I’d been more or less alone for the better part of five months by the time I got to Greece, and since the last month in Thailand had been so trying, I was relieved to reunite with a handful of friends from the US. Here are a few of my favorite moments with each of them.
Susan
I was so excited to see Susan that I didn’t even notice someone was pickpocketing me on the train. That’s how interesting she is! She knows loads about architecture and art… you really couldn’t pick a better friend to take to Athens. Errr, unless you can’t pay attention to your surroundings when she’s talking. She also fronted me some money so I didn’t starve while I sorted out my credit cards and whatnot after my wallet was pilfered. She’s my gyro. Hehehe.
When we got to Mykonos, I was worn out and a tiny bit jet-lagged, but Susan was energetic and down to see as much of Mykonos as we could squeeze in. On the first day, we walked and walked and walked around the cute little town, eating our weight in tzatziki at little seaside cafes and eventually stumbling on the magnificent Katerina’s restaurant in Little Venice on the very first night. (More to come on Katerina’s later. YUM.) We ate and ate and ate and ate, mostly feta cheese-based dishes, for the duration of her visit.
I particularly love that Susan insisted we get sun – regardless of the fact that it was freeeeezing. Well, it was probably only freezing to me. We arrived in Mykonos in early May, and the infamous northern winds were still rattling the shutters all over the island. After a month in SE Asia, I was accustomed to 100 degrees & humid, but Susan, having come from a blizzardy NYC winter, was happy to lounge by the pool in a windy 60 degrees. We were a sight to see for the hotel staff – me in jeans & a blanket and Susan in a swimsuit lounging on the deck. But my was it ever the perfect introduction to Mykonos!
Anita & Courtney
Anita & her pal Courtney met me in Mykonos after I’d already been there a while, so they reaped the benefits of all the *professional* networking I’d done with Susan… at Katerina’s, Skandinavian Bar and all the other local restaurants, cafes and dance party palaces. I made so many friends around town that I began to feel like a local. Cheers of “Angelena!” erupted every time I entered any of my favorite haunts, so it’s no wonder A.) I never wanted to leave and B.) Courtney, Anita & I had a blast.
No luck. We did however get to hear Party Rock Anthem and a few other summer favorites about 300 times. Check out my summer playlist here.
There’s nothing more comforting after being really lonely and sick in Thailand than meeting up with old friends and giggling about the good old days back at school. Anita & I have known each other for ages, and though we can’t pinpoint exactly when we came into one another’s lives, we have had some darn good times over the years. Courtney & her friend Josh were rapt with attention at some of our funniest tales, particularly the ones about Greek life (not Greece Greek – college Greek!) and the absurdities of sorority rush. We re-enacted the “boobs-to-back” stance and shuffle one night in the gal’s hotel room and sang a few classic rush songs, including of course, “Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta….” Naturally. When in Greece…
Lauren
A few years ago after a particularly difficult business trip (ok, devastating – someone died!), the infamous La La La Lauren met me in The Bahamas for Memorial Day. We jumped on the bed while singing ABBA songs and giggled (well, she did) our way through the Atlantis waterpark. After such a marvelous vacation, I was surprised at just how much arm-twisting it took to convince her to pop over to Greece (ok, it’s a LONG trip), but I think she ended up being pretty happy with the results! And I was certainly happy she came. Aside from just having the luxury of chatting non-stop with one of my best friends, she came bearing gifts! Twizzlers and pretzel M&Ms and nail polish and dresses! She also let me wear her clothes during her trip, so I finally have some pictures of me in other outfits… yay.
Like the gals who came before her, we spent a significant amount of time lazing on the beach, catching up, eating Greek food and dancing it off for 4-6 hours per night. We met some incredibly interesting characters along the way…
Matt
Once Lauren left, I tootled around Santorini by myself for a week, but found it a bit boring alone, so I was happy to pop over to neighboring Ios to celebrate Matt’s big birthday. Matt & I met last summer at Travel Blog Exchange in NYC; you can check out his blog here. Matt is an expert in budget travel and backpacking, so he convinced me to stay in a hostel, which I hadn’t done since Laos several weeks before. Hostels just haven’t been great to me historically, but I will say Francesco’s on Ios was a.o.k. (And yes, I had a private room. Dorms slay me.)
Happy birthday, Nomadic Matt!
While Ios has some beautiful, not-too-packed beaches for daytime fun, it’s really most known for its raucous all night party scene and dozens of themed bars (and not nearly enough karaoke!). Call me old and boring, but I didn’t much care for it. I really felt too old for the entire island and most of its after-hours shenanigans… but more about that side of Ios later.
When not getting stepped on or elbowed in the face by drunk teenagers, we either vegged at Far Out Beach Club or rented 4-wheelers with Nicole & Anthony from Western Oz. Matt & I got stuck with the crappy 4-wheeler, so while Ant & Nic zipped past us up the hill, our vehicle stalled and we rolled backward. Scary!!! Nevertheless, we eventually made it across the island to Homer’s tomb, through a herd of goats and down to one of the loveliest beaches I saw during my whole six weeks in Greece.
Jorel
My very last visitor in Greece was the friend I’ve known the longest out of the whole bunch – Jorel! We met when I was 14 and he was 13, and he lived across the street from the 7th grade love of my life. That guy is ancient history of course, but Jorel and I have remained friends through the years, attending UF at the same time and eventually becoming roommates in NYC. I stuck around a little while longer in Greece and based my flight out of Athens in order to meet up with his big fat Greek family… and I’m glad I did!
This time when I got to Athens, I was AWARE of my surroundings, watching for pickpockets like a hawk. Jorel’s family wasn’t so lucky – a few were victimized on the metro before I even arrived. I can’t even count how many family members were actually present, and I certainly can’t remember everyone’s names, but we had so much fun staying up late, planning how we might crash the austerity protests with Gator signs and walking around for hours looking for the best places to eat. Did I mention I love Greek food & Greek people?!
For bedtime, I squeezed into a room with Jorel’s little sister (who I still think of as 5 years old) & her pal and had girl talk for two nights. During the day, we went back to the Plaka, rode around on the metro and tried to catch pickpocketers in the act. Then the whole family hugged me goodbye and sent me off to Istanbul…
Now you know why I was both exhausted and refreshed after Greece. WHEW.
Awww… Nice to meet some of your friends. Sometimes you just need folk from home, don’t you?
It makes all the difference! I love how they all showed up at once, too. No one was interested in Laos… but Greece? Oh yes!
Okay, I am dying to know this pitbull inducing photo story!
Looks like you had a great time. I fell in live with Greece in my brief time there and I’m looking forward to returning soon!
Oh man. It’s too epic for the blog… but let’s just say it involves some tacky people threatening me over a Facebook photo. Good times!
Wow, looks like you had an epic time in Greece! Everything is more fun when you have all your girlfriends around. That photo of her and the pelican looked unreal, her face is priceless!
It was such a fantastic trip, made all the better by my visitors!
How fun! My time in Greece was also very social as I remember – and I met my husband there as well =)
Lucky! I met a few guys who wanted to be my husband… =) I’ll keep looking!
I still can’t believe you got pickpocketed! That happened to one of the students yesterday–on the very first day in our very first stop–and it’s such a travel buzzkill. Glad things turned around for you anyhow!
SUCH a buzzkill. But something’s bound to go wrong on a lengthy trip… that’s what I keep telling myself, anyhow!
Love that pelican shot- too funny! Looks like you had a great time, would LOVE to be in Greece right now!
Me too, girl, me too! All this writing I’ve been doing about it has just reminded me of how amazing it was!
Whew! I had forgotten all that! Hope you enjoy it as much this time around.