Recap of Vaca - Part 4

Continued...

Day 9: Friday 10/7/05

En route
Before I get into the sordid details of my time in Mykonos, I want to gross you out with tales from my journey from Paros to Mykonos. That morning, I took a smaller boat - more like a speed boat style. The speed should've been a nice thing but that day, the sea was rough, very rough. I was onboard for 5 minutes and I knew I was in trouble. It was too late to take gravol cause it was only a 40 minute journey and by the time the drugs would start working, I'd be there. I tried all the tricks: looking at the horizon, falling asleep, deep breathing, etc. Nothing worked and finallly, 35 minutes into the trip, I lost it. I left all of my luggage unattended (not a good thing) and darted to the bathroom. The attendant looked at me and fully knew what I was going to do. Amazingly, once all out of my system, I felt much better...for the remaining 5 minutes of the trip. I was thrilled to arrive in Mykonos port and had the luxury of knowing that no one in Mykonos will know what just happened. But it would also be a good story to tell, an appetizing conversation starter! ha ha

Mykonos, Greece
When I think of Mykonos, I think of: luxury yachts, wealth, style, alcohol, partying, sex - general hedonism, everything our mothers warned us about. At least my mother...especially cause she knows how I am. Luckily (I think) it was the end of the summer season and there were no yachts in sight. The narrow winding streets were manageable, the cafes were not overcrowded, nor were the hotel and restaurant prices at a premium. I stayed at Paradise Beach Resort because I wanted a bit of R&R for the end of my trip, or at least the easy access to R&R. Normally, through the summer, Paradise beach would've been home to raucous parties, spring-break style beach partying, and tons of 'young people'. When I was there, it was more of a quiet resort in full preparation to wind down for the year. I dropped my stuff off in my room (for which I splurged for, a full room with my own shower!) and off into town I went. The port area of Hora/Mykonos town is nice, full of shops in full Greek Island style. But the streets there were particularly narrow and winding, and there were more of them so I could get lost for longer periods of time. Apparently, they were designed like that in an attempt to deter pirates from coming ashore by confusing them with the maze-like streets.

There are trademark windmills at one corner, a unique church in another, a row of shops/cafes/bars right on the edge of the water on the side, and the port on the other. So as much wandering as I could manage, I never got that lost, at least not in the day time. Perhaps it was the fact that I knew it was my last island and I knew where I stood with my budget, or just the shops in Mykonos were particularly enticing...but the shopping was AMAZING! There was so much variety, including the high-end designer labels, but more interesting to me were the funky boutique shops with things that I hadn't seen on the other islands. After taking my standard photo tour, I finally did my girly souvenir shopping. I found these two particularly beautiful hand-made necklaces at a shop so unique that I can't even describe it. I bought one for myself, and one for my mommy...with the full intent to borrow my mom's gift so I made sure it would look good on me as well. After feeling very satisfied with my shopping, I settled in at a cafe in Little Venice.

Literally, I could've stepped off the cafe and into the water. And on that day, with the big swells, the water was lapping onto the cafe terrace, so it was a beautiful sight. At the cafe, I met the HOT & friendly waiter there...more on him later. I stayed there until after the sunset, wandered around at dusk, had a nice dinner next to the Pelicans. At dinner, it was inevitable that a waiter would invite me to go dancing after he finished his shift. It had happened every other night I had dinner at a restaurant in Greece so far, why wouldn't it happen in Mykonos too? When I eventually left the restaurant and the persistant waiter's invitations, I went to wander around the dark streets but before I got too far, as I was walking across the square, I heard my name. I know the world is small, but who would know my name in Greece? It was my waiter friend from the cafe (the HOT one, remember?). He too had invited me out earlier but this time, I felt like a bit of fun so I asked him to take me out. So we planned to meet up after his shift and he would take me to a club and we'd go dancing. I don't like to do that on my own, so I was glad to find a buddy to do that with (it helps with that buddy is HOT, by the way). So I waited for him at a cafe, drinking 2 cups of Greek coffee...ummm....Greek Coffee. Not to self: gotta find me some of that stuff in Toronto. Anyway, I did some wandering in the dark and it was a bit scary, not in a dangerous way, but more in an exhilirating way. It was very liberating to be wandering around in near empty streets in a foreign country not knowing anyway and trying to get myself lost, where people were turning left, I turned right, where people walked towards the crowd, I walked away from it...very exhilirating indeed.

