Sketchy McSketcherson

So we got on our sleeper train to Istanbul around 7pm and the man showed us our cabin and said one of us would sleep in the cabin next door...um...hell no.

So instead we had two beds and E&I snuggled on the lower one while J was up top. We ate our healthy meal of 7 Day (brand) spicy hummus pita chips and chocolate, plus water and were so pooped we got our beds out immediately.

Around 3AM they call around and wake you up for your passports when leaving Greece...that takes about 30 mins and if you try to go back to sleep, don't, because they will just wake you up again at 4 to enter Turkey.

Once we entered Turkey and if you are American you have to get a visa. So at 4am the three of us girls had to get off the train in the middle of NOWHERE and go to the office to buy a 15euro pass...thank god E had $ because J & I had not brought enough and thank god the visa was cool looking in our passport. It better be for 15 freakin euro!

Then back on the train and asleep until 7 when they wake you up to get the linens and stuff...which is dumb because we didn't get to Istanbul until 9. As you can see we got a BUNCH of sleep!

But we finally made it to Istanbul, sadly, my last leg of the trip!

Leavin the Greeks Behind

So we left Santorini, which was one of the BEST islands ever, to get on an 8 hour ferry to Athens and because the Fab 5 was feeling so bad-ass, we decided to pull an all nighter at the bus station in Athens were the CO boys were going to Italy and we were off to Turkey.

So we played cards for 8 hours (I am telling you cards are the way to go on these trips!) and we rocked out to music and just chilled.

We arrived in Athens at about 11:30-12:00 and began our trek to the train station on the other side of town. When we made it we all took our bags off immediately and realized the train station does not open until 5:30 AM....okay...minor detail.

So next to the train station is a breakfast bar place which is 24/7 and where the bums and really not sketchy people (sarcasm here) hang out and sleep....thank god we had boys!

So again...cards...only for 4 hours this time! And then finally into the train station where we attempted to sleep and I just read trashy magazines.

When the ticket office opened at 6:15 for our 6:50 train we got in line and the guy was SUCH a jerk! He told us it would cost 50 EURO a person to get only to Thessalonki (which is 6 hours from Athens in Greece). WTF.

Totally untrue! So the boys watched as we started getting dramatic, flipping out, not knowing how we were gonna get to Istanbul, changing plans, thinking about cars, etc. etc.

So we decided to go back talk to the guy and a nice Greek man in front of us saw how upset we were and we THINK might have said something to this jerk off who finally told us at the the train at 9:20 was only 12 euro a person but we would have no seat...well you could have told us that BEFORE.

Then he rushed us for money...not nice. or cool.

We got on that train at 9...proceeded to get stepped on and kicked by everyone and finally a nice Greek woman showed us that some seats were not filled, and we could take them...which we did. E preferred the nook she has where luggage was and slept in a little ball! J & I proceeded to just head slam the entire time getting no real sleep by the time we arrived.

Once in Thessalonki we found lockers to store our bags, grabbed overnight tickets to Istanbul, and found internet. 3 hours later our train was leavin for Istanbul.

Yah Right!

So Mopeds are all over Europe and I have always wanted to try one but was too scared. But again, since the weather gods are on our side, the day we deemed for the beach was ruined with overcast skys and some showers...so we decided to grab mopeds and go from the south of Santorini to the north, called Oia.

It was AWESOME. I love love love Mopedin! The guy was kind of a dick telling me since I have never been on one I would indeed die and it would cost me up to 2,000 Euro for damage...thanks guy. I really love your business.

So I went anyways and had such a good time. The Fab 5 stopped and got lunch overlooking the ocean and headed to the capital of Santorini known as Fira. We got out and wandered around the street and once the guys saw the amount of shopping to be done, they bounced to do their own thing. We told them we would meet them in 30 mins...which in girl time is 45...and in our time is 50 mins. he he.

After that we headed to Oia, which is about 20 mins away from Fira to see the sunset. It was kind of a scary climb and all was good until one small incident happened. E, having ridden a scooter in India and having a bad fall, was given a four wheeler, which was suppose to be more stable...and safer according to the jerk at the shop...only she went up a hill and flipped.

It was pretty scary but by our awesome luck she was pretty much not harmed..clearly shaken up and had some bruising and cuts, but thank goodness for the helmet and that we were all close together! (Don't freak parents.)

She was such a trooper...just like when she got bed bugs, and we happened to see this beautiful bar with one of the most amazing sunsets I have seen in my entire life.

Minus a little upset the day was awesome for us all...I loved it.

That night we went to the little beach town, had a great last dinner with friends, and headed to bed early because we were going to see the Volcano and Hot Springs in the morning.

We woke up at 8am, piled our stuff in a cab, went to the port and jumped on a ferry to the hot springs, which sadly were not very hot. BOO.

We got to jump in the water off the boat, which was pretty awesome, and got our bronze on (tanning for you not up on the lingo!)

We then were taken to the Volcano (don't worry, it is not active!) and got about an hour or so to wander around and see some amazing views.

Overall it was SUCH a wonderful trip to Greece and I cannot wait to come back!

We pulled an all nighter on the ferry back to Athens and stayed at the train station last night, before saying good bye to the Fab 5 as the boys headed to Italy and us girls are on our way to Istanbul.

More great stories to come, only so sad that this is my last big trip!

MVP of the Greek Islands

After only a day or two in Athens we hit the Greek Island of Mykonos and surprisingly ran into the guys, D&J from Colorado on the Ferry.

