Tried and True World Traveler

I'll talk about the amazing parts of Mykonos and Athens first and about the panic ensued journey to Greece later.

How can you describe the tiny island off the south west coast of Greece? You really can't, it's absolutely amazing. The natural beauty in itself is indescribable. Tourquoise waters and white stoney beaches attract young --very good looking, I speak for all genders--sun bathers to Paradise Beach for unforgetable (for some unmemorable holidays).

We arrived on Friday morning, early. So early in fact that the busses weren't running. We had carried all of our luggage on, so we didn't need to wait at the tiny one conveyer belt baggage claim. There was a cat, inside, which wasn't a surprise as all the doors were open, but it still weirded us out. This was the first of many millions of cats, I suppose, that infest the island. As we walked outside with our maps, we wondered what we were going to do. The island wasn't too big, so we could probably walk-we're all extremely cheap-but decided that wasn't a good idea because our lack of sleep distorted our internal compas points, ha! A man driving a VW taxi called us over, but already had a man in the front seat. "One, two, three, four, you--in the back." We piled in. THIS is where concerned parents should probably stop reading. :) We dropped off the man in the front and continued our journey going about 50mph in one-laned (meant for two cars) streets with stone walls two feet from the edge of the road. The driver pumped up the techno to a volume much louder than any cab should be allowed to have speakers for and that's when we knew, after silently, gut-wrenchingly giggling, that this was going to be the time of our lives.

The beach was paradise that first day. After checking into our cabins (and once again collapsing with hysteria over our less than diva accomodations) we shimmied into our long awaited bathing suits. The sun felt like gloria streaming down--London could never give us this kind of heavenly heat.

I ate four gyros pitas on that trip--the real kind with roasted pork, fries, tomato, onion and dressing on a perfectly toasted pita. I would take a trip to Greece again just to eat those gyro pitas. We went to the club at our resort that night, and all got seperated, but survived. I wound up watching the sun rise in the small, white building town of Mykonos over the infamous windmills, and spent the next day laying on the beach again- slightly more bronzed. I never wanted to leave, but after 3 days, it was time to travel back 2,500 years.

Athens was rediculous--both in good and bad ways. "If my dad knew I was staying in this hotel, I wouldn't have been allowed on this trip," --April. This is probably true, but we made it there from Mykonos and to the airport in time to make our flight without misfortunes. Aside from our accomodations being in a really dodgy part of town, I GOT TO SEE THE AKROPOLIS lit up at night and toured the ruins during the day. I realized how lucky I was when we talked about how many people (most) will never get to see this in their entire lives.

If you watch 300 or My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the characters in those vastly different films embody all the Greeks I met/saw/interacted with. They're all a bit edgy, pushy, LOUD, and somewhat sloppy in the way they carry themselves. I noticed as I sat on the aisle seat that I'd never been jarred by so many big bottomed women [flight attendants] in my life.

I have never laughed so hard with good friends in my life. It's amazing how I have yet to experience a single bad room mate. To think that six weeks before this trip of a lifetime I only knew one girl I was living with, and not very well at that. We laughed so hard, and although some of the memories we have promised each other "will stay in Greece," I know they will never be forgotten amongst the four of us.

Maggie talked about one of her friends saying how everyone should be jealous of her life because she [the friend] thought her life was perfect. This sounded a little bratty to me, but the more I thought about it the more I agreed with what she said. Although I'd never say someone should envy my life, I just wish that more people could experience the same things as me. And instead of saying my life is perfect, I'll just say how appreciative I am for being able to live it.

My computer crashed (yea, this is the bad part) right before leaving and I have no way to upload my pictures. My debit card (my only means for cash) was eaten by the ATM three minutes before boarding the train. Our flight information was not displayed until 5 minutes to take off. The list goes on with smaller problems, but I survived them all. One must learn to let go in order to see the world :)