Anyway, my Greek friend took me to a bar/lounge right next to the water, ordered some drinks and settled in comfortably on a bench next to the window looking out onto the crashing waves. Danced, drank more, danced more....and then I went home. Enough said about that.














Day 10: 10/08/05

Paradise Beach, Mykonos
It was another beautiful day in the Greek Islands, blue skies with pretty fluffly clouds. Parked myself on the grainy beach and observed all the naked and nearly-naked people around me. Listened to my CDs, read my magazine, observed more naked and nearly-naked people. That basically sums up my day. Oh, also played a little game of 'let's dodge the sketchy older American guy who was attaching himself to me from th e previous day' but later in the afteroon, he found me. I had no problem joining in the crowds in clothing-optional sunbathing but I'd prefer not to have someone sit right next to me while I was doing that...since it was still a new thing for me, I'd prefer to do it in my own privacy. So when creepy guy came up to me, I quickly turned over onto my stomach, he just gave me the creeps! He wanted to meet up for dinner and I had to come up with some quick excuse out of that one. We ended up taking the same bus into town, damn it! So for that evening, I was continuing with my game of 'let's dodge the sketchy guy...'. I went to the cafe and said hi to my Greek friend, who looked absolutely exhausted. Poor guy, he had to work all day and still had another job to go to, while I spent the day on the beach. He said these exact words to me "I want to take you out dancing again but I'm too tired, I'm so sorry"...I was somewhat sadistically satisfied by my role in his hellish day. Hey, it was my way to contribute to the local economy and taste the local culture....yeah. Had a peaceful dinner and had a few more greek coffees and then went to bed. Nothing exciting that night.

Day 11: 10/09/05

Mykonos
Took some pictures of the beautiful beach before my final departure, not only from Mykonos but also the Greek Islands....basically signalling the end of my trip. It was sad :( Placed my luggage into storage by the port so I could do a final wander around town until my ferry was to sail away at 2pm. The angles of some of the pictures were better in the morning, so I was glad I got to photograph the island without the harsh afternoon sun. I spent a few last hours at the cafe with my friend and said our goodbyes. Not quite with the dramatic emotions and intensity like in Before Sunrise (and After Sunset too, I guess) but at least he was hotter than Ethan Hawke. SIde note: if you've never seen Before Sunrise or After Sunset, go rent them if you like the romanticism of a love affair in a foreign land and chance meetings. Anyway, I was expecting a busy but uneventful 5hr journey home but it did have a bit of a twist.

En Route
As the ship was completely sold out (I mean people in the aisles), this Greek man sat across from me and he seemed very nice. We were making small talk when he told me he has a cousin living in Mississauga and we figured out his cousin was just 10 minutes up the street from my house. So, he decided to call his cousin on his cell phone in Mississauga and I got to say hi to his cousin, while in the middle of the Aegean Sea...such a small world indeed! I was seriously running out of money at this time so I wasn't planning on eating much besides the cheese and crackers I had bought at the grocery store (ghetto styles!) but the nice man bought me lunch from Goody's, a fast-food outlet I had seen throughout Greece. I thought it was so sweet of him, so we enjoyed our lunch together onboard.