We played card games for about 6 hours straight, which was a life saver, and go to know the guys. We all ended up saying in this awesome hostel called "Paradise Beach Resort" which had cute little bungalows and was right next to the beach...it was awesome!

The first night we continued playing card games, this time with some yummie white wine, and chilled at the beach...clearly the next day, being deemed a beach day, it decided to rain and be overcast...awesome.

So we all decided to head into town and wander around. Mykonos is basically like The Hamptons...pretty to look at, but the stores are unaffordable. So the girls and I basically gawked at the pretty jewelry and clothes while the boys wandered around the streets avoiding shopping...typical!

But seriously a great place to visit.

That night we went to Scadanavian Bar...the hot spot on the island...and had a BLAST! The Fab 5, as we called ourselves, danced the night away (we tend to love doing this...and I love to call it this) and had yummie drinks and as always a swarm of creepy men around us.

This time it was nice to have boys for protection!

The next day we all decided we were having a really good time traveling together that heck, lets all go to Santorini next...hopefully we won't get sick of eachother.

We left the next day for Santorini, played about 6 hours of card games (seriously..I can kick your butt in crazy 8's, asshole, or Egyptian rat screw) and landed with no idea where to stay.

Luckily at the port people swarm you to stay at their hotels and one guy offered 10 Euro a night AND it had a heart shaped pool...how could we say no?

We piled into a van and headed to the Honeymoon Hotel, which the owner said he only called because it was appealing to "young people"....hmmmm. This is gonna be interesting.

We got there and found out we had an entire room for the 5 of us...living with boys we just met...interesting!

But it actually was awesome. We had a kitchen and 5 beds and we were right on the beach. D&J told their mom and D's mom said "don't pee on the seat." Classic.

We made scrambled eggs and potatoes for dinner and played...ready for this...CARDS! (We kinda had a thing going)

We incorporated some more yummie white wine and hit the town...it was a sunday..clearly in teh middle of no where there is something to do...false. nothing. so bed it was.

Next day was Mopeds...:)

Athens Backpackers

After a very eventful time in Bari,Italy the girls and I made it to Athens...pertty much the place we have all been DYING to go to!

We caught a bus right outside the port and got a quick nap in and were let off in the middle of the city. We grabbed our bags and set out for probably our most expensive hostel, but the coolest one called "Athens Backpackers" which boasted a kick ass happy hour with an unreal view of the Acropolis...and it totally lived up to the reputation.

We checked in with the Aussie run place, got a quick shower and finally got to do laundry!!!! You seriously do not know how amazinggg that was since we had not gotten to do that since Lagos.

So after that we decided to hit the town. We got ready and headed to one of the most amazing views I have ever seen. They had delicious cheap drinks, played Bob Marley, and gave us a shot of Ouzo before we left (the drink of Greece...it is REALLY strong and yuckie!)

Then they take you out on a pub crawl aka one dance bar, but it was awesome and the girls and I got to dance the night away!

The next day we had a FULL tourist day. We saw everything there ever was and E & I stumbled upon the best gyro place in town, and it was 24 hours. We got 2 that day.

YUM.

We saw every ruin in the town and the acropolis was just unreal and so interesting, I was just so happy to be in Athens!


That night we met two guys from Colorado who ended up becoming our travel buddies and we went to the same bar we had from the night before...only difference was someone forgot to mention it was gay man night at the club...it was interesting to say the least. For once the boys felt uncomfortable and the girls were not being cat called. HA.

Bari, Italy=Nothing!

We made it, yet again!

We had some very rainy days in Dubrovnik, which was lame, but once we got on our Ferry to Bari, Italy, we were saying goodbye to bad weather and thinking of the sunny skys of Greece!

We took our first trip to Bari in a very nice ferry with a disco and a self-serve dinner thing, slept for about 10 hours and arrive in Bari, Italy to waste a day before our ferry that night to Patras, Greece.

We arrived, having not showered for 2 days to a rainy and overcast day. BOO. Not what we signed up for. We put our heavy bags in a holding place at the port and decided to wander around.

There is NOTHING in Bari...like I am telling you...nothing. We wasted the entire day by either eating, sleeping, playing with our ipods, going to H&M, or reading. We tried to waste as much time as possible, but shops were either closed or super busy, rushing us in and out, which is so unlike what I picture places to be in Italy and most of Europe.

More stories to come as my $ ran out!

The Great Wall of Croatia

After a few hectic travel days and short stays, we girls had a few days to hang out in Dubrovnik. So far we had a nice dinner in old town last night and a great nights sleep, which has not happened too often in this trip!

We woke up fresh this morning and headed to the city walls on bus number 8. We arrived, had a water and crossiant, and made our way to town...as best we could because 2 old people cruise ships had docked!!!

This somewhat ruined the beauty of Dubrovnik, but was not going to ruin our day! We headed towards the first museum, which was an old monastery & hosts the oldest still operating pharmacy, dating back to the 1400s.

We then went on our way to two different churches...they were old...and probably important for some reason.

Then we made it to The Rector's Palace where all the common law stuff happens, but not the courts...basically we learned from the placks (which had English unlike the Germans!) that essentialy Dubrovnik's power was handed to nobles who could do whatever they wanted.

Wow...that's original. NOT.

Regardless, it had some awesome portraits and lots of ruins and pretty useful information about Dubrovnik.

Then we made our way to the Maritime Museum...we lasted about 10 mins and decided we were over it and wanted to walk the old city wall. You can literally walk around the entire city with amazing views of the sea. I guess in the old days that wall was for people to shoot intruders!

Oh FUN Fact...I found out that in the 