A warm welcome today to Vernon Lacey with his first entry in our Travel Highlights competition.
As he explains, "It describes the approach to Albania I made by ferry in 1996, a few years after I'd qualified as a teacher when I was a) unmarried b) had no kids c) had way more time."
As he explains, "It describes the approach to Albania I made by ferry in 1996, a few years after I'd qualified as a teacher when I was a) unmarried b) had no kids c) had way more time."
Ferry to Albania
A seabird hovered in the upper air, and then fell like an arrow, disappearing in the sea haze. I watched from a ferry deck as the boat chugged across the Ionian sea, Corfu distant, and the port of Saranda in Albania fast approaching. It was 1996. I’d volunteered for a summer-long, charity project renovating a maternity hospital in the north of the impoverished, ex-communist country. I’d read stories of violent gangs on remote roads. Ambushes. Dress like a pauper, we were told. In that hyphen of time, gliding over the sea, danger seemed impossible, and my heart was at peace.
A seabird hovered in the upper air, and then fell like an arrow, disappearing in the sea haze. I watched from a ferry deck as the boat chugged across the Ionian sea, Corfu distant, and the port of Saranda in Albania fast approaching. It was 1996. I’d volunteered for a summer-long, charity project renovating a maternity hospital in the north of the impoverished, ex-communist country. I’d read stories of violent gangs on remote roads. Ambushes. Dress like a pauper, we were told. In that hyphen of time, gliding over the sea, danger seemed impossible, and my heart was at peace.
Vernon Lacey
I grew up in Cheshire, UK. I teach Philosophy, Drama, and English in Munich. Before moving to Germany I taught in Barcelona where I met my German wife. We have three children, Hannah, Myriam, and Aódhán.
I grew up in Cheshire, UK. I teach Philosophy, Drama, and English in Munich. Before moving to Germany I taught in Barcelona where I met my German wife. We have three children, Hannah, Myriam, and Aódhán.
At the Beatles Museum, Liverpool, standing next to George Harrison's guitar.