Athens
Five hours later, we arrived into Piraeus Port in Athens and he was kind enough to show me where the subway station was and we parted our ways. I had 2 things to accomplish on my last night in Athens: eat one more meal of lamb and buy my stereotypical Greek souvenirs for the family. I bought 4 cans of Kalamata olives, 2 bottles of organic olive oil from Crete and 2 jars of olive paste. Uncles, Aunts, grandma, parents brothers and best friend - all taken care of in supermarket. All of the "olive products", as they were later referred to by Canadian customs, weighed almost as much as all of my other luggage combined, hence saved my shopping trip till the last night possible. Scoped out where the bus stop would be for my 5:00am trip to the airport. Then, fully intending to shower and go to bed early, I started talking to the girls in my room and we went for a few beers downstairs and only went to bed when I looked at my watch and realized it was 12:30. Darn, I had to get up in 4 hours. Oh well, that was my last night in Greece.

Day 12: 10/10/05

En Route
The 5am airport express was surprisingly full, I guess the morning airport shift started at 6am, the same time I was aiming for. Damn international flights, they say to be there 2 hours early but it takes all of 10 minutes to get your boarding pass and clear security. I rushed to the gate so I could stake out a nice row of seats and went to sleep. My strategy continued to work in my favour. If I sleep really close to the check-in desk, I can't miss my flight cause either the commotion of the other passengers, the boarding announcements or at last resort, the ground crew's pity, would wake me before my flight. Just in case, I set my alarm clock and put it in my pocket. A cell phone that vibrates works better though.

Heathrow Airport, London (again)
This time, I had five hours to waste in the same terminal as before. It wasn't as exciting anymore because I had already seen all the duty free shops there, plus I had all of my olive products to drag around with me this time around. I ended up buying UK Cosmo and that kept me entertained for a good 90 minutes. I read all 3 chapters of my textbook which I had photocopied. I knew realistically that I wasn't going to read that on the beach or at a cafe, even though I had tried, but it's amazing how when bored in transit at an airport, 3 chapters of Managerial Accounting can be quite interesting. Oh, I also kept amused by trying to figure out where different passengers were going, just by their appearance and language/accent. There were a lot of flights going into Western African cities that I had never heard of and that fascinated and also irritated me. I didn't know where these cities were, so I immediately looked up those city names the first night I got home. I had to know.

En Route
The flight back to Toronto was brutal. How ever did I survive all the trans-pacific flights I had made previously? I must be getting old! Plus, it didn't help that some of the movies in-flight were the same...isn't it standard that inbound and outbound inflight entertainment schedules are different? I would not have otherwise seen Batman Begins but it's amazing how a movie can be much better when stuck on a plane without other alternatives. Ironically, lately at Blockbuster, I can't find any rentals that I want to watch cause I saw them all on the my flights to and from Greece...darn it!

Toronto
I have to write about one thing that happened in Toronto. Knowing my parents, I knew they would know about my flight's delay but I was hoping they would be there welcoming me. I got through customs and the luggage carousel in only 20 minutes and walked out into the terminal and saw everyone else's family. I didn't see mine. Maybe they're just at the curb because they didn't want to pay for parking, I figured. Nope, not there either. I called them and oh, my loving parents were just leaving the house! So, I sat outside on the curb muttering to myself "my parents don't even love me" as I waited for them :) I threatened them when I saw them that I wouldn't give them their olive products! That's all I had left in me, I was too tired.

Recap of Vaca - Part 3

Continued...

Day 7: Wednesday 10/05/05

At 6am, I was awoken by banging on my door and a Greek man calling out to me outside my door. It was my wake-up call. At the pension, his wife had remember I was taking the early morning ferry so she sent him down to wake me up so I wouldn't miss my bus to the port. How sweet of them! I hustled out and made the bus. I left beautiful Santorini...considered standing on deck to see the view of the old port and sunrise...but then I feel asleep. Off to Paros I went.

Paros, Greece
I knew Paros was going to be different. And it was. I'm going to describe it like this: it was where the real Greek Islanders lived. Although it was a popular port for transfers to and from Athens, it didn't have the glamour of Santorini. There were more working fishing boats in the port, small shipping containers too. No way Santorini would have that in its port because it would ruin the postcard! Spent my first day in Paros wandering the main town of Parikia, and then took the bus up to Naoussa.

