I am back!!

Yesterday was a long day of travel! We got up at 1am Atlanta time and I got home at 10pm Atlanta time...yikes. Since we were flying during Atlanta 'daytime' I tried to stay awake on the plane, plus it was light the whole time so I was exhausted by the time I got home.

I have debated on what to write about and how to get in a week of vacation into one post so I just decided to do a pros and cons list here. I jotted down some funny/interesting stories for all the days so I am going to write those all out on my travel blog (blog that I keep of mine and Craig's travels that people read that I don't want reading this :-)) so I will link over when I get a chance to write and to get the pictures up.

I had 3 sessions today, which was such a nice welcome back (read sarcasm here). I decided though that I wasn't going to work on those pictures today so I could do some of the Greece stuff (I took over 300 pics) and just relax a little bit. Luckily all the shoots went well.

Pros:
-- We got to hang out with Jody Laird for two days in Athens...it was good to see her and I think that she liked seeing a familar f
--We had great weather for all but two days and even then it only rained for 45 mins...of course it was the 45 mins that we were trying to catch a cab but we still felt very lucky!
--The people were the nicest people ever! We didn't get any flack about being Americans (and they did all tell us that they liked Obama which just reminded me how involved they are with out politics)
--Water was super cheap for a bottle (like .50 Euros)
--Taking flights instead of ferries. We met a couple and saw them a few times and what took us 45 mins on a plane took them 14 hours waiting on a ferry and then 4 more on the ferry and it only saved them about $45. NO THANKS!!
--Their airline Aegean was the most prompt, efficient, and clean airline I have ever been on! We left on time for 3 of our 4 flights and landed on time for all of them, if not early (including the one that took off late).
--The food was really good. I was worried since I don't like feta or olives but I didn't see much of either.
--It was relatively cheap for the most part...most of our money was spent on cabs.
--Everyone, with the exception of 2-3 people, we met spoke English. I know that this is not ideal when you are looking for a true foreign country experience but it was really good since we had Dudley with us :-)
--All of the plans (hotels, flights) that I made online worked out perfectly!
--Dudley FINALLY got her luggage on day 4...which was even more amazing since we were in Santorini at that point.


Cons:
--You are allowed to smoke EVERYWHERE!!! It was so disgusting and it was not good for my asthma at all...I even saw a 9 year old smoking and people smoking right next to a no smoking sign. Luckily there was no smoking on the planes we took to islands or in our Marriott room but that was it! This was literally the worst part of the trip for me....
--So, apparently not the season to go to Greece and the whole town of Oia was closed-literally. I was really bummed about that because it was the most picturesque place and where you were supposed to watch the sunset. My one regret was not going back on the last day for more pictures. Other things were closed during the day for 3 hours (which they don't do in the high season). At the same time, this can't be a complete con because we still saw a lot and it was a lot cheaper and we still had fun. I think that May and June are probably the best times to go....everything is open again and it isn't too hot yet.
--We spent a ton on cab rides to and from the airport 4 times in Athens..that sucked but oh well.
--Cabbies didn't use meters always so you never knew what you would pay....made making sure you had enough cash tough.
--credit cards are not heard of there it seemed like...most places wouldn't take them....again, made planning hard cause we didn't want to be stuck with extra Euros that we would lose the spread on when we converted them again.
--It seemed like in Crete the fumes from the cars just stayed in our lungs....Heraklion is where we went and it is surrounded by a wall and it seemed to keep it all in. Yuck!
--If Dudley doesn't sleep at night then no one does...that sucked!

As you can see, the pros FAR outweighed the cons! We had a great time even though I don't think that we were able to do some of the things that people normally do in Greece. I would like to go back in the higher season.

I also think that I learned a lot about the way that I like to travel on this trip and really gained a whole new appreciation for Craig and the low stress way that we travel. It was great to spend time with my sister. We haven't really gotten to lately with all the wedding, her getting a new house and new husband but she was the same old fun loving, silly girl that I remembered and that made me feel really good. We decided that we didn't like the fact that Alyson didn't come and we think that it would be a really good idea to plan a trip with the three of us. It makes me happy that we are all getting to be really close again and that all the drama of growing up (nothing major, just all the petty stuff that sisters can do when they are teenagers or just too cool or whatever) is gone.

Now I can't wait to plan the next trip! I had this brilliant idea of the perfect job....planning travel photography destination trips! Think like school trips but with just photogs and to cool places where I would figure out the best times of year and best time to see the sights...it would be hard to plan but I would love going to all the places and I would love to do one if someone would organize it for me.

Funniest quote of the trip "It is so nice to be back in America where everything is in English" -Dudley as we were walking through JFK yesterday. The funny thing about this is that in Greece most things (or at least things that we needed) were in English over there too! Gotta love her!

Ok, on to the travel blog!