“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”

– Anthony Bourdain

TO GREECE

Once upon a time, in a land far far away…. Okay what story in the 21^st century ever started like that? More like, on a dusky morning where the cool breeze softly caressed my skin, I could feel nothing but the beating of my own heart and my body buzzing with excitement. Not remembering much of the road until I found myself face to face with an airport agent. This is where my story began.

Its 830am and Jen is nowhere to be found, the plane is boarding and the line spans far into the hall of the airport. “I wonder if she will …” my thoughts are interrupted by a phone call.

“WHERE ARE YOU?! I AM ALREADY ON THE PLANE!!”

she says, catching me completely off guard.

“How did that happen?”

was all I could think of. The last to board the plane, I hold my breath until I find my feet tasting the solid ground of Greece. I can feel the electricity all the way in my toes as we board the tram and head to the heart of Athens. “This is it” I am thinking and I can see Jen’s eyes sparkling with the same excitement. We are high on the hot current of Athenian air.  It’s 9 am in Greece and as we roll our luggage on the cobbled streets of Athens, my body starts to slowly succumb to the effects of jet lag. But life has other plans, our rooms aren’t ready and we find ourselves dropping off our luggage and joining the FREE walking tour of Athens.  Forgetting about fatigue, the buzz carries us through 4 hours of walking, and navigating the city has now become second nature. The dry heat makes us find cover on a cool porch and it’s already 3 pm. Almost 24 hours without sleep, I tell Jen to leave me behind because I won’t make it up the hill, through the Acropolis back to our hostel. I am beat. She won’t have any of that nonsense and before I know it, I close my eyes on a cool, soft bed and disappear under a cloud of dreams.

The next day, as we enter the Odeon of Herodes Atticus Theater built in 161 AD and restored in 1950, I feel nothing but awe. The grand atmosphere and architecture, the lighting of the show and the acoustics are more spectacular than I imagined, although we understood absolutely nothing as we sat there for the next 2 hours of the show. The days are speeding by and the next evening we find ourselves sitting on the rooftop of Cine Paris, with a breathtaking view of Acropolis on our left and sweet tasting ice cream in our hands as we settle to watch Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. What a night!

Before we know it, we have made friends in all of our favourite restaurants (but that’s a story for another time) and decide to head to the beach. I finally taste the freshness of the cool sea on my skin but, today is also the day where Jen’s cell phone succumbs to an unfortunate fate of drowning in the depths of the Aegean sea. Our resuscitation efforts yielded no results and so we had to say our goodbyes.  Jen’s last words were touching as she whispered “How will I go to Santorini without you.” And so the mourning period only lasted a day and a replacement was soon acquired.

We say our goodbyes to Athens as we once again head to the airport. We are greeted with..

“Please don’t tell me you did not check in online?!….”

and things tumble downhill from there. Not only did we have to pay 70 Euros for not checking in online but also for our hand luggage, all because it did not look like a back pack. We finally reach the security gate that the agent wrote for us, and are told that it’s not the right one! Fast forward a few more glitches (and a note to self, don’t fly Ryan air), we are finally in Santorini .

SANTORINI

We reach our hostel in Perissa, carry our luggage up the stairs, open the door to our room and encounter a sleeping body on one of the 4 beds. A male body.

“There is a MAN in our room!!!”

Jen loudly whispers into my ear, I guess I forgot to tell her I booked a mixed dorm and can’t help but laugh. This sleeping male body by the name of Yury, ended up being one of the best things that happened. In the morning, disheveled and exhausted we finally meet Yury, a photographer, business man and an overall a fun human being who drives a mini cooper and who ends up being our trusty tour guide.

The next few days are filled with the black and red beaches, volcanoes, hot springs, sunsets in Oia, Fira and Imerovigli. But the most ridiculous thing we accomplished was stuffing 6 large adults into a tiny mini cooper to go dancing in Fira. It was sweaty, cramp and hilarious but added to the fun of club hopping and forgetting all our problems as we danced the night away in the heart of Santorini. A night with friends from across the globe and vibrant memories that will once fade into the forgotten, but for now new and fresh they travel with their owners some to Portugal, some to Germany, Serbia, Russia and  some to Toronto.  Yes, a night to remember!

Bitter sweet goodbyes as we head onward to Ios where we arrive right on time. Out of all the days in a year, we arrive on the day of the festival where the whole town gathers and dances and of course there is FREE food! A little paradise for the day and we once again reunite with our friends in Santorini. Out of all the days in a year, today is the birthday of our “man in our room” Yury. A bottle of wine (or maybe more), Francisco, Jen, myself and Yury welcome the sunset for the last time in a secluded, local paradise. The air becomes cooler and the night sadder as we taste the last drops of Santorini. This is Goodbye, this was a glimpse of Greece.

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.”

– Tim Cahill