{"id":2967,"date":"2019-06-10T19:32:32","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T00:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/?p=2967"},"modified":"2024-06-17T18:49:38","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T22:49:38","slug":"190610-not-setting-records-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/190610-not-setting-records-today\/","title":{"rendered":"190610-Not Setting Records Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bicycle stores in Greece open about 9:00 am. While I waited, I emailed a number of cycle shops. Vasily suggested I just call everywhere. It took a while to explain that if they don’t understand English, I won’t know if they have a box. It’s also a lot easier to say, “no” when I’m just a voice on the phone.<\/p>\n

I started out with two cycle shops farther away, but across the street from each other. “No” from both. I tried to talk the second out of the box behind the counter to no avail – already planned for shipping a bicycle. The third shop spoke no English, but some quick pantomime let to him wandering off, and returning with a box. A small box, but a box!<\/p>\n

Walking back towards the hostel, I pondered a slight detour for a fourth shop in case I could get a bigger box, but decided the explanation of why I wanted a box while I carried a box could be complex. Returning to the hostel, some quick measurements and I declared the box acceptable. Less than an hour later I had the bicycle disassembled and packed.<\/p>\n

Of the four bicycle shops I had emailed, three replied no (with varying degrees of politeness). My record for bicycle shops visited before acquiring a box I believe is six. I’m calling three a win.<\/p>\n

In talking with Vasily, we figured out that the Metro has a transfer on the way to the airport, but not the train. Vasily had been thinking Metro for transfers. Train it is. I still needed tape, but the large market down the street should be no problem. Back to exploring Athens via Metro.<\/p>\n

Along the way I visited the Acropolis, the closest thing to a castle in Athens. A few more sites and I retreated to the hostel for the evening.
\n\"\"
\nI was up late into the night talking with Vasily. He wants to travel more, and I not surprisingly know a few travel tools. He moved to the UK from Greece to improve his English; I told him he was welcome to come visit NC!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bicycle stores in Greece open about 9:00 am. While I waited, I emailed a number of cycle shops. Vasily suggested I just call everywhere. It took a while to explain that if they don’t understand English, I won’t know if they have a box. It’s also a lot easier to say, “no” when I’m just … Continue reading “190610-Not Setting Records Today”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-touring"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2967"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2973,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2967\/revisions\/2973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}