mad nomad-isa:

   I was still in Kefalonia, getting ready for my departure to Italy in September, when I received a call from the marketing department of the ΑΝΕΚ-SUPERFAST Lines. I was surprised to hear a voice on the other end of the line informing me that the application we had submitted for a sponsorship had been positively evaluated! The company would cover the full cost of the tickets, both mine and my motorbike’s, to travel from Patra, Greece to Ancona, Italy by ferry-boat. I would be sailing on SUPERFAST XI and the trip would last almost a day.

   The surprise, however, that I felt hearing those news was nothing compared to my feelings in front of the check-in booth inside the port… The sponsorship was not about a mere place on deck but would cover the expenses of an exterior, twin-bed cabin!

   When I was through with the paperwork, I entered the ferry’s garage and parked Leonida with the rest of the motorcycles, as there were quite a few motorcyclist groups, mainly from Germany and Switzerland. Well, to tell you the truth, they should have put me along with the trucks parked inside the ferry-boat, that’s how overloaded I was… saddlebags, rucksack, backpack, mattress and a pair of tyres, all these were hanging on each side of the motorcycle and she had every right to be cranky about it!

Leaving Greece behind me…

   Being on board was like having entered a five-star hotel! Let alone my cabin, which, as it turned out, it was all mine! That’s what luxury is all about! No need to say, of course, that I spent half of the trip sleeping, or being in a coma was more like it, since in the last few days before my departure I was in such a tense that I could hardly sleep every night…

   That’s how I ended up from being a nomad to being a princess! The red carpet was the only thing missing for reaching the pick of my glory… Wait, I think there was actually one laid…

In such a luxurious, exterior, twin-bed cabin I was feeling more like a princess rather than like a nomad!   Thank you so much, ANEK Lines, for the pampering and the relaxation you provided me! It was more than necessary, in order to hit the road with my batteries fully charged (no, I don’t mean the one of my cell phone)…