A confession: I’m writing most of this almost a week after I returned. It’s taken me several days to properly reflect on things. And the marathon and the R&R that followed it have not led to expediency. Nevertheless, I’ve decided to write it as of the last day of my trip. I’ve included a few of my favorite pictures from the most memorable spots along the way. Coming home As the end of my trip approached, people continually asked me if I was ready to get home. At times I was ready; at others I was wishing for months more. But [View Full Entry]

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This morning, after another good night’s rest, Dave and I went out to look at a couple flats since he needs to move out of his current one this weekend. One was near his current place and the other at Pembroke College. While he looked at the Pembroke flat, I sat out on a bench in one of the quads. While I was there, one of the servers from the dinner the night before walked by. The guy looked exactly like Lloyd from Entourage. We kept doing Ari Gold impersonations. Lloyd! After the flat search, it was tim [View Full Entry]

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Last night I got a great night’s sleep. The sangria helped. Dave and I grabbed a small breakfast with a ham and cheese croissant while scheming on our possible Everest Base Camp trek sometime this spring. He took off to do some more work at the business school while I went for a five mile training run around Oxford. The run went well although I’m still well below where I should be for pace. Dave had left his keys for me to get back in his flat and clean up. He had warned me that the one key is stubborn. He [View Full Entry]

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Today I departed Athens and started heading back west. After an uneventful flight and a long bus ride, I arrived in Oxford to visit Dave for the next couple days. I met up with Dave and Ellie at Said Business School. I dropped my stuff off and we headed out to lunch at a place called The Mission, which is a Chipotle knock-off. With a big dinner planned for tonight, we each went light and ordered the tacos instead of the gut busting burritos. I had carnitas, which were every bit as good as those at Chipotle. After lunch, we went [View Full Entry]

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I awoke this morning to the sound of pouring rain out my window. A little extra sleep can’t hurt. Around 9:00 it subsided so after a small breakfast I set out on a short run in Athens. Athens is a very hilly city. After my run I’m convinced there isn’t a single naturally flat square meter in all of Athens. I was constantly trekking uphill, then down, then up some more. Of course I expected to go uphill on my ascent up Philopappou Hill. But even getting there held a lot of undulation. At least the terrain will help on some [View Full Entry]

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After getting in late last night, morning came a bit too soon. I showered and packed up my things to store since I have to change rooms today. After leaving my things in the storage room, I checked in at the front desk and found out that there was a walking tour organized by the hostel that would leave at 10:30. About 20 of us joined the tour; mostly college aged girls, many of whom were likely studying abroad. We set out to the nearby Temple of Zeus Olympian and the accompanying sight, Hadrian’s Arch. Along the way we picked up [View Full Entry]

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I left Ios today to return to Athens. Before I caught the ferry, I went down to the port for lunch. As I looked around at the sea and the surrounding hills, I was still surprised how beautiful and how grotesque this island really is. There are gorgeous white homes spread out intermittently, all overlooking the clear blue sea below. But there are also barren wastelands full of rocks and dead vegetation. The latter really surprised me about the island. And this wasn’t unique to Ios. While I waited for the ferry I connected to the Internet for the first time [View Full Entry]

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This morning I went on the same running course as yesterday. I knocked three minutes off my time from having the benefit of knowing the terrain. And no walking or stops. It felt good. After a small lunch, I returned to the same beach as yesterday. There were a few more people there today. And it also appears as if this is a topless beach. While that sounds appealing in theory, in reality it’s not. The women that go topless tend to be older and massive. Those that are more attractive tend to be self conscious, prudish or there with their [View Full Entry]

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Last night I got some much needed sleep. Well rested, I went for a run to familiarize myself with part of the island. I set out towards the beach where I’d likely spend most of my day. Getting there was easy. There is one road that leads down to the beach and it is entirely downhill. Along the way I stopped a few times to take pictures of the gorgeous views of the surrounding sea. About 3km in, I had passed the long, deserted beach and hit a dead end. It was time to head back up the steep hill. I [View Full Entry]

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Last night I got a terrible night’s sleep. Trying to get to bed early proved to be a futile effort as people celebrated the nice weather out on their balconies into all hours of the night. One girl laughed like a hyena after every sentence someone spoke. Sometimes I think she even laughed at her silly laugh. And when all that finally calmed down, one of my roommates had a great snore. Now I’d be hypocritical if I said I never had a good one myself. But I’d like to think that mine periled in comparison to this one. This guy [View Full Entry]

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