I liked Naoussa - very charming fishing village. You could smell the fish in the air. And as Parikia was more spread out, Naoussa had more winding streets and cute shops. I was there during their siesta so most shops were closed, as the tourist season was wrapping up anyway. This was a great place for me to take a million photos of architecture without having many signs and other people in the way. At least I didn't have to wait as long for people to pass, which was the case in Santorini.

Side note: I felt quite depressed in Paros (see previous blog) cause my face had gotten worse. The drugs hadn't quite kicked in yet and my face was pretty swollen. I think it was particularly bad in the mornings and on the ferry to Paros, I had caught a glimpse of my face in the mirror and I freaked. It was awful. That night, as the night was quiter, I got sad. I felt awful about my face, lost total self-confidence and actually...CRIED! I just wanted my mommy but she hadn't emailed, not for the entire trip! So I told her to email me cause I felt sad and I needed her. I told her I wanted to go home because I was sad. That would make her feel guilty and worry about her youngest child....PAY ATTENTION TO ME!

Day 8: Thursday 10/06/05

To continue from my sad story from the previous night, my mommy did respond to my email. She said the reason she hadn't written was because she didn't want to bother me, and she knew I was OK because she had read all of my emails. She had even checked the local weather on all the islands. She cheered me up by asking me to take a picture of my nasty swollen face and send it to her, so we can keep it for our memories and laugh about it. I did not agree with that approach to her parenting...so you will see NO picture of my swollen face.

Golden Beach, Paros
But I did feel better on my second day in Paros because I was going to the beach! Another day of roasting. Santorini's beaches were more volanic, more beautiful in the surrounding scenery rather than actual sand quality. But Paros was known for its long stretches of golden fine sand. Hence, I was going to Golden Beach (I'm sure that's not the official Greek name though). Finally got the nerve to go topless cause heck, there weren't many people around and they were all doing it too! Like I always say: if everyone jumps off the bridge, I should too cause there may be something wrong with the bridge that you don't know about!

Anyway, the water was cool but it was very refreshing. It felt so liberating to be in that water. I didn't feel shy at all. Once I observed the proper protocol, I was good to go. I walked down the beach to visit the cute little church at the end of the bay and took a bunch of pictures (I had my top on for that, fyi). Overall, it was a really lovely day. Much better than my depressing night before. It's amazing what a bit of Vitamin D can do for the mood, no wonder why Canadians all suffer from Seasonal Affect Disorder! SAD indeed...

Paros was different from Santorini and I knew it was also going to be different from Mykonos. It seemed more down-to-earth, more real. Partly, it was a self-fulfiling prophecy. I didn't expect a big party, so I didn't go find a party, hence I didn't get a party. Instead, I relaxed and saved some of my budget for the partying about to come. Left the tranquility of Paros for Mykonos...

Recap of Vaca - Part 2

Continued...

Day 4: Sun 10/02/05

En Route
...luckily, the alarm worked. as did my body's natural alarm...fueled by adrenaline and excitement about going to the islands. Caught the 45 mins flight to Santorini. Ok, now a talk about flying vs. taking the ferry to the islands. Depends on time and money, basically what it comes down to. I had found a flight for 90 euros inclusive for a flight and the ferry would've taken 9hrs (at least the one for that day). that's a whole day of my 10 day vacation i would've wasted. now, the flight is more expensive but i had worked hard to save for my trip, i wasn't going to be cheap in everything, at least not this. the flight was full of 'yuppies' while the ferry would've been locals and backpackers. On this trip, I was a bit of a sell-out I guess cause instead of the usual roughing it, I had some luxuries. But then again, I shouldn't rough it just based on principal....in the past, I was on a tight budget but only based on basic financial survival. Am I growing up? Gasp...oh no! So since it took an hour to get to the airport and i had to be there an hour earlier, total flying travel time was 3 hrs approx. To take the ferry, it would've taken 30mins to get to the port plus the 5-9 hr ferry ride (depending on the schedule). but then of course, with the faster ferries, the cost would've been right up there with the flight cost, so to me, it was definitely worth it. but for sure, if i had like a 2 month trip of Eastern or Mediterrean Europe, I would've taken the ferry. So that's my opinion on ferry vs. flying.


