Day 22 Saranda back to Tirana

Happy bus is cheerful to get you to your destination.

Today I woke to my last day in Albania.  I’m not ready to leave but am at the same time very ready to be home.  The day started with a long leisurely breakfast with Alma and the girls, with lots of laughing and chatting, and a bee that fell in honey, got saved and was carefully watched as he cleaned his wings until he could fly again.  I then headed down to Hotel Mucobega for my last swim in the Ionian, I swam, drank espresso, drank up the sun, chatted with folks, read and sadly eventually said my goodbyes.  I garnered some candied orange and watermelon rinds from Erjoni’s and returned to my room to finish my packing.  The bus didn’t leave until 2:00 but as it was my chance to get to Tirana I wasn’t going to chance it so Alma, the girls, and I headed out at 1:00.  They got me situated, helped me get my ticket and we hugged our goodbyes.  This really was a bus, a tour bus with a big happy sun painted on the side.  Many of us chatted waiting for the bus to load and I met a guy named Dom from Sicily.  He was charming and funny and when we boarded we sat near each other and continued chatting.  He is in his 50’s and has been traveling his whole life, he speaks 6 languages and had absolutely hilarious stories form every continent.  He was a great distraction from the fact that the weather was in the 90’s and the AC on the bus didn’t function.  We did stop a bit up the road from Cold Water and drank, filled our water bottles, washed our faces and chilled out for a few before returning to another few hours in the hot bus.  We stopped for lunch at a little roadside place, I had a quick bowl of rice with meat gravy before we headed out again, it was a whopping $1.  After more napping and ignoring the heat, any stops picking up more and more people until the bus was nearly full we started letting people off as well and shortly thereafter we were at the last stop.  Time to grab my luggage and find a cab.  Dom offered to let me hang out at his hostel for a while but I decided to head straight for the airport, thinking I may be able to check my baggage and catch a nap.  I found a cab easily enough, negotiated a price and shortly thereafter arrived at the airport.  There would be no baggage checking as the check in counter wouldn’t open until 2 hours before my flight, so 2:30 am.  I curled up on a bench with my baggage, set an alarm and napped until I could check in, after which I went through security and customs and promptly went back to sleep.