20 July, 2007 - Greece

Hi all,

As promised, this is the first installment of my travel notes from my trip round the world. I hope this finds you all well. If you know of anyone else who'd like to receive this and didn't, let me know and I'll add them. If you'd rather not receive these, no offense, just email me and I'll take you off. :)

It's hard to believe that I've only been away for a week, since I already feel myself on another planet, and struggle to remember what I used to do for a living ... Well, to start, I didn't get off to the most auspicious beginning, travel-wise. My combined ticket is great for the Asian and Australiasian legs of my journey, but not so great for Europe, in terms of airline partners. Therefore, I was booked to Athens, my first stop, via Zurich. With a short transfer time between the London-Zurich leg and the Zurich-Athens leg. Yes, you can see where this is going. I spent the night at Swissotel in Zurich on my first day of travel. After waking up at early-o'clock for a 7:10 flight from Zurich, I was finally on my way (via Vienna, of all places) to Athens.

After finally getting to Athens and checking into the hostel, I took a quick bus tour around the city to get my bearings. Luckily, I had a few days in the city, as the Acropolis was closed due to the strike. Not the first time this has happened to me in a European city, and probably not the last. I met some interesting people at the hostel, and went out for a few drinks. The next day was a big tourist day, as I saw most of the Greek and Roman ruins, except the Acropolis. Having been to Rome, I wasn't overly impressed with the state of the ruins, but the Acropolis the next day was certainly impressive and restored my interest in the city. One of the fun things I did in Athens was get together with Florence Maounis, an old friend from Boston who'd moved back to Greece in 2004. I had dinner with her and her fiance, Alex (very recent news to me, so many congratulations to her!), and a group of their friends. It was really lovely to see her, and get out of the city.

After Athens, I caught a flight to Santorini, a beautiful island in the Cyclades (north of Crete, I think). If you've ever seen those gorgeous photos of the white stucco buildings with the blue doors and shutters, that's Santorini. This was when I really figured out that I wasn't a working professional anymore. I arrived at the hostel around midnight, sat down at the bar across the street while my room was sorted out, and ended up staying out bar-hopping 'til 6am! Who's UCB again? Epilepsy hunh? :)

While on Santorini, I rented ATV's with some people I met at the hostel, and really had a chance to see the island, including the lighthouse, Fira, and some of Santorini's well-known beaches. There's a really spectacular sunset at Oia, on the north tip of the island - it was worth the chilly 45 minute ride back to the hostel on the ATV afterwards. I also took a tour of the volcano (Santorini is a group of volcanic islands, actually, and the central one is the mouth of the volcano), and swam in some hot springs. The rest of my time on Santorini was spent lazing around the beaches.

Being a volcanic island, Santorini doesn't have great beaches, but the sun has been a welcome change from the un-summer I had in England before I left. For those of you concerned about my UK-pale skin, I've been swimming in SPF 30, and have avoided sunburn so far. Really, what made Santorini for me was the travellers I met; hostelling can be great fun, and I've already made some contacts that I know I'll keep. I've changed the rest of my Greek Isles stint a bit. After hearing some other recommendations from people I met and thinking about how expensive Mykonos is, I rebooked myself to Naxos, another island with lovely beaches and some Greek ruins. I'll stay here for 4 days, and have a day to trip to Paros, a nearby island. I'll then head back to Athens for one more night (I'll stay with Florence and Alex), before leaving for India (Delhi) on the 25th.

If the planets align, I'll meet up with Andy Johnson (a mate from UCB) and a friend of his for a few days in Delhi and maybe travel with them for a bit. Talk about coincidence! Well, I'll sign off for now. I'll send another update in a week or two, which will be from somewhere in India (that's as far ahead as I'm planning these days!). Future installments may not be so long-winded. :)