phredude

Boy are we jet lagged. Our first night home, we arrived late, went to bed, and proceeded to wake up at 4:00AM. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, except that we had a rough day of traveling the day before. When we got home, we hadn’t gotten enough sleep, and felt a bit dazed throughout the day. Napping would have helped, but that would have made sleeping that evening all the more difficult, so we stuck it out. I managed by constantly moving, either by working in the yard (mowing, firewood) or in the kitchen (we made Greek food for lunch and supper) By the time evening came, we were almost too tired to even eat, but not quite. The goal was to eat and then hit the sack, but going to bed too early would ... read more

We've had such an amazing vacation that we haven't spent much time thinking about home, but once it's time to head back, you really begin to get into the "going home" mindset. Now it wouldn't be a trip home without some sort of drama and intrigue, and for us, getting home always has some of both, in a good way, of course. Flying is also a long haul when you live in the woods, because it involves several stages. We had to fly out of Istanbul to Munich, where we would connect with a flight back to Boston. From Boston, we had to catch the bus to Vermont, and from the bus depot, a long drive home. We also had to consider the very real possibility that our car was not going to be there. Remember, ... read more

To add to our woe of leaving Santorini, we had a miserable flight that was leaving at 6:50AM, so that meant catching a cab at 5:30, and therefore waking up at 5:00. Brutal. We didn't have an alarm clock, and weren't sure if we were even confirmed or if there would be a cab waiting for us. We finally tracked down Sima, and she had arranged everything, bless her. The cab would come at 5:20, the guy would take our bags around 5:10, and hopefully wake us up if we weren't up. Sima even lent us a clock. Waking up was tough, but we managed. Kudos to the kids for being such troopers and being ready to hit the ground running. We didn't even have time to eat breakfast, so we really felt bad for the ... read more

We spent our first and only full day in Santorini just soaking in the sun. The weather has been unseasonably cool and it has contributed to an overall slow season on these islands. You hear it from everyone, though especially in the big touristy areas that really rely on a continuous flow of new people from all around. Factor in the bad economic conditions in Europe, especially Greece, and there's a bit of a dark cloud on the whole affair. It's on everyone's mind. I don' think it's sever on the smaller islands because they tend to draw a more loyal cliental, whereas the bigger more commercial islands must rely on the whims of less regular group of people. Whatever be the case, the weather was not bothering us, though it did make it harder to ... read more

Our last day in Sifnos was spent returning the rental car and then having breakfast. We enjoyed our stay at the Delini hotel, especially with the breakfast, but it can be awkward at times being one of only a few guests at a place. It's slow season, so there weren't a lot of people in town, not yet at least. We like this fact, but it has its drawbacks. First, not everything is open. Second, the hotels are not full, which is usually a good thing, except that you become the focus of the hosts, and our hosts seemed intent on getting us to eat at their restaurant. We, on the other hand, wanted to explore and eat in the different towns. It got to be really awkward, and as a traveler, I kind of resent ... read more