From Iceland all the way to Greece, we got the fullest use out of our 90 day tourist visa. It was definitely a bittersweet moment arriving in Athens. We had learned and experienced so many things and made so many great friends and memories along our journey in Europe, but soon it would be time to depart for another, very different part of the world. We couldn’t wait for what lied ahead, but we wanted to finish our Europe trip out proper in no other place but this ancient city of Athens.
We left Croatia by airplane, a method of transportation we had not used since arriving in Italy almost 2 months prior. We had a quick connection in Serbia and then landed in Athens on August 20th. We happened to luck out and scored a very nice Airbnb that was very close to the Acropolis. The place was newly renovated and modern and had a ton of space! We stayed here only a couple of nights, since Savannah’s parents had arranged a room for us out on the Greek island of Mykonos, so we did not waste any time in exploring Athens.
The time had come to say farewell to my sister Jessica, who had joined us on our journey since Budapest. She would stay in Athens one more day and then return to Houston. Savannah and I left our cozy place in Athens for the island of Mykonos. We scrambled to just catch the ferry at the port of Rafina. The boat was crammed with tired people on a 3 hour journey to this hot vacation spot.
We arrived in Mykonos and caught a cab to our nice hotel with the ocean view. But unfortunately, here is where the trip took a bit of a turn. Carrying our bags to our room and not paying attention, I slipped and fell down a small flight of stairs and twisted my left ankle. Savannah saw the whole thing and said that my foot was turned almost all the way around, so it’s a wonder that I did not break it. After a while, I managed to lift myself up and make it to our room where Savy quickly got some ice and I quickly poured a big glass of whiskey from the minibar. I took a few ibuprofen and drank enough to pass out, but when I woke up I realized that I would not be doing much during our stay here in Mykonos.
We spent most of our days lounging around the pool and relaxing in the room working on the blog and watching TV. The last day I was able to limp around on it, so we were able to do a bit of sightseeing although it was at a snail’s pace. Mykonos is a beautiful place but it is very expensive. I wish I had been well enough to really experience it, but we’ll have to save that for maybe another time.
With my bum ankle and our belongings, we left the island of Mykonos to go back to Athens. Our flight to Thailand did not leave until August 28th, so we had a few more days in Athens. We ended up finding a nice Airbnb private room in the home of a Greek family at the beach community of Voula, about 30 minutes south of Athens. A guy in his early 20s named Kimon said all of his family was gone, but he showed us to our room and really made us feel at home. He ordered us food and we had great conversation. Since my ankle didn’t allow for much adventure, we spent our last remaining days lounging around the beach, which was only a 5 minute walk from our place.
Well the day had finally come. August 28th. Kicked out of the EU with a one-way ticket to Bangkok, Thailand. We could not wait for the next adventure! Savannah’s friend Maley would be meeting us in Bangkok, where we would all 3 catch a flight up to Chiang Mai!
Savannah’s first long flight (11.5 hours)…she handled it like a champ!
