but I had no idea - so that was a fun surprise. Meanwhile Becky is telling me, "Abigail, um, can you see around that bend? Because I can't." subtle. yes, ok, I will turn on the brights. What a blessing that it was dark and we couldn't see the sheer cliffs that we drove on!

Have I mentioned yet how much I was praying? pretty much every second. this was ALL God's grace to us that we were safe on the road.

So, after about an hour we arrived to the area where our hotel was. We drove, drove, drove searching desperately for the street signs or ANY signs. All the signs in Greece are in Greek - can you imagine? They typically have English underneath, but that's really only the case on the highways. We were unable to find street signs anywhere once we had left the highway. Not even one. Well, being smart ladies - we stopped to ask for directions. The locals told us, "Go straight, only straight, very straight." Ok, that sounds easy enough. Nope, the road forks once, then twice, and then we are lost yet again. It's much easier to drive stick on highways than in little towns, so of course I was flustered. Finally an old gentleman told us, "It's just around the corner, come I will ride my scooter, and you follow me." What a blessing. The hotel was literally down a sign-less alleyway, about 500 meters. We might never have found it. Again, God was so merciful.

Finally we are 'home,' and all we can do is fall into bed thanking the Lord for his kindness. The rest of the week we drove only when it was easy to find where we were going- why add extra stress to our vacation by trying to navigate the narrow streets of the tiny beach towns? We took lots of public transportation (which by the way is much cheaper than paying for gas in Europe, and I would say- we navigated just fine. Props to Becky 'the navigator' Verno and Calvin 'instructor extraordinaire' Griffith for their contributions. And really, praise the Lord that we had no accidents. Also praise the Lord that he kept us safe on all those public buses - there were lot of harepin turns, and a few times we thought we were going into the pretty blue water.

Overall, though, I found it quite fun to learn a new skill and adventure our way across the island. I sort of miss driving manual now... maybe Calvin will trade me for the Smuck every couple weeks - how will I ever convince him?