My European Vacation, Part 2: Greece

Now onto Greece!

Our night ferry docked in the Port of Patras and from there we made our way by bus to a restaurant on a beach about an hour and a half outside of Delphi. I have to say I was a bit nervous (but excited) to eat authentic Greek food. I had never really eaten too much Greek food in the states. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. But again, it was a three-course meal so I had a massive food baby afterward. Actually, I had a food baby at least once every day of my trip. Thank goodness we did all the walking we did or I would have put on some pounds. Our bus driver for this part of the trip was Kostas, who looked like he stepped straight out of the Jersey Shore tv show. He also had a penchant for old school country music.

After our first Greek meal, we headed to Delphi. Can I take a moment and just say how quaint and adorable the town is? I wasn't expecting it to be so small (literally one main road in and out). The views of the surrounding area are to die for. The people are also very nice. One shop owner, to a group of us, "You are American? Oh, you are so beautiful." She probably just wanted us to buy pastries from her shop, but you don't here Americans saying that. Well, it at least isn't as charming without an accent and also, frankly, it's kind of creepy.

Dinner that night in Delphi was at a cute local restaurant where two guitarists were playing. I was still stuffed from lunch but since dinner was free (i.e. we paid for it in our original trip fees), I wasn't going to not eat. The next day, as most of the group was recovering from the discoteca the night before, we headed to the beautiful site of Delphi. Our tour guide, Christina, was really good and gave us a lot of information without it being on overload. It was nice to have a lot of time here to walk around and just soak in the ruins and scenery.

I'd like to take a moment to talk cats. Because there are a lot of them in Greece, like everywhere. The funny thing is that they just hang out outside of shops and cafes and don't ever go in, even if the doors are wide open. They are also pretty friendly and will let you pet them. The cat lady in me was delighted because I have a cat and was missing her a lot while I was away.

The next day it was on to Athens. We stayed at a hotel just outside of downtown Athens, which was only about a block away from the beach. I couldn't, unfortunately, get too excited about the beach though because it was all rocks and no sand. Not too enjoyable to walk on, but at least I got to dips my toes in the Aegean Sea. We took a short bus tour of downtown Athens and then headed to the Acropolis. I was so excited to see this site, because I'm a big mythology nerd. However, I have to say it was a bit of a letdown, personally. It was so crowded, like hard to walk around crowded. Also, our tour guide for this, while a sweet lady, took us up to where the ruins are and had us stand in front of one of the buildings for close to a half an hour. Not fun. Eventually most of us took out our earbuds and started walking around on our own.

I will say, however, that the night portion of our Athens day made up for the day portion. There was a group of us who traveled to Cape Sounion and visited the Temple of Poseidon. We also had dinner there and got to see the sunset over the Aegean Sea. It was a stark contrast to the Acropolis due to the fact that there was hardly anyone there. I got to have my mythology temple fix without feeling stifled.

The next day it was onto the cruise ship for our 3-day Greek Island adventure. Our first stop was the beautiful island of Mykonos. This was the perfect start to our cruise because we had nothing planned for Mykonos. We got to just get off the ship and have a couple hours to walk around and enjoy the island.

The second day of our cruise consisted of two stops, Kusasadi, Turkey and the Greek Island of Patmos. We toured the ruins of Ephesus in Kusadasi and aslo we able to visit a Turkish rug facility. It was neat to be able to see a demonstration of how the Turkish rugs are made. Trust me, real Turkish rugs are worth the price because of the materials used and time it takes to make one. In Patmos, we walked around and did some shopping.

Our last day we stopped at Crete and Santorini. Crete was kind of a blur because it was early in the morning and we were only on the island long enough to tour the Minoan Palace of Knossos. By this point, I was pretty much over the Whisper devices and ruins in general. Plus, it was really hot that day and there was no shade or breeze to be found at these ruins. Also, again, our tour guide was a nice man but a bit monotone. Trust me when I say, an engaging tour guide can make a world of difference.

Our last stop was Santorini. I was supposed to do an excursion to the Oai Village, but I really wanted to ride the mules up the cliff to the main village (which I wouldn't have been able to do, had I gone on the excursion, so that won out. Best.Idea.Ever. I highly recommend riding a mule up to the main village, if you're ever visiting Santorini. A once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget. There was a group of about 7 of us and we laughed the whole way up. I also had some of the best baklava I've ever tasted in Santorini.

