Santorini was my dream. I kept it locked away for a special trip. Once I got engaged, I knew exactly where I wanted to go for my honeymoon. I had long seen photographs of the picture perfect blue domes and whitewashed buildings clinging to red cliffs rising from the sea. However, like any place we long to visit, I knew that I had to arrive to Santorini with a sprinkle of hesitation. I knew that it would be touristy, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. At the same time, due to my redheaded temperament, I can easily get annoyed with hordes of tourists. While I am one myself, for whatever reason Continue Reading
What I Wish Someone Told Me About Traveling By Ferry in Greece
It was to be a three-hour tour to the remote island of Folegandros from Naxos. If I learned anything from my early years of watching Gilligan's Island, I knew all along that this wouldn’t be the case. As the seas grew rougher and my ferry seemingly went airborne with a few waves, I realized that the romanticized side to the Greek ferry experience was lost at sea. Unaware of our future at sea that day, we sat in the port terminal at Naxos hours earlier. Nothing more than a few beams of concrete protected us from the whipping wind. Poseidon saw our future at sea and it wasn't pretty. Before Continue Reading
A Case of Debugging: How I Survived a Bed Bug Encounter in Greece
Long travel days have the ability to sweeten with the landing or sour with the arrival. We began our long travel day with a ferry from the island of Paros to Crete. By the time we arrived to Crete’s capital of Herkalion, night had fallen. Our journey had just begun as we made the two-hour drive to the city of Rethymno. Without a GPS or even so much as a simple map, we attempted to navigate into the old city to find our hotel for the next few days. Hungry, tired and appropriately cranky, just before the night turned into morning, we spotted our hotel. It would appear the long travel day was at Continue Reading
Six Greek Island Packing Essentials
When I begin the packing process, I always try to read up on what to wear for that specific destination. I don’t want to stand out like a sore thumb when I travel. For Greece in late summer and early fall, most of what I read noted that the dress is very casual, a shorts and T-shirts kind of place and season. Packing would be simple, or so I thought. In the chaos of getting married in a few days and also packing for three weeks in Greece and Sicily, I was left with that ultimate packing challenge I described earlier. And rather than accepting defeat and throwing a hodgepodge of articles Continue Reading
On Dealing with Ultimate Packing Challenges
The sound of the suitcase zipper hits a powerful note. It signals the end to the packing problems and the beginning of an adventure. It is a sound that I anticipate with a great deal of joy but also with bittersweet chaos. I know in order to hear its zig-zag tone, I must gather all that I need and want into a lone space. It is always a long night when I am traveling the next day, namely due to packing. While I don’t procrastinate until the 11th hour, I do somehow always find myself up until 2AM sitting on suitcases. I have packed for anywhere from five-month journeys or just the three-day Continue Reading
Summer Airplane Outfit Problems and Solutions
I sat in the Tulsa Airport waiting to board my flight home to Denver. The air conditioning was on full blast and suddenly wearing shorts on the plane didn’t seem like the best of decisions. As I stepped on board the plane, I noticed the leather seats in my future and their questionable stains and spills. Time and time again, I never seem to have the summer airplane outfit down. I want to dress for the hot summer weather of my departing and arriving locations and yet the interim from the airport to the plane is always an icebox. In addition, shorts on an airplane don’t seem to make one’s legs Continue Reading
My Stylish Summer Travel Packing Essentials
I fell in love with packing at a young age, mostly for summer vacations. Clothes were lighter than winter, leaving more room for Little Mermaid tapes and toys. Even to this day, I never struggle when I have to pack for summer travel. It isn’t like spring where the weather cannot make up its mind. Summer packing is supposed to be easy, without need for sitting on suitcases to make bulky items fit. And yet many still struggle with summer packing, especially women where the options aren’t as simple as they can be for men of shorts, T-shirts and maybe a dress shirt here and there. I tend to Continue Reading