Category motivation

Ongoing adventures remind me that from lemons we must make lemonade. In my previous entry I made mention of being left on the side of the road by the taxi driver in Mykonos because I only had cash to pay for half the distance. (You’ll be happy to know I figured out my PIN and now have plenty of cash!).

Today, I was woken from sleep by the hotel manager with a series of bangs on my door. Flashback time. The travel company I booked with (GVV) never provided me tickets for the ferry from Athens to Mykonos, to Santorini, and back to Athens. Keep in mind this was all part of the vacation package. They provided no details of ferry departures, and provided me with no tickets. So, while in Athens, I was woken by telephone to tell me at 6:30 in the morning that someone was there to bring me to the ferry. Since when? There was no time to pack or catch the ride. So she left. I had to make my way by taxi to the port, pay for a ticket that should have been included, and basically make my own way to Mykonos.

In Mykonos, I thought to get ahead of the game by seeing if the hotel had any tickets or any idea when my departure to Santorini was. No idea. I call GVV. No idea. They referred me to Tour Greece. I call Tour Greece and they say sorry and they will send someone with tickets the next day at 9:30. Port departure is at 12:50. Sounds like a plan.

Back to today. The hotel manager bangs on my door at 10:00 a.m. I scurry to the door and he says the 12:50 ferry has been cancelled and I have ten minutes to get to the port to catch the only ferry out for the day. Yes, ten minutes to pack up my hotel, find a taxi, get to the port (a fifteen minute ride), and get on the boat. Apparently I’m the only one that can do math in Mykonos. Of course, nobody ever left tickets at 9:30. Apparently they cancelled all ferries after the early one due to wind.

My only choice…stay in Mykonos. Thankfully, the hotel had the room still available, but I have to pay out of pocket for the night! What’s more, they told me ferries may continue to be cancelled due to wind for the next two days!

As I eluded to in my last blog, nobody cares that I’m stranded. Nobody cares that I had to pay for ferry tickets and hotel rooms that were already paid for.

So, what do I do? Write, relax, sleep, sip coffee and enjoy Mykonos another night…or two…promising that the only complaining I will do is to the travel company to be reimbursed and to my blog audience. Outside of that, life is good! It’s not always good, but when it’s not, power through it.

–Styles

Let’s face it, having expectations of others is the source of all frustrations. As soon as you expect anything from the world, from loved ones or…from anyone, you set yourself up for disappointment.

On my travels I got off a ferry from Athens to Mykonos in Greece and immediately a taxi driver greeted me, which was great because I needed a lift to my hotel. I used GPS to pinpoint where the hotel was so I was aware that it was not an outrageous walk if I had to. So, I had no expectation that I would have a ride, but not disappointed that a taxi driver approached me.

That said, as I was following the taxi driver to his car I told him I only had credit card, to which he informed me that no taxi driver in Mykonos accepts credit cards. The problem was, I only had $20 in cash on me and he had quoted me a $40 fare (which, let’s be real, I knew was a laugh and he was exploiting me, but I wasn’t going to argue). He drove me to a local ATM and I couldn’t retrieve cash as I didn’t recall my PIN number so he ended up driving me halfway and dumping me on the side of the road. I took my bags graciously and went on my way.

When I told others the story, the reactions were clearly shock. Who would ever? I never took that position, personally, because I understood two things about this particular situation. First one, time is money for business people, so my expectation that this person would drive me the entire way at half cost is not realistic. It’s altruistic, sure, and maybe some drivers would have, but not him. No worries. Secondly, I understood that to have an expectation of anyone i.e. that they will go above and beyond, that they care, that they somehow value humanity over their personal agendas, is not realistic. In the end, the one the cares most about you is…YOU. Don’t expect anything from anyone. If you are dying in the street of thirst I’m quite sure that someone will offer you a drink, but if they don’t…do not be surprised. Find a drink on your own.

Once you realize that all you have at the end of the day are your own devices, the less frustrating the world becomes and the more of a strategist YOU will become.