Things I learned on my trip:
1. Meals with several courses are a big thing in Europe. Almost every lunch and dinner we ate had an appetizer, main course (sometimes two), and a dessert. You definitely never left a meal feeling hungry.
2. Europeans don't like to split a check, as we so commonly do in the States. It apparently makes one look cheap if they only want to pay their share instead of splitting the bill evenly and everyone pays the same amount.
3. Flushing toilet paper is a serious no-no. At least at hotels and public places. So what does one do with the toilet paper after one has wiped themselves? See the wastebasket next to the toilet? Yep.
4. Fanta apparently comes in two types: Fanta with bubbles and Fanta without. Luca only takes his Fanta with bubbles. Overheard at dinner one night, "But I want the kind with bubbles." This is hilarious when you apply his accent.
5. Diet Coke is called Coke Light.
6. People in Europe constantly asked why Americans would ever want to leave the states. On the other hand, we always asked why Europeans would every want to visit the states when they have what they have in their own backyard. The grass is always greener, I guess.

What I packed:
This all fit in a small carry-on approved suitcase. Side note, packing envelopes and cubes (like those from brands Eagle Creek and TravelOn) will save your life when you're trying to fit two weeks worth of stuff in a carry on. The temperature in Italy was low-mid 70s and in Greece was mid 70s-low 80s when we were there.
1. 2 pairs jeans, 2 pairs capris
2. 1 dress
3. 10 shirts (I used a packing folder to keep my shirts neatly folded)
4. 2 neutral scarves
5. 1 light-weight jacket
6. A packing cube that held a week's worth of socks and unmentionables. I also stuffed all my technology charges in this cube.
7. I packed a tote bag with my quart-sized bag of toiletries and my makeup bag. My tote bag had my plane goodies like my ipod, book, and snacks. I also packed a smaller bag in the tote that I could put any small souvenirs in. This bag ended up holding those and many other miscellaneous items like daily medicines.
8. 4 pairs of shoes (I wore my bulky sneakers on the plane and packed a pair of Toms, flip flops, and sandals)

I think for any future trip, I would pack at least one more dress and another pair of dressier shoes. Because we basically had four days of travel, I only ended up wearing one shirt two times. My travel outfit consisted of a dri-weave material t-shirt and loose-fit, stretchy pants. Comfort for the long travel days trumped being stylish. I wore the same outfit home, which also saved packing space (I washed it before wearing home, no worries!). I bought some travel laundry soap so that I could wash anything I needed to in our hotel sinks. This was also a huge help in not over-packing.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip. Hopefully I will be able to travel and write more blogs like this in the near future!

My European Vacation, Part One: Italy

My travel bucket list is a bit out of control. If you'd ask me places I want to visit, probably no place would be off limits. I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever start being able to cross anything off that list. The only place outside of the US I'd ever been to is Bermuda; not shabby by any means, but when I live in Ohio and haven't even been to Canada, I mean, come on.

I'd been having lunch with a work colleague (this was during the fall of 2013) and she talked about some trips she'd gone on with some faculty we work with. Many of our faculty organize educational trips for students. I knew this but had no idea other faculty or staff could go. Curious, I picked her brain some more and found out that a trip was planned to go to Italy and Greece in May of 2014. I was intrigued so I emailed the professor in charge of the trip for more info and asked if I was allowed to join. The rest is history. I was finally going to be able to cross many cities and a couple countries off my travel bucket list!

The tour was through EF College Study Tours. Aside from a few minor hiccups (nothing that wasn't immediately fixable), I'm really pleased with how everything was planned and handled through this company. I would definitely travel through them again.

Our group consisted of 22 folks (3 faculty/staff and 19 students). We left Columbus airport on Wednesday, May 14 and traveled to JFK airport in New York and then to Amsterdam. I have to say, I was a bit scared to go through customs because I had never done it before and had heard many horror stories. Passport check and customs was a breeze in Amsterdam. Like 10 minutes tops. Maybe they aren't as harsh there because they don't deal with the terrorist threat other places like NY and Heathrow? I don't know, but I was expecting long lines and a luggage search at minimum.

