The last three days have been a long ass week. We flew out Sunday evening from Charlotte. I booked our tickets through Lufthansa but the flight from Charlotte to Dulles was operated by United. We were first delayed only 15 minutes. And then fifteen minutes came and went, and the plane wasn't there. And so we waited a bit longer and a bit longer. We finally landed in Terminal C at Dulles with about 8 minutes until boarding closed for our flight to Munich. We waited 6 minutes for the shuttle and when we got to our gate (after running as fast as we could), boarding had just closed. We could see the plane but could not board the plane. I wanted to sit down and cry! It had been such a long week. My mom got sick before we left and after a scary few days with her, I was sure we were going to need to cancel the whole trip. In fact, up until about two hours before we left for Charlotte, it was a 50/50 shot of us actually going.
So, when we got to Dulles only to be refused entry, it was like all that I'd been holding together for the week started to come unraveled. I was silent and useless. Tommy handled everything. United said it would be 4-5 hours to find our luggage and recommended we just let them keep it and get rerouted onto our new flight. The next one was 24 hours away. So they put us up in a hotel and we spent the next day stinky and wearing the same clothes, but we were able to spend some time with Tommy's family who lives in the DC area. I am not trying to complain - I know how fortunate we are to go on this trip - I'm only retelling our travel story as I've never experienced one like it in all the travel I've done. We booked our flights late so we didn't have the choicest lineup to begin with. Charlotte to Dulles, Dulles to Munich (8 hours) and then Munich to Mykonos plus a ferry from Mykonos to Paros. Whew! It was a loong journey, but we are here and shaking off the jetlag day by day.
So far, we've done some light exploring in Parikia and Naousa. I've submerged myself in the sea every day and visited every supermarket in a 5 mile radius. I've learned that 50 km/hr is a light suggestion, you can park literally anywhere you can fit and 'Delicatessen' does not mean the same thing as it does in the states. I think I was expecting Greece to feel more like Italy, but it feels much more like Turkey or the middle east. It's beautiful and unlike anywhere I've ever been.
I was so focused on getting my projects to a good place before leaving the country that I neglected to grab some vacation essentials I'd been eyeing. Here's a roundup of some of the things I missed out on and some that are my everyday go tos!
Towel Dress // Bucket Bag // Red Sarong
Greek Islands // Hat // Olive Oil
Sunglasses // Eyelet Dress // Phone Case
Macrame Bag // Scalloped Mini Dress // Smocked Maxi Dress
Please feel free to send all Paros recommendations my way - we would love to spend the next few weeks living like locals.
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