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This... Is Sparta!

6/28/2018

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I got a few hours of sleep on the plane after taking the Milky Way photos, and woke up only ten minutes before we were supposed to land. The view out the window was rather fascinating, brown jagged hills stuck up everywhere around us, and I wondered where there would be enough flat space to land a fully loaded A330 aircraft. Our wheels touched down just after 09h45 local time, and we were quickly off the plane and on our way through customs. After seamlessly collecting our bags, we actually ran into a friend of mine from high school who was heading back to Boston with her husband, having spent a week in Santorini on their honeymoon; Dani always likes to point out that there’s hardly a place on the planet I can go without knowing someone. 

Our smooth arrival was quickly interrupted by the rental car company asking for a copy of my international drivers license. Dani had made all the arrangements for our Airbnb’s and rental cars, and knowing I had rented a car in Italy last year assumed I had the international license. After a minor heart attack that the first three days of our itinerary would be relocated to a more local plan, I was actually able to utilize my “executive status” (read: “I travel too much” status) at National/Enterprise and secure us a car for a few dollars more without needing the international license... thankfully we were back in business without too much of a headache. Fifteen minutes later we had found the tiny, blue, four-door, stick-shift Suzuki, and after a quick talk with the exceptionally friendly rental lot agent were on our way under our own power. The plan for the day was a three and a half hour drive to a tiny costal town overlooking the Aegean Sea, located on the eastern side of the Mani Peninsula. The drive had no real expedited timeline, and our only planned stop was in the ancient city of Sparti, located almost exactly halfway between the airport and our final destination for the evening, Oitylo. 

The highways navigating us south of Athens proper were four lanes wide and relatively empty of traffic, a welcome change from the vehicular headache Boston is. I kept us a little bit over the speed limit traveling down highway E65, as cars passing 40-60+ km/hr faster were whizzing by in the fast lane, and less reliable looking vehicles trudged along in the breakdown lanes. There were a few tolls points of $2.80 each, roughly $3.50 USD, and I utilized the toll booth workers to practice my very poor Greek conversational skills, “hello” and “thank you”, both which got big smiles from the toll agents. We stopped at a highway rest station for bathrooms and to buy a few liters of water for the day. Continuing on, we eased out of the plateaued landscape, skirting by one of the oceanic shipping ports, and began climbing into the mountains. 

Had you blindfolded me and taken me here to this exact location, I’d have guessed we were in southwestern Wyoming or even parts of Southern California. The dry hills towered above us as the highway cut into the sides of these mountains through four-lane tunnels. We spent an hour or so in terrain like this, constantly shifting the car between fourth and fifth gear as the 1.4cyl engine worked hard to provide A/C for us, battling the 90-degree heat outside, while climbing and descending the roads. A little while later we took a curvy off ramp exit off of E65 and began a more meandering adventure on the backroads of E961 towards Sparti. 

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Driving West
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Our Little Blue Clown Car

Shortly before 15h00 we arrived in the quaint town, the speed limit dropping to 40km/hr while  luscious green trees began lazily sprawling over the two lane road. Beautiful homes adorned each side with identical off-white exteriors and red clay roofs, colorful flower boxes hanging outside each window and a great many Greek flags flying outside their doors. Following signs for The Fortress, we navigated through the town square and up into the hills where the majority of the famous Sparti ruins remain. Noted as one of the less famous “wonders of the world”, these ruins date back to 400BC and are built into the side of a jagged and rocky mountain. Inside the tall security walls of the compound are deteriorating but surprisingly present buildings that have stood for centuries as monasteries and palaces to those in power, as well as courtyards that served as festival/bazaar grounds to the local townspeople. The mountains behind us stand nearly 6,500 feet tall and tower over the Fortress itself, built at the the highest point of the grounds, while the vast valley lays out ahead of it. It’s easy to understand how the elevated position was a benefit to the Spartans as they were able to see enemies moving across the valley and prepare to stage an attack. 

