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
Fira, Santorini Wishes You Were Here
I can almost count on one hand the number of experienced sunrises in my life. Not much for rising before the sun, most of those sunrises have involved an early travel day. After 27 hours of travel to reach the island of Santorini from the middle of the United States, I arrived to the island’s main town of Fira under the cover of night and jet lag. After a quick meal and a shower, I am out like the light, but not for long. The church bells will soon ring. Under such conditions, I knew a sunrise was in my future. I rose to Fira’s blue gates leading toward the sea. The sun and the tourists in Continue Reading
A Day in Oia’s Paradise Lost
Grabbing the northern red cliffs of Santorini, similar to that of a parent’s grasp on a roaming toddler, the village of Oia bathes in the spotlight. It is no wonder Santorini hangs on to this settlement with such a firm grip. Oia is the popularized Greece, the image you will often see on any article featuring the Greek islands. It is the blue domes, the whitewashed buildings, the windmills that serve no function other than being aesthetically pleasing. I could see Oia from the distance in Fira. I knew it would be a challenge to reach with a bag fit for a month in Europe. We arrived as Continue Reading
Suzy Stumbles Over Travel Says Goodbye
After three and a half years and thousands of submitted blog posts, I have decided to officially say goodbye to my Suzy Stumbles Over Travel segment. I originally came up with the idea as a way to highlight travel writing that might not always be noticed in the grand scheme. I think in the end I accomplished my goal. I watched small sites become big travel blogs over the course of those three and a half years. Not to say I was responsible, but it has been nice to promote the little guys over the years and watch them grow. This facet of my site, while enjoyable, was a time consuming one. I 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
Suzy Stumbles Over Travel: Week of September 23, 2013
After taking a few weeks off for my honeymoon in Greece and Sicily, I am on my way back home this week with a short stop in Frankfurt. In the meantime, I bring you this week’s Suzy Stumbles Over Travel. If you submitted in the past three weeks, you will notice that I have added your submissions to this week. In case you are new to this site, each week I ask bloggers/writers and readers to submit their favorite travel posts of the week. This can be from your own site or another writer’s piece. I read each submission, comment, tweet the article on Twitter, stumble the piece using Stumbleupon Continue Reading
Ancient Thira Wishes You Were Here
To truly see a new place, the traveler must find the highest point. Uncovering the highest point of a destination can be advantageous to the lost explorer looking to find their place on the map. Most importantly, to know a new place, you must find the metaphorical high point, even if the lows surround you. On the Greek island of Santorini in the Cyclades, it was often difficult for me to find the high points. Bogged down with overpriced resorts, plenty of tourist traps and clogged roads with ATVs steered by those in tank tops and colored the bright red of tomatoes, I was beginning to Continue Reading