We had a 6 hour layover in Amsterdam, which was the worst. We'd traveled overnight on a 6 1/2 hour flight, jumped a couple time zones and were basically ready to be done with planes. Luckily our flight from Amsterdam to Rome was only a couple hours and all our travelling thus far had been without incident, mostly. A funny thing occurred at the Columbus airport. One of the students was told his passport wasn't valid; what the TSA agent failed to relay was that it just needed signed. Thanks for basically making us all poop our pants sir. I swear, some TSA agents really hate their jobs and take some sort of twisted pleasure in making travelers uncomfortable (just my opinion!)

We finally arrived in Rome, Italy on Thursday, May 15. Our Tour Director (or TD), Gianluca (we called him Luca the whole time because he told us to), picked us up at the airport. We were in a tour group with folks from two other schools from Pennsylvania and North Carolina. I think there was close to 50 total in our group. We didn't get into Rome until about 4:30pm so all we really got to do that day was go to dinner, which was a-ok with me because I was like zombie.

Our first full day in Rome was spent visiting the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, and Vatican City. This was the day we got handed our Whisper device. What is a Whisper you ask? It is a radio//walkie talkie looking device that one wears on a lanyard around their neck. A headphone with attached. So basically, in case you didn't already look touristy enough... The device allows your tour guide to talk at a normal tone but everyone in the group can hear them. Needed, but so annoying. I'd had enough of the Whisper by the end of my trip.
But back to Rome...
Seeing the Coliseum, Forum, and Vatican City was a surreal experience. I don't think, in the moment, I full grasped that I was actually seeing it all in person.

The next day a group of us traveled by train to Florence. I think here is where most of us had our "wow" moment with the architecture. Walking from the train station to the Duomo cathedral, we couldn't see the structure at first. After rounding a corner, there it was in all it's splendor. No photograph will ever do this place justice; you really have to see it in person. It is a beautiful building of white, red, and green marble.

We got to walk around Florence a bit and see the famous bridge, the Ponte Vecchio.

After returning to Rome, two of my tour (and now lifelong) friends and I visited the Trevi fountain. We all threw a coin in and made a wish. When in Rome...

We opted for an appetizer/dessert dinner that night and seriously had some of the best French fries I've ever tasted. I've found myself craving them on more than one occasion since returning home. I also had an awesome cannolo that night. I know they are the best in Sicily, but I couldn't not come to Italy and not have a cannolo.

I would be remiss if I also didn't mention the gelato. Ice cream is my favorite dessert and Italian gelato did not disappoint. Anything sold in the states that calls itself gelato is a big fat lie. Also, I've never eaten so many carbs in my life. By the time we got to Greece, I was starving for some protein. Although the carbs were fantastic, not gonna lie.

Onto day three and the Mount Vesuvius climb! Yes, we climbed Mount Vesuvius (well, for the most part), the same one that buried Pompeii under all that volcanic ash. Side note, the weather was amazing that day and we got to see a great view of the Bay of Naples on our drive up the mountain. It was so beautiful!
It was a trek up to the peak of the crater; I'm talking probably almost a mile uphill. If you think you're in shape, you're not. My calves felt amazing afterward. But we made it and it was so worth it for the view and just to say that I was there.

Day four we visited Pompeii. I have to say that our tour guide for our Pompeii visit was the bees knees, my favorite. I mean, it certainly didn't hurt that he was really attractive (Dr. Summers would totally roll his eyes at that statement), but you could tell he knew so much about the site and really had an affinity for it. His knowledge and enthusiasm made the tour a stand-out of the trip for me. Definitely was one of my favorite spots.

That day marked our last in Italy and we traveled to the Port of Bari and boarded a night ferry that would take us to Greece. The term 'night ferry' is probably a bit misleading. It was basically like a small cruise ship, complete with staterooms. I think all of us were expecting communal showers and sleeping quarters, but it wasn't that bad at all. This was a pretty fun night. Luca tried to tell us that girls and soccer are not a thing in Italy and we tried to explain Greek Life to him...and also that probably all the Italian girls are just lying to the guys that they don't like soccer. If you want to know what Luca sounds like, watch Prince Naveen in Princess and the Frog, because he sounds just like that. :)

Our bus driver in Italy, Andrea, was so awesome. Every time we exited the bus, he helped all the ladies down. Ah, chivalry. It is not lost in all parts of the world it seems. I always thought he was angry at someone, but it turns out he just talked at a high volume, rapidly.

In an effort to not have a blog post go on forever, I'm dividing it into two parts. Part two will be coming soon!