Upon finishing a few hours of exploration around the lower ruins and higher fortress, we headed back down the mountainside, ready to find some sort of early dinner.  Between the flight, drive, seven hour time difference, and 4 miles of hiking the Sparti ruins with 500+ feet of climbing, our bodies were becoming very hungry and somewhat confused as to when they were being fed. We pulled off at the first available restaurant, noting the dining balcony and impressive vantage point of the valley floor. Sharing a large Greek salad, tzatziki sauce, and olive oil marinated chicken breast, we enjoyed the views and talked about the days ahead. Family of the restaurant owners were eating at the table behind us, and after some friendly conversation in English we learned they actually live in the Central Florida area, in the small town where Dani grew up. George and his wife Cindy were exceptionally kind and gave us some great local recommendations of places to visit during our trip. We finished our meals, said our goodbyes, and began the remaining hour and a half drive to our final destination, starting with some exceptionally questionable roads out of town courtesy of Google Maps. For a second we actually thought this had become an overland trip, traveling down bumpy dirt roads (nearly bottoming out our tiny Suzuki) and for a moment wondered if we actually had to drive through a small river to stay on the route it was recommending. Thankfully we did not, and the road sharply turned down another narrow path instead, eventually finding ourselves on a main thoroughfare with adequate pavement and normal speed limits.
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Hiking the Spartan Ruins
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After the roads climbed back out of the Sparti area valley, we continued on until we saw the Aegean Sea for the first time, the sun hanging low on the horizon and ocean water a deep blue hue shining back at us. We made a quick bathroom stop and refueled the tiny car to the tune of $30 Euro despite its kid-sized gas tank (I paid zero attention to actual tank capacity, but now that I’m writing this I am actually intrigued and will report back). Another ten minutes down the road and we arrived at the Panorama Inn, a small six-room bed and breakfast some 20 feet back from a cliff that went straight down to the sea. We were checked in by the owner’s young daughter, shown to our rooms, and after well deserved showers (we had walked just under four miles and climbed 500’ of elevation at the Fortress after the previous night of trans-Atlantic flying), proceeded to both fall asleep in small chairs on our small balcony overlooking the big sea. 

Tomorrow we’re going to explore a few local attractions down by the water’s edge before hopping back in the car and proceeding another hour east towards the small oceanside town of Monemvasia. Cameras, drones, and phones are each on the chargers for tomorrow’s adventures, and we’re officially calling day 1 in Greece a success.

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Spartan Olive Groves
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Nearing Our Destination
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Cliffs At Sunset - Itilo, Greece
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Trans-Atlantic Flying

6/26/2018

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​We left on Saturday the 9th in an exceptionally relaxed manner. Calling an Uber to make the ten minute ride to the airport around 11h30in preparation for our 13h00 flight to New York City’s JFK International Airport. The agent at bag check gave me quite the funny look as I checked only a small duffel bag, wondering aloud why I was carrying the largest of my two bags on the plane. It was at this point that I noticed my clothing bag was half the size of my electronics bag. This shouldn’t really surprise anyone, but I got a good laugh out of it. The hope for this trip is to utilize our Mavic Pro drone much more than we did in Canada. If you haven’t yet seen the 45-second highlight reel from the Trans-Canada Overland trip last summer, check out a link here. Editing that short film made me realize the power of the drone itself for catching footage in places I’d otherwise never be able to, so I’m pushing myself to use it to its fullest going forward, starting on this trip to Greece. 

Our connecting flight to New York went off without a hitch, and we spent our two hours at JFK on Delta’s roof-deck lounge that overlooks the international flights terminal. This is always enjoyable for me as I love to point out planes and track their destinations (If you don’t know this, I’m a little bit of a commercial aviation nerd). At 16h00 we began boarding the plane, an Airbus A333, that would be carrying the two of us and 291 of our newest acquaintances across the Atlantic Ocean. I watched TV and Dani enjoyed a movie as pasta and chicken dinners were served, shortly after which the cabin lights were turned off and many went to sleep. We flew into the darkness of the night, 39,000 feet over the ocean and 25 miles in front of, and behind, the nearest trans-Atlantic flight, flying through the sky like ants marching between colonies. 