Fira, Santorini
Had a bit of trouble getting from the airport to the pension but I made it, dropped my stuff off and off I went. Wandered through the narrow shop-filled streets for a bit before I made it out to the caldera. BEAUTIFUL. I was amazed. It had been a while since I was that mesmorized by the scenery. White-washed buildling all perched on a steep volanic cliff, high above crystal clear turquoise water. Just like on the postcards. Now I had my own postcard in my memory. Wandered along the caldera for the rest of the afternoon. At one point, I walked down to this purch halfway down the caldera and I looked right, then looked left. Looked up, then looked down. I was in awe.

So, I decided to spend the next 2 hours just sitting on the wall next to that little church and took it all in. It felt so relaxing to be there.








Eventually, I left and found my way to a cafe/bar on the caldera. The view from there was breath-taking so I decided to camp out there for the sunset. A great place for some (a lot) of wine and to read my magazine. Oh, did I mention that the waiter there was super hot and that was part of the breath-taking view? Movie star hot, really stylishly dressed, trendy sunglasses, cute accent....the wine + the cutey waiter made me giddy for the rest of the evening.


Day 5: Monday 10/03/05

Kamari Beach, Santorini
Woke up with my left eye swollen, not itchy but a bit painful. Plus a few other bumps around my face, plus a few other itchy bites fromt he day before. WTF? Asked the pharmacist and she gave me some cream to reduce the swelling (see previous blogs). Anyway, went to Kamari Beach, a black sand beach. It's not the best black-sand beach I've been to but it was the next bus that came along. Spent the day baking, it had been a while since I had been on a beach. Wasn't quite ready for topless suntanning yet cause it was quite an organized beach and there were a few families around. Just wasn't feeling it. But I was working up the nerve....

Oia, Santorini
Took a bus to Oia, a spot famous for its sunset on Santorini. The atmosphere in Oia reminded me of a pilgrimage. But I have to admit that the view from Oia was quite nice. And it was a good chance for me to try some photographic techniques during the sunset. Plus, Oia's streets were quite charming, more so than in Fira. They were more winding and the shops were more subtlely touristy. That night, decided to consume less wine because on the previous night, my walk home was more difficult than I had thought it would be. In my drunken state, I had managed to buy a ferry ticket (which I didn't remember until the next day), bought a gyros which I had dropped on my shirt and left on a big stain, and twisted my ankle slightly on the cobblestone roads. So, I went for a safe night - just one glass of wine.

Day 6: Tuesday 10/04/05

OK, things got serious cause now my right eye was swollen and there was a total of about 10 bumps on my face. Not pretty (see previous blogs). Went to the pharmacist again and seeing how much worse it got, she recommended that I see a dermatologist. So, he was nice enough and prescribed me some antibiotics and more antibiotic cream. I love doctors in foreign countries. Unlike my visit to the emergency room in Japan, this doctor did not cause more pain nor did he laugh at my pain. We actually engaged in quite a delightful conversation about the future of China in the world as a superpower. Anyway, took my drugs and off I went.

Akrotiri, Santorini
NO ONE TOLD US IT WAS CLOSED! A busload of us dumb tourists got off and all walked towards the gate...in a simple English, the sign read "closed". We were all confused. It wasn't until after I returned to work when I found out from a former employee who was dropping off some papers the reason why Akrotiri was closed. He was on a month-long European vacation and he had been at Akrotiri a week before I was there. It seems that in between the time he visited the excavation site and when I went there, there was a fatal accident - a ceiling had collapsed, a tourist was killed and another broke her back. Yikes...it still would have been cool to see the Greek version of Pompei but luckily for me, I had planned to spend only half day there and the other half day at the red sand beach so I had my beach gear. So instead of a day full of ruins, it was a day of people-watching and sunbaking - two days in a row!

