Michelle Kelley

Meechelle

Michelle Kelley

I'm making a real effort to get to the places I want to visit and not put it off any longer! I've put up blogs for the last couple trips I took that I kept journals for even though they were in 2007 and 2008 and am working typing up my journal from a trip to Greece this past summer. Then I'll try to get some blogs up from a Caribbean cruise with family and friends January 2010 and a trip to Sturgis, SD for the infamous motorcycle rally in August 2010. I'm running a little bit behind!!

Home is Massachusetts in the USA, in some ways I love living in the New England area of the country for the changing seasons, but part of me wants desperately to lead a tropical existence!

Next up is unknown! I was laid off for about 6 months over the winter of 2010 and it's going to take a bit longer to get back to normalcy and have travel funds. These short trips will have to do until I can figure out a way to do a longer trip like so many others on here! :o)

A few last minute loose ends and homeward bound!

Europe » Greece » Attica » Athens » Glyfa August 8th 2011

Meechelle

I set the alarm for 9am thankfully! We got up and went down to get breakfast before checking out and loading up the car. Breakfast seemed to take forever and I was getting antsy knowing that we had to take all the suitcases to the airport, get it checked in and then still go drop the car back off at Maria's house. With all the luggage in the car Steve didn’t fit so he grabbed a taxi and Rachel and I jumped in the car and followed them to the airport. Holy expensive cab ride at 35€! So we unloaded all the suitcases onto the curb and I went to park the car in the short term parking lot. I found the lot no problem and I've got to say the system they use is pretty ... read more

Cape Sounion and one more beach day in Greece

Europe » Greece » Attica » Cape Sounion August 7th 2011

Cape Sounion - Temple of Poseidon 4

Meechelle

No snooze-alarm fest today! We were up at 9:20, well okay 2 snoozes. We got ready for the beach and went down for breakfast at the hotel. It was actually pretty delicious; they had cold cuts and hard boiled eggs but also eggs sunny side up and cooked ham and mini hot dogs (which seem to be the Greek version of sausages). They also had fruit, yogurt and cereal. So bellies full we grabbed our beach stuff and headed south.We decided to go to Cape Sounion first to see the Temple of Poseidon and then to the beach after. The road the hotel is on is called Poseidonos and it’s the coastal road. It probably took us about an hour to drive down to Sounion as the road hugged the coast with lots of switchbacks, but ... read more

Leaving Mikrokastro for more beach time at Glyfada

Europe » Greece » Attica » Glyfada August 6th 2011

Sheep dog 3

Meechelle

Steve thought he set the alarm for 7am but apparently not! Thankfully Rachel woke up and realized it was late. She called in to us “did you guys mean to still be sleeping at 9:30?” Damn, that would be a big no! We leapt out of bed (well sort of) and gathered up the last few things. We packed up the car and locked up the house. Rachel and I went around Mikrokastro and took photos; the morning was a little misty and atmospheric after the previous night's rain and made for some good photos. While Rachel and I were driving around taking photos we saw some sheep and their shepherd and some big herding dogs. Meanwhile Steve went to his Thea Dina’s and together they went to Stergios grave where Steve left the candle from ... read more

From Salonika to Pefkohori to see Gianni

Europe » Greece » Central Macedonia » Chalkidiki August 5th 2011

Blue Fish Beach Bar 3

Meechelle

We had hoped to get up at 6am and get on the road to Pefkohori but didn’t get up until after 8am. We threw our stuff into our bags and headed out to see that the idiot who double parked next to us the night before was still there, great! When I had parked initially I had snugged the Qashqui right in tight against the curb so no one would sideswipe it and there was cement curbs behind the spots too and off course I was pretty close to it. (The spots are in groups of two) So Steve had to guide me while I did a 12 point maneuver to get out of the tight spot and around the double parked jerk next to us.I really wanted to see if it was locked and just ... read more

Mikrokastro in the morning – Salonika in the afternoon

Europe » Greece » Central Macedonia » Thessaloniki » Agios Athanasios August 4th 2011

Ag Demetrioss Church 5

Meechelle

Steve set the alarm for 8am and I finally managed to drag myself out of bed around 9am. I took a nice shower although I forgot to turn on the water heater and the water got a little chilly toward the end. I went upstairs and got dressed and asked Steve if he was going to get up. He said no and pulled the blanket over his head. I went back downstairs and had a yogurt but was still starving from all the fresh clean village air so I decided to make ham and eggs.I only cooked for me since Steve had said he wasn’t getting up. Of course as soon as I sat down and started to eat Steve came downstairs and was like “WTF you cooked for one?” Em yea - I thought since ... read more