Shortly after Dani shut her iPad off and reclined the chair to sleep, I was staring out the window at the stars. Now that the majority of the cabin was asleep I was able to see in much greater detail than beforehand, immediately recognizing the Milky Way sprawling out across the sky. I usually sit on the left side of European bound flights, in hopes of catching the northern lights from my window seat, but at the time of booking all that were available in our class were souther facing seats. I didn’t think of this then, but it gave me the most incredible view of the Milky Way. As a photographer I typically spend time under it, aiming the camera up to capture the height of its beauty. Being six miles up in the air gave me an unparalleled view, and I instantly knew I needed to try and photograph it. The funny part of this is that the cards were epically stacked against me; photographing the Milky Way from a tripod on the surface of the earth can be exceptionally hard in itself, and here I was moving at nearly 600 miles an hour in an airplane that even in its smoothest moments is still somewhat bouncy. Keeping a camera still and the shutter open long enough to absorb any amount of usable Milky Way light was going to be a heck of a problem. Needless to say that after 50+ test shots, I was finally able to capture a non-blurry image, the camera held solely in my hands and pressed against the window, while I did my best to hold my jacket over my head and block out the ambient pollution from reading lights and a few scattered TV screens still on in the cabin.  

For those photography folks that read this, I will include some spec details on the image below. A ‘normal’ photo I take of the Milky Way is done on a tripod, usually at f/2.8, ISO3200 or so, and a shutter time of 30 seconds with my 14mm, or 20” with my 24mm lens, adjusted accordingly to ensure the sky doesn't move too much to blur the stars in the photo. It takes a few tries to get focus on point, but those settings usually return a great image. The photo I took on this flight was handheld (no tripod), at f/2.8, ISO12800, and a shutter time of a whopping 8 seconds. I did this while holding my breath and trying not to move in the slightest, and I guess it finally paid off. The image itself isn’t perfect, but the science and situation behind it make it truly spectacular to me. 

Once I’d accomplished making this photograph to the best of my abilities I put my headphones in, turned on some quiet music, and fell fast asleep. If there’s one thing I’m good at in this world it’s sleeping on airplanes, and I had five more hours in-flight to make use of that talent. 
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International Departures - JFK Terminal 4
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The Milky Way - 39,000' Above Earth
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Two New Adventures

6/4/2018

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Hey all!

It's been quite a while since I've had a chance to write anything for 2180miles itself, and I've been missing it. Work has been crazy over the last few months, and has unfortunately left me with little time to myself. Thankfully, Saturday will bring a brief end to this mayhem.

On the afternoon of June 9th, Dani and I will be taking off for two weeks traveling around Greece. She had expressed to me her interest in going well over a year ago, but was happy to let the Trans-Canada Overland trip be our 2017 summer adventure, in exchange for which I promised we'd explore Greece this year. She has planned us a fantastic 13 day itinerary during which we'll travel around via rental car, ferries, and our own feet visiting Athens and a half-dozen of the southern islands like Crete, Mykonos, and Santorini. We made a trip to downtown Boston's REI store a few weeks ago and got her outfitted with an Osprey 46L pack which will be perfect for the trip and future hiking excursions. I'll be carrying one of my 60L bags, and for the first time in my life I think I might leave my laptop at home and solely bring my iPad for blogging. Rest assured I'm bringing two cameras (and probably my drone), and will be taking notes throughout so there will be blog posts to come detailing hikes and visited ruins, alongside what I hope to be some spectacular imagery.
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Santorini Airbnb
The view from our upcoming Airbnb - Santorini, Greece
The other big piece of news to announce is our recent engagement. On May 25th I rented out the entirety of Boston Public Library (Dani's favorite place in the entire city) staged a fictitious event featuring an Emily Brontë book collection on display (her favorite author), and asked her to be my life's greatest adventure. ​Thankfully, she said yes.

So that's it... a bit of news from my world.  We do have a few other trips planned with the Overland club this summer, and should have some time hiking up in New Hampshire's White Mountains as well. The Jeep is getting a hardshell roof-top tent for when we're camping out of it, large enough to fit both of us with plenty of room inside for sleeping bags, pillows, and misc. gear. It's waterproof, aerodynamic, and sets up in under 60 seconds... the latter of which is a key feature that should make our overland trips, whether an overnight or month-long adventure, easier and more pleasant in many regards.

That's it for now. Talk soon, and thanks for following along.

Ryan


Dani + Ryan Engagement
Bates Hall - Boston Public Library
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    Hey there! I'm Ryan McKee, a free spirited adventurer, photographer, and digital media creator who calls North Carolina home. I travel incessantly, carry a camera with me everywhere, and am always dreaming of my next big trip.

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