NEArakas

We really wanted to make it to Greece while Nick is here in England. Luckily, we decided to go for it! We really had no excuse for not going even if it left our pockets empty by the end. So, we got our three tickets and started planning. This trip will be broken up over several blogs as we went and saw SO much thanks to Nick's family. They were such great hosts and made sure we had a great time every second we were there. Saturday, July 14th 2012 London~ Our first leg of the trip meant driving from St Neots to our hotel- near Gatwick Airport. This drive is over 2 hours-took us almost 3 due to traffic queues (jams). *Note to family who want to visit-please don't fly into Gatwick-it's too far to ... read more

Chios Greece Chios is the fifth largest Greek Island in the Northern Aegean. "The island of mastic, jasmine and intoxicating fragrances, the island of orchards and orange groves, the noble island with its stone mansions and their pebbled courtyards, with its unique medieval villages and their towers. (Chios The fragrant Island Book) Our 5 days in Chios were absolutely amazing and more then we ever could have imagined! The experience would not have been the same without the guidance of our wonderful hosts! Nicks Aunt and Uncle were also vacationing at their family house there and they allowed us to stay along with them for the week. They ensured we saw all the unique and isolated beaches and ate at all the best restaurants in the best locations. Our first morning in Chios (actually we were ... read more

Spring break was a welcomed break as I hadnt seen my husband for a few months-while he works in England and I stay in Florida pursuing another degree. So, it was a no brainer that I would fly to England to visit him and check out the UK and Scotland while there. This blog will be short as I am writing it many months after the fact. I wanted to post some of the photos for my family that doesn't use facebook so they could catch up on my journeys. :) Our trip to Scotland was almost cancelled as we waited to the last minute to get our train tickets and they were a lot more expensive then we were anticipating. We decided to make it a road trip with a stop in York, England (The ... read more

Never too many castles in Germany. Or even Europe for that matter. This was another day trip with a short 1-2 hr drive to see 2 castles in a day. Both castles were great! More rooms to see then the other castles we have previously visited. It was another chilly day. The first castle was pretty easy to get to but the other one involved lots of stairs and uphill paths. You can take a bus up for an additional fee but we like to save money, see more, and get a little exercise! The first castle- this guy was a hunter. I have never in my life seen so many antlers on a wall. All sizes- had to be several hundred. Some were more then a hundred or more years old. The second castle was ... read more

The next few entries will cover our 4 day weekend. We had so many diffderent things planned and made a few changes once we found there were tickets available for the annual Heidelberg Vampire Ball. It's always held during the week of Fasching. First things on the list was to figure out what to wear. Not too difficult but as much as we would have like to have gone all out with fancy ball costumes we didn't want to empty our wallets to do so. Nick got a really nice red dress shirt at C&A and I found a fancy black hat with feathers (they have such inexpensive nice clothes..reminds me of a Kohls and Old Navy) and I bought a cute black dress at the BX. Then after researching as best I could, I found ... read more