Day 402: Don’t Stop Believin’

06.02.10: The last two blogs aren't true. I just made them up. Sorry, it would have ruined the surprise. Here's what really happened... When I was in Cyprus last Tuesday, I discovered that it would take two weeks from the date of application for my visa for my next country (Libya) to come through. I had not been made aware of this earlier (annoyingly enough) – I thought I was just going to pick it up at the border. This meant that no matter what I did in the next couple of weeks, I couldn't continue with my journey. I might as well pick up the visas for Libya, Algeria and Central Asia from London myself. I might as well... Why the hell not, eh? It's still part of the journey, it's still in the spirit of The Odyssey; I can't enter the kingdom of the…

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Day 398: Branson’s Pickle

02.02.10: Dragged my carcass off Zafer's couch a few minutes after seven, said my thank yous and goodbyes and soon enough I was down at the port clambering onto the fast ferry back to Turkey. And twist my nipples and call me Frank what a fast ferry it was. While the Calypso had taken a good eleven hours to cross the sea to Cyprus, the fast ferry took under two hours to get back. If only these hydrofoil things existed elsewhere... I could have been to Crap Verde and back within a day! The return leg from Mauritius would have taken a six days, not six weeks! The Caribbean?! Oh, if only...! Excuse me, Mr Branson, once you've quite finished fleecing the British commuter of every penny to travel on your disgustingly over-priced train 'services' (you know, the ones that actively punish the spontaneous and bereaved…

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Day 397: Calypso’s Isle

01.02.10: When they say slow boat, they mean it! It was 11am before we reached port in Girne in the northern half of Cyprus. Northern half? What, like in St. Martin/Sint Maarten? Well, kind of, but in a much less hilarious fashion... Warning – history lesson alert!! You can skip this bit if you like... Back in the mists of time, Cyprus was ruled by a succession of all the usual suspects in the area – Assyria, then Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome and eventually the Byzantines... that was up until Richard The Lionheart turned up like a great big flowery nonce and gave the island to his 'friend' Guy de Lusignan. That was good for Cyprus for a while, having a 'guy' in charge who was good with colours helped with the aesthetics no end and before long, Cyprus was enjoying a golden age. That golden…

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