We arrived at the Airbnb around 21:45hrs. Bearing the name old church house and being situated opposite the church, I suspected our lodgings were formerly the old rectory. Our host was standing on the doorstep when we arrived, phone in hand and a strained expression on her face. We’d phoned because the sat nav had deployed us in roughly the right place, but not where we needed to be. Our protests that the sat nav had landed us in the wrong place, were ignored.And what followed was a statement that inferred that we were stupid if we’d followed the Airbnb directions, as everyone knew that they’re notorious for being wildly incorrect!

Having satisfied herself that we’d been put in our place, she ushered us inside before glancing down at our small bags and with raised eyebrows asked if we’d got all our luggage, in from the car. The inference being that yet again we’d done a half-baked job, left our luggage in the car, and she wasn’t going to be suffering fools gladly. We reassured her we hadn’t forgotten anything which was met with narrowing eyes and surprise. Glancing at the clock she noted it was late and enquired what time we were leaving. Our reply that we would be gone around 3:30 am was met with shock and an automatic response that it ’twas hardly worth getting in bed, so why had we bothered renting rooms for the night? I suspect she was conveying her surprise that we would only be under her roof for the next 6 hours. Your scribe suspects that subtlety is not a skill that comes easily to her, and maybe not one she’d placed much value on in her working life. Although I may have been a little harsh, maybe the truth is that it was late, at 21:45hrs she was usually in bed, and like many other “morning people” she turns into a grumpy bear as the evening moves ever closer to midnight. 

That saga over, we climbed up the stairs to our beds and the next thing we knew Liz’s alarm clock was announcing it was 3:30 am. Back in the car we wound our way along some seriously bendy country roads with chicane and S-bends in them. But unlike our country roads, there wasn’t a pothole in sight! 

I’ll pick up this account in the airport. We glided through baggage drop and security and were soon in the cattle pen with 10,000 other folks, all of whom were up far too early but were equally determined to start their holidays in earnest. With that in mind, the bars were heaving and you’d have been forgiven for assuming it was almost midday, as the bar staff struggled to keep up with the volume of lager, wine and spirits being ordered. Never mind the quantity of breakfast items and enough tea and coffee to sink several battleships.

Due to the swarm of people that had covered every table and chair like a flock of locusts, we were unable to partake of any breakfast at our preferred establishments and were forced to retreat to Burger King for a dry sausage patty in a bap. Why the sauce wasn’t part of the menu item I’ll never know. It definitely used to be.

Having eaten our breakfast I left the ladies to chat while I paced circuits of the holding area, to help offset the fatigue I’d feel with being concertinaed into my aircraft seat. And that’s when I saw it. And it made me feel very sad. I’ll explain more in a moment. Suffice to say I managed to prevent the ladies from seeing it too. Something you can’t unsee, and probably don’t need to retain in your memory.

We’ll gloss over the motor-mouth that was sitting in the same row, on the other side of the aisle. All you need to know is that she had one of those voices that carried, her and her ( I assume) husband thought they were the life and soul of the party. I could still hear her not-so-gentle tones in the background of the film I was watching, despite having my noise-cancelling headphones on full tilt. [Steve screams into the wind]

Arrival at Kos airport was pretty smooth, although the approach into the runway reminded me of pod racing in Phantom Menace, as the plane flew between rocky banks and the pilot corrected the plane tilting a little, probably due to the rising hot air of the sun-baked rocks below us. 

As always we were racing the clock, hoping to be at the hotel before the main restaurant’s lunch service ended, which thankfully we did with 25 minutes to spare. The rest of the day was spent exploring the hotel and then sitting by the pool with a gorgeous view of the ocean, sipping a beverage of our choice and catching a few rays. While my back was turned, the ladies skulked off to the creperie…. 100% premeditated.

Here’s the view from the reception balcony, more pics to follow tomorrow.

If you’d prefer not to know, then you need to close this web page now. Otherwise, keep reading…

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So I guess you want to know. Are you sure?

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Still here? Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I’ll start by encouraging you to figure out the things you want to do with your life, and write some of them down, especially if you’re under 40. You will probably assume like I do, that you’ve got all the time in the world to work through your list, and in a sense you’re correct. But you’re also incorrect. 

Maybe the places you want to go and visit, things you want to experience won’t survive the tough global economic climate and they’ll simply cease trading. Obviously that applies less to bucket list items like “visit Rome”, (yes Sophie, I know you’ve been there), but you get the idea

There’s an old saying that goes something like “when you’re young, you’ve got the time but not necessarily the money, and when you’re older you might have the money but not necessarily the time.” You’ll be forgiven for thinking that I’m referring to either time off work, or that it’s hard to find spare time in a busy family schedule. That’s true. But if you leave all your bucket list items too long, you might not have time to complete them. And that’s the reality that crashed, thundered and rocked my world at 5:10 am this morning, as I strode along my fast walking route to be greeted by airport medical staff who were attending a sleeping gentleman in smart casual attire with salt-and-pepper hair and black-framed glasses. He’d presumably got to the airport too early, or maybe he felt a little unsteady and so he decided to lie down on a bench for a moment. And then before he could get up, he floated away. So sad. His pale face was immediately burned into my brain in seconds. We’ll never know what adventure he was about to have once his plane landed. Whether he was returning home, visiting family or ticking something off his bucket list. All I know for sure is he expected to arrive at his destination, but didn’t. A sobering note for us all.