Travel Knots - Part II

Last week --48 hours after my return from Europe-- I doggedly pushed a few words into this space; upon reviewing that post, I see the fragile mortar between ideas, infelicities of word choice, awkward alliterations.  Oh well. I wanted to get it done, no matter how crappy I was feeling.

And I gotta tell ya, coming back is always about as much fun as I can have outside of an Iron Maiden. Not that I do not feel love for and from my community here (starting with the Darling Companion, then on through the sortafamily who show up smiling and warm).  But the atmospheric difference can be tough to negotiate.  My body's reaction is predictable: develop some kind of transient infection and pull it all down for a few days.   (And then we throw Mother's Day into the mix.  Yeah. Good times.)
But onward:  Last blog gave a few key ideas about timing your journey, what to expect food-wise, how to move across Greece, the availability of lodging.   This post will look at acquiring connectivity and maybe some language.

There are a half-dozen phone companies in Greece, and while I did use Vodaphone briefly last year, for the most part I have stayed with the Ma Bell of Greece, Cosmote (unlike ATT, they are not affiliated with the CIA).  Wind and Vodaphone are ubiquitous, but Cosmote seems to serve the most remote villages (and beyond, while crossing the Pindus mountains or 800 kilometers out to sea) almost without interruption.  Their offices are in every town square, and there is usually a tech/salesperson on the floor who can configure your devices.  The two prepaid plans are What's Up for your phone and Kosmokarta for tablets/iPads.  The links provided here will take you to the webpages, but do yourself a favor and just go to the Cosmote store.  Once you've bought the SIM card (10€ includes installation/configuration), you can register the account online and top-up through PayPal or credit card.   The total to set up new SIMs in your phone and tablet with about 1 gb on each them should be less than 30€.

In the event that you run out of phone-data before getting back online to top-up, your alternative is to buy a top-up PIN from any kiosk - the storelettes that dot sidewalks all over Greece.  You just say: Yparkhi Cosmote? Do you have Cosmote? and the guy (usually) behind the counter will assent with a little diagonal headbob (he's not saying 'no' - 'no/okhi' is a nod). "Deca evro, parakalo."  Ten euro (card), please.

You then send a text to 1314; in the body you key in the word ANA, then the PIN you just purchased. That puts the entire value (minus taxes) on your phone.  To convert to data, you text 1330 and send the number '200' in the body of the text.  In a minute or two you'll get a text back from Cosmote saying that 600 mb has been added to your phone, with about 10 minutes of talk time left (you'll be able to receive phone calls beyond that limit, but outgoing is restricted to 10 minutes).

Also, I gotta say, customer service with Cosmote (well, until the tourist season) is sterling.  Kind, patient, cheerful.  And their techs are actually competent.  But really, do as much as you can in the store itself. It will save you a LOT of time, and costs about the same as trying to shimmy through the website.

~~~

As for language study, I must confess that during this most recent journey, I let lapse most --if not all-- of my daily practice.   At some point I grew weary of 'chasing' the language like a reluctant romance, so I just stepped back and said: maybe --one fine day-- it'll just appear inside of my mind. Hah.  Greeks know, and were constantly commenting on, the fact that theirs is a curiously resistant language, especially for people raised in the Saxon sounds.  Now that I am back in the States, the study has begun in earnest again.   

Here are a few of my favorite apps...

Duolingo •

(arrrghhh... Blogger just dumped half of this blog, and I don't have it backed up yet... So now the language section will have to be pieced together again next week.  Sorry!)