I must now talk about food. I must say I was very DISAPPOINTED in the food during my vacation. Of course, I could've just made bad restaurant choices, which is very likely. However, from the menus I saw, compared to the variety of quality Greek food available in Toronto...I was disappointed. I was really looking forward to lots of lamb and fish. Although I do recognize that Toronto has a tremendous Greek community offering some great Greek and Mediterrean cuisine, I was certain that Greek Island tourism would have similar offerings. However, most of the restaurants I saw, whether on the main tourist street or in back alleys, basically offered the same menus - only prices were different. To site down at a restaurant, I could either pay a moderate price for a standard 'popularized' entree selection (i.e. think Jimmy the Greek or Mr. Souvlaki but not in styrofoam) or pay a fortune on more gourmet food items. And I mean fortune even in Toronto standards, not just my cheap standards. So up to this point on my trip, I had opted for a simple meal or just a quite bite fast-food style and spent the time and money on coffee and wine instead.

However, on this particular night, I splurged. I spent the same amount on one meal as I did on all meal up to that night. I had grilled whole black snapper, freshly caught from the sea that day. And I could taste the freshness. The waiter cut off the head and tail and filleted the fish right at my table. Yummy....I was happy. But at the back of my head, I was thinking "chew slower you moron, each bit is costing you a lot of money" and "mom makes this at home and it's just as good but a heck of alot cheaper". I downed my glass of wine to suppress those negative thought. Ummm....then the fist was yummy again. So that's my food story.

Recap of Vaca - Part 1

Itinerary: Greek Islands, 10 days

Day 1: Thu 09/30/05:

Toronto/En Route
Was working my butt off until 4pm...then kinda realized "oh, i should pack up and get ready to go to the Airport". All of my co-workers thought I was crazy! Anyway, said my goodbyes and headed out to the Airport Shuttle bus stop, where I had to wait 45 minutes. Not impressed...I was afraid it was an omen of things to come. And WTF...it was freezing that day. For the Islands, I didn't pack anything that warm plus I was wearing flip flops. Craziness!

Day 2: Fri 09/30/05:

En Route
I don't see many movies at the theatrea anymore so why is it every time I'm on a plane, the in-flight entertainment shows a movie I've seen?

In Transit - Heathrow
Heathrow is an amazing airport, lots of trendy (expensive) shopping. Only bad thing about Heathrow - the departure gate information for the terminal I was in only listed the gates an hour before departure time! I couldn't do my usual camping-out in front of the gate for the entire duration of my layover and be woken up by the ground crew before boarding! Darn it!

Athens, Greece
Arrived in Athens, took the metro to the hostel. Got some great travel tips/ideas from people who had just come from the Islands and were heading out of Greece - got their maps, guides, unused tickets/coupons, etc. Walked around the Plaka and then had my first of many meals of lamb. Then went out drinking with people from the hostel until 2am. A nice start it was.

Day 3: Sat 10/01/05

Athens, Greece
My only full day in Athens, and that was enough to do the tourist circuit. Not a big fan of cities...love living in them but don't like visit them cause they're all the same, pretty much. I can do a few days but that's about it. And with the other wonderful offerings of Greece, one day was plenty in Athens. Did a walking tour of Acropolis, Agora, Monastriaki markets, Syntagma shopping district, Botanical Gardens, Ancient Olympic Stadium, Temple of Zeus...most of it in the rain. Pouring rain, in fact, when it came to the Acropolis. I was cursing at the Greeks, literally...cause I didn't know I couldn't bring my backpack into the site. Now, a purse the same size was permitted...so what's the difference? Are they discriminating against backpacks? I didn't read that anywhere in the guidebooks. So be warned: do not take a backpack, even a small daypack, into the Acropolis. So then, I had to use a plastic bag to hold my wallet and my camera to prevent them from getting wet. Plus, I was stuck behind all the tours that had just arrived from a Princess Cruise ship. I was not happy. They were slow, all held umbrellas, and very 'touristy' which really pissed me off.

