Vacation in GREECE!

When I was at orientation, a lot of my friends doing the same thing I'm doing started making plans to vacation together during our terms and we soon began discussing Greece.  Since then we've all been saving up and making plans...and saving up some more...and we finally went in August! And it was absolutely incredible.  

While I was packing I was completely diligent to make sure that I could get everything in my carry-on and that all my liquids and gels were acceptable, in the proper containers, and in that little quart-size Ziploc bag.  I measured and re-measured the suitcase and I was okay for both airlines' requirements.  Well, I made it throught the airport in Bamako.  No surprise there...smile a lot and speak a little Bambara and you pretty much get what you want because Malians are fantastic :)  Made it through Casablanca with no problems whatsoever.  Now the toughy...Paris.  But I made it all the way through customs with no problem.  Well, actually it was too heavy, but I took my Bible and a pair of jeans out and put them in my "personal item" (purse) and we were back on track.  THEN I'm about to set my foot on the airplane in Paris and the lady at the door makes me put my bag in that little cage that it has to fit in.  Again, I had measured and re-measured my bag according to the measurements on the websites, but it wouldn't go in that little cage.  So she took my bag.  I put up no fight because she didn't speak much English and I don't speak much French or Spanish.  I thought about pulling a Meet the Parents and telling her that the only way she was getting my bag would be if she pried it out of my dead, lifeless fingers...but I didn't.  And instead of telling me I could get it in Madrid (my next stop) she told me I could get it in Athens (my final destination).  At that point I pretty much knew I wouldn't be seeing my bag again for a while because that flight was a little delayed, making my layover in Madrid uncomfortably short.  

And I was right.  I arrived in Athens bagless, but still excited!  The airline gave me a little toiletry bag (including a pair of undies made out of that gauzy, papery, bio-degradable stuff...bonus).  So I wore the same clothes for a few days and a couple of the girls helped me out one day with other stuff to wear and I took my clothes to the laundromat.  (I also bought some undies, but a store was hard to find and there weren't many English speakers around that day...made for some interesting pantomiming).  And then after a few days my bag came!  Just in time to go to Santorini. 

The first full day we explored Athens.  We went to the Acropolis of course and found some places to drink coffee and eat good food.  

Acropolis!

Early the next morning we boarded a tour bus and headed up-country to Meteora.  It was beautiful.  There were all of these rock formations and on top of them monasteries had been built.  We got to visit a couple of them...it was quite a hike.  This was one of my favorite things we did because it was about 5 hours outside of Athens so I felt like I really got to see more of the country.  Plus the bus-ride made for some great opportunities to get to talk to everybody and catch up.

You can kind of see the monastery on top.

We spent one night in Meteora then got back on the tour bus to Athens so that we could catch a flight to Santorini (this is when my bag and I were reunited!).  I cannot even tell you how fabulous Santorini is.  We did so much on that island, but we never felt rushed and we all always felt so relaxed.  We went to the beach almost every day, ate a ton of great Greek food, drank a lot of coffee, found an awesome place to watch the sunset every night, climbed the volcano, and jumped off of cliffs into the unbelievably blue water.  My FAVORITE thing we did was renting ATV's and driving them all over the island.  We drove up to the highest point and back down and just went all over exploring.  So much fun.

Here's one of the places we watched the sunset.  

Korby, me, and Elizabeth at my favorite restaurant.

Everybody else was trying to decide what to do for dinner, but Elizabeth and I were having a photo shoot.

One day we got on a boat that looked like a pirate ship and went out to the volcano and to the hot springs.  To get from the docks to the part of town where we were staying, you pretty much have to take a cable car or a donkey.  So we took cable cars down and donkeys back up.  I mean, you could walk, but at this point I was trying to see how many different modes of transportation I could accumulate.  Plane, bus, tour bus, taxi, subway, cable car, boat, ferry, ATV, donkey, tiny car...not too shabby.

Donkey trip back up the hill.

We stayed in Santorini for several days then we (begrudgingly) went back to Athens for one last day before everybody started catching their flights home.  We took a ferry...and it was CRAZY!  As soon as the gates opened, people started sprinting toward the ferry.  Everybody was shoving people out of their way and trying to get to that boat as fast as possible.  Not a good sign.  What do these people know that we don't?  Well what they knew was that they were going to take up 3 seats so that they could lay down and sleep during the trip! We had originally planned to take a different ferry, but it ended up not being available so we were on one that left at 2 am.  There were NO seats left by the time we got on, so we literally sat in stairwells and hallways of the little hotel-ish room area.  I can never sleep on planes or in cars or in any situation like this, so I didn't even try.  I figured I'd just decide to stay up the whole time instead of getting frustrated that I couldn't sleep.  So a few of us sat and played cards then we wandered outside to the deck.  This ended up being a great idea because we just talked all night and saw a truly glorious sunrise...complete with dolphins jumping out of the water as we weaved through the Greek islands.  

We arrived back in Athens the next morning, but couldn't check in to our hostel until later so we left our bags in the little storage area and set out to find breakfast (and coffee!).  I realized that my flight left at 7 am the next morning...which meant I had to be at the airport at 5 am...which meant I'd have to leave the hostel at 4 am.  So a plan was soon devised to take naps in the afternoon and go out that night and just hang out as much as we could before everyone left (we really like each other).  I took a 3-hour nap and got up to go out to dinner.  We ate dinner and then walked all over Athens.  Now, most of the girls are used to wearing nothing but Chacos and we all had on different shoes so our feet were killing us.  Then we went back to the hostel.  I tried to sleep a little before I had to catch a taxi to the airport, but you know how when you're nervous that you're going to sleep through something, you can't sleep?  So I just laid there.  Then I got up and headed to the airport at 4 am.  And that's where the rest of the adventure begins...