The plan

"When are you taking me sailing?" says I to Dave. 

"Are you free in August?" says he to me.

Dave and I went to secondary school together (1976-1981), then trained as computer programmers together and worked in the IT Department of Irish Life. Our paths diverged in about 1990, but we've been back in touch for the past few years.

Planit-Earth

This year, he's taking me sailing in Greece on his catamaran Planit-Earth, a 2021 Lagoon 46. 

You can read about his sailing adventures on his blog:  Planit-Earth.

Flights from Paris to Athens in August are a shocking price, so I decided to go by train and ferry. I padded out each leg of the outward journey to make it a holiday on the way to my real holiday:

• 27/07 Train to Turin (2 nights)
• 29/07 Train to Naples (3 nights)
• 01/08 Train to Bari (not staying)
• 01/08 Ferry to Patras
• 02/08 Arrive in Patras at 13.00.

I'm hoping Dave will be there to pick me up. If he's not, I'll get a bus to wherever he is.

The return journey is not fully planned yet. The idea is to spend a couple of days in Athens and Thessaloniki after the sailing trip, then make my way (somehow) to Vienna, where I'll be spending the last few days of the holidays before taking the night train back to Paris on 24 August.

On the map, the red lines (train) are booked and confirmed, as is the dark blue (ferry). 

The green line is a rough idea of where the sailing trip takes place; the details will be decided by the skipper.

The yellow lines (as much train as possible) are not reserved and show just one possible route from Athens to Vienna.

(Tap/click to see the map in Google Maps)