the_bus (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} the_bus) wrote,@ 2005-05-11 11:36:00 |
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Our Greek Odyssey is Over
I'm a little late in posting this, but our big fat Greek honeymoon trip is over and we've returned home safely. We had a wonderful time touring the islands and eating all the great food. We went to the islands of Mykonos, Naxos, and Santorini. All of them are quite beautiful, with towns really built in the distinctive white and blue block buildings shown in all the guidebooks.
The towns are all really compact, and we enjoyed being able to walk everywhere in the towns we stayed in. We did rent a car a couple of times to explore the bigger islands. That turned out to be some of the most fun we had. Naxos was the big surprise because it's not such a big tourist destination yet, and there was plenty to see and do outside of Naxos town. Santorini of course was the most beautiful island we visited and definitely worth the most time.
In general, travel was quite easy and comfortable. We had an easy set of flights over from Austin to Mykonos, and we enjoyed the boat travel to Naxos and Santorini. The boats are big, with lots of comfortable seating and food and drink service. Plus you can often go on deck outside into the open air for good pictures as you leave or enter port. That made arriving at Santorini especially nice and much better than flying there.
Unfortunately our luck changed at the very end of the trip and we had way more travel adventure than we bargained for. The Aegean airline workers went on strike the day we were to fly from Santorini to Athens. Because we had flights back to the US the next day, we didn't take any chances and bought tickets for a fast ferry to Athens. The seas were very rough and tossed the boat like a toy for much of the 5-1/2 hour trip. Pauline got quite sick, along with dozens of other passengers. On our flights back to the US, the Greek airline was late to London, so after we got through the security check and getting our board pass, we literally had to run to our gate while escorted by airport security to make our London to DFW flight. In DFW, we found out our checked bag didn't make it onto the flight, but US customs is used to dealing with that and let us through quickly. Even then, our luck stayed bad, and our flight to Austin was delayed an hour and a half because the plane was coming from Houston and couldn't leave from due to severe weather. Big thanks towillyumtx for being available all through the delays to pick us up at the airport.
Despite all the snafus coming home, we had a great trip, but we're glad to be home, too. I hope to write some backdated entries soon about our time on the islands and post a few pictures.
I'm a little late in posting this, but our big fat Greek honeymoon trip is over and we've returned home safely. We had a wonderful time touring the islands and eating all the great food. We went to the islands of Mykonos, Naxos, and Santorini. All of them are quite beautiful, with towns really built in the distinctive white and blue block buildings shown in all the guidebooks.
The towns are all really compact, and we enjoyed being able to walk everywhere in the towns we stayed in. We did rent a car a couple of times to explore the bigger islands. That turned out to be some of the most fun we had. Naxos was the big surprise because it's not such a big tourist destination yet, and there was plenty to see and do outside of Naxos town. Santorini of course was the most beautiful island we visited and definitely worth the most time.
In general, travel was quite easy and comfortable. We had an easy set of flights over from Austin to Mykonos, and we enjoyed the boat travel to Naxos and Santorini. The boats are big, with lots of comfortable seating and food and drink service. Plus you can often go on deck outside into the open air for good pictures as you leave or enter port. That made arriving at Santorini especially nice and much better than flying there.
Unfortunately our luck changed at the very end of the trip and we had way more travel adventure than we bargained for. The Aegean airline workers went on strike the day we were to fly from Santorini to Athens. Because we had flights back to the US the next day, we didn't take any chances and bought tickets for a fast ferry to Athens. The seas were very rough and tossed the boat like a toy for much of the 5-1/2 hour trip. Pauline got quite sick, along with dozens of other passengers. On our flights back to the US, the Greek airline was late to London, so after we got through the security check and getting our board pass, we literally had to run to our gate while escorted by airport security to make our London to DFW flight. In DFW, we found out our checked bag didn't make it onto the flight, but US customs is used to dealing with that and let us through quickly. Even then, our luck stayed bad, and our flight to Austin was delayed an hour and a half because the plane was coming from Houston and couldn't leave from due to severe weather. Big thanks to
willyumtx for being available all through the delays to pick us up at the airport.Despite all the snafus coming home, we had a great trip, but we're glad to be home, too. I hope to write some backdated entries soon about our time on the islands and post a few pictures.