And I'm not going to say from which country they were from cause that wouldn't be nice (it's one of our southernly neighbours in North America). So in the afternoon, for a period of 2 hours, it cleared out, at least in patches. So...I snuck back in. I lied, lied and lied...told the lady I must have dropped my ticket. They have a way of tracing whether the Acropolis portion of the ticket had been used already so I thought I was busted...but then luckily, we had to walk to the main office and were stuck behind a bunch of old ladies who were walking really slowly. So with a few well-placed comments and questions such as "is it a long walk" and "what time does the Acropolis close", the lady gave up and let me in. No guilty conscience over it...I felt I deserved it cause of the hellish experience earlier that morning. In fact, they owed me a more pleasant experience...not just of the weather but also the crowd. The pictures were worth it too! Like I
always so...I don't so much follow rules, I just do what I think is right in my mind. My conscience doesn't always agree with the rules or the law...oh well! That night, met some other nice people at the hostel but couldn't go out drinking cause I had to be up really early to catch a flight. And I forgot my TIMEX watch in Toronto which has always acted as my alarm when I travel. So I had bought some shitty Made in China alarm clock and I wasn't 100% confident in it's ability to wake me up at 6am...

I shall name my future children Glaxo, Smith & Kline

My face has recovered! The swelling is almost gone, even though the bumps are still there. But you can hardly tell, at least I can hardly tell. And that's what matters. It's amazing how my confidence was soooo low...I felt so ugly. But now, I feel pretty, oh so pretty....
Plus, I realized although there are tons of tourists here, they're most European which means not a lot of visible minorities. Perhaps that could have contributed to the stares. Anyway, I'm in Mykonos now, my last island...which means only 2 days left here than one day of travel back to Athens. Oh, the ferry here was brutal...there were huge swells and I had to abandon my luggage to throw up in the bathroom. Not a good thing to do to leave your luggage unattended but hey, a girl has to do what she has to do. So now, I'm reconsidering...since the 'fast' ferry is the small boat that made me hurl...i may want to take the 'huge' boat that takes longer but is a much pleasant ride. yes yes, i think i shall choose option B.
Just in case you don't know, Mykonos is known for major hedonism...i've already seen 5 naked men on the beach and i was just out there for 2 minutes! stay tuned!

Pricless moments in Greece

A visit to the dermatologist: 50 euros
Antibiotics & cortozone cream: 12.30 euros
Bug spray: 3 euros
A face full of flea bites while on vacation: NOT PRICESSLESS!

Not fr@#&^#ing pricessless at all!

I can't take any pictures with me in it cause I look like a freak. People all look at me funny...at least funnier than usual! If they were at least mosquitoe bites, I could handle them. But these are gross, and they won't go away. I hope the drugs kick in soon. At least I'm spreading these suckers through the Greek Islands...that will show the greeks. And then, I'll bring them through to Heathrow, and then back to Canada. It'll be the new West Nile or SARS....maybe not.

But fleas?!?!? I didn't touch any dogs or cats, why would I, since I'm so darn allergic to them! EWWW...I don't want to be dirty...(no jokes please)

You know what they say about European men...

Quick summary so far:
- Mythos is a good cheap Greek beer
- Athens does rain in September
- Princess Cruises does their day tours between 10-11am, so don't go to the Acropolis at that time
- Flying to the islands is so posh...but so nice. hey, a girl has to treat herself once in a while, right?
- interestingly, the greek food i've seen in the tourist areas here isn't much different than from the Greek restaurants in Toronto
- White wine is good in Greece...
- ...so is the shopping, especially leather goods and jewellery
- There's such a great mix of people from around the world here, it's awesome!