Visiting with family in Mikrokastro and Megaro

Europe » Greece » West Macedonia » Kozani August 3rd 2011

Mikrokastro view

Meechelle

Finally managed to wake up at 11:30am, Steve is horribly hung-over and is just miserable. We got up and made breakfast and Steve laid down while I tried to straighten up my suitcase somewhat. After Steve got up we headed to Papadia’s house for lunch and on the way we went by Steve’s maternal Papous’ old farm to take some photos. Theo Thanasi farms there now; he keeps a few chickens and grows a bunch of vegetables. Thanasi stopped by while we were there and showed us around and gave us more vegetables. We went to Papadia’s and ate lunch with her, Papa, Naouma, and Vasou. We had no meat at lunch because they are all fasting until August 15thfor the Festival of Panagia, which is basically the festival of Mary in Eastern Orthodox religion. After ... read more

Megaro to drop Rachel off to spend a few days with Papous

Europe » Greece » West Macedonia » Grevena August 2nd 2011

Theo Taki's House

Meechelle

We got up at 9:15am to take Rachel up to Papous village to stay overnight at Thea Koula’s house with her granddaughter Alexandra who speaks excellent English. We also had lunch at Thea Koula’s which consisted of delicious flattened meatballs, potatoes, grilled zucchini and peppers and pork. We stopped again at Lidl for laundry detergent, olive oil and such. When we got back to Mikrokastro Steve was so exhausted didn’t even say anything he just went into the down stairs bedroom and passed out for 4 hours. I did some laundry and caught up some on this journal then once the laundry was done I hung it up outside to dry then I took a 2 hour nap. I woke up when Steve came upstairs, and then right when he laid down the phone rang. Then ... read more

The Village Life! Off to Grevena to Meet up with Papous

Europe » Greece » West Macedonia » Grevena August 1st 2011

Megaro View

Meechelle

I set the alarm for 8:00am so we could meet Papous in Grevena since he was going there to get his car fixed. Eventually we got up around 8:30 after repeatedly hitting snooze! Steve kept calling Papous but there was no answer.Finally Theo Kostas answered and told us that Papous had forgotten his phone at home in Megaro.By the time we found this out we were in Grevena and stopped to get some more cold medicine and then went and got some breakfast of some pretty delicious toast sandwiches. We met Theo Kostas at the bus station and he drove us to the repair shop where Papous was.Papous car was done by this time so Rachel hopped in Papous car and Theo Kostas dropped Steve and I back off at the Nissan on the other side ... read more

Delphi Siteseeing and Drive North to the Village of Mikrokastro

Europe » Greece » Central Greece » Delphi July 31st 2011

Delphi

Meechelle

Today the plan is to head straight to Delphi before it gets too hot out and then make our way north to Mikrokastro. Got up at 8am, packed up the few things we brought in and had some breakfast at the hotel. The ancient site of Delphi was literally just around the corner from the village of Delphi and we were there in just a few minutes. It was still very early but the parking in from of the museum was already full so we grabbed a spot on the edge of the road. We decided we should see the site first and then see the museum while it was still relatively cool out. We tried to buy water, but all they had was sparkling water at the snack bar. Luckily we had some water in ... read more

Headed back to Athens to pick up the car and drive to Delphi

Europe » Greece » Central Greece » Delphi July 30th 2011

Parnassas

Meechelle

Got up at 10am and finished the last bit of packing, showered and had breakfast with Steve and we talked through some eth the previous night’s stuff. Steve and Rachel took the transfer with the luggage from the hotel to the new ferry port to meet our ferry Highspeed 5. The ferry was at 11:25am. I took the rental car and met the rental car guy at 11:15am. Holy crap I was freaking out that the rental agents were going to make me miss the ferry! Argh I hate being so stressed out by stuff like this, and the rental agent was laughing telling me to ‘relax - the boat never leaves on time’. We wrestled the damn luggage up the car ramp and onto the ferry again. Okay this was officially way too much luggage!!! ... read more

Joined	November 18th 2009	Trips	4
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