Mykonos

Trip Start May 24, 2008

Trip End Jun 23, 2008

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Where I stayed

Mykonos Camping

(Mykonos Town hotels)

Flag of Greece Mykonos, Cyclades, Greece
Friday, May 30, 2008

The lazy member of the group is going to try to manage an entry, but I've got to say, there will probably be more detail than many of you will care to know. I may backtrack a little over some of what Megan's already shared since I haven't actually had the chance to read any of the blog myself. They charge a lot for internet over here, so give me a break.

Greece is AMAZING! Where do I begin? I can't remember what I told you yet, but suffice it to say that awe inspiring was probably coined to describe the beaches of Greece.

We flew to Athens. They actually charge for drinks on the plane! For those of you world travelers, this is not big news, but for little ole untravelled me it came as quite a shock and annoyance. We were starved. You can't get a mini bottle of water or so much as a pretzel for under 2 euros). Anyway, we arrived in Athens exhausted from our 420am wake-up call. Of course, Erica and Megs slept soundly on the plane while I read about Ancient Greek history. I've developed a pretty bad sleeping pattern over here and it's not jet lag related. I just can't seem to get more than 4 hours of sleep at a time. (Until last night. Triumph! I did wake up after 4 hours, but since, for once, we didn't have to wake up at dawn for a flight or to beat the museum crowds, I was able to go back to bed for 2 hours). Back to wednesday the 28th. We took the metro to our hostel, which proved to be a challenge to find. Enjoyed the shady courtyard for 30min until check-in time and then changed and headed out.

Drinking a delicious (and overpriced) daiquiri

Poor Megan. After dealing with all the planning of the ferry and buying our tickets ahead of time, she (we) made the mistake of trusting their website, which told us to go to a main office to pick up our tickets ahead of time. An office that turned out to be a giant abandoned room in a very sketchy office building on a busy street. We saw three sex shops and a strip club on the way there. The sex shops had large awnings reading SEX SHOP in giant lettering and that's it.

After that debacle we walked right up to the Acropolis. For that I have no words. After my countless Art History, Greek Mythology, and History studies I was pretty impressed. I can't even imagine the amount of labor it took to place each of those stones and carve the amazing statues (or what's left. Lloyd's right. It's all in London.). The view from the acropolis is worthy of the gods, that's for sure. You know what we all noticed and (which has now become one of our favorite no-longer-inside jokes) in every single picture they take, every single one, Asians feel a need to hold there hands above there heads. It's too funny. They throw them up with gusto and hold them in the air as if they've just reached the top of Kilimanjaro or something. That is not meant to offend the culturally sensitive. It's a simply undeniable fact.

As we walked over to a little raised area that holds the Greek flag. A girl said, "You're American, right?" I said yes. She asked me to take her because her brother, who she's traveling with would just laugh if she asked him.

Mykonos Town

We started to chat and she is very sweet. She's from Boston and has a hint of an accent. After we chatted she asked me if she could tag along with us and I was thinking "Finally!" I set out on this trip with the hope and goal to meet new people and do spontaneous things, so at least the first goal was being met. Anyway, the 6 of us left and walked around Athens all day. It's not so bad. I understand why everyone says to just go for a day and see what you need to see and then leave, but I loved it. They have men outside every restaurant trying to get you to come in and they're very aggressive to the point that they'll follow you down the street, but they're harmless. I've developed a great ability to be rude and it feels wonderful. No not really, but Megs and Erica are far too polite to them. We were trying to walk to the Metro when some guy tried to get us to take his taxi and started to follow us, then he asked if we needed to go somewhere, if we need help and on and on and I just turned to him in response to "What can we do you for ladies?" and said, "You can leave us alone. We don't want you near us." He left. You can't be polite because they will continue. You must be direct with them and they'll respect it. I have gotten to use my very keen negotiating skills while here as well and gotten our charges reduced in a number of ways, from gift shops, to restaurants, to beach chaises.

Anyway, I digress. After we walked around for a while and exhausted ourselves, the 6 of us sat down at a cafe and ordered some wine.

Out in Mykonos

It was lovely. They had fans spraying mist and we were sold. I got up to see if we could tun off the oscillator and have the mist on us constantly (to no avail). BUT when I went to sit down I made I contact with man (I like to think he was checking me out) who looked EXACTLY like Brad Pitt. I kid you not. In fact, I recognized him from last year when he made it on the cover of all the American tabloids for being mistaken for Brad Pitt at the Olympic games. He has long hair and wears hats, so they were all saying Brad was trying to go incognito in Athens. Anyway, it was that guy. So I had a mini heart attack, which was silly, but I was like a giddy school girl. He totally heard us talking about him the entire time, although we did change the subject eventually. We ever tried to pretend we were taking a picture of me and Megan while Steph snapped him in the background, but he covered his face. Ha! So he and his male companion got up to leave and with Megs last bit of encouragement(thank you Megan) I stood up and asked him to take a picture with me. I felt like Brad Pitt had his arm around me. Haha. I know. Star struck is so declasse, but whatever. He was very sweet to me and the policeman who took our picture then asked if we were going to get married. Haha. Well, the picture is safe and sound on the disposable camera I brought. I wanted to add a little suspense.

After that we went back to our hostel with everyone to share a bottle or two or three of wine and shoot the breeze. Later we changed for dinner etc.

The beautiful view from the pool at our hotel

I ended up leaving half way through dinner because I was so deliriously sleep deprived. After a fourth person asked me "what's wrong" or "are you ok?" I thought it best to head home. My eyes were trying to shut and I was having trouble stopping them. It was just unpretty and undignified. We awoke to head to Mykonos at 5am, but of course, having gone to bed at 1030 pm I awoke at 230am(insomnia problems). They turn off the computers at night to protect them from drunken guests. So I lay in bed, panicking that Megs, who's stayed out with Steph, had been kidnapped. I know I'm a little nuts. It when 415 am rolled around she fell into bed exhausted and got 45 inutes of sleep before our wake up call. So we walked with stray dogs who followed us, back to the metro and headed to the ferry.

The ferry ride was nice, but I don't think details will be necessary for that portion of the trip. Can I just say that the water in Mykonos is so blue that it doesn't look real. It's like liquid sapphires. I would have to describe it as very similar to the fake waterfalls at putt-putt golf course. You know what I mean? It's that insanely blue-green color that they dye it. I feel a little overindulgent here though because we aren't touring museums and soaking up important cultural experiences. We are lying on the beach, reading our books, and going out til 5am at dance clubs. That's really what they do here. I must say, it's not usually my thing. That doesn't mean I'm not loving every moment of it, but a beer is 6 euros and i had my neck licked and body parts grabbed while dancing last night and that's just to name a few shocking events. Haha. We girls have become quite the escape artists, helping one another run from the groping Grecian men and creepy club goers. I've got to say it's really fun though. I mean, I've never been a big clubber, but meeting all these Aussies (they are everywhere!) , Brits, and Canadians (a lot of them too) is great fun. Sidenote: Erica overheard a couple having sex in the showers at our hostel. I guess that's what you do when you're sharing a tiny "bungalow" with other friends and you meet a member of the opposite sex around here. I dunno. Ew.

Mykonos mykonos mykonos. Ah how lovely you are. But now it's time to get dressed and ready to catch the bus into town and grab a little dinner. I hope it was entertaining. I will write again soon. Hi from Megs and Erica.

Note from Megan: I couldn't upload pics on the travel blog so I just made a new facebook album so check it out (for older relatives I'm sure you can find a young one to help you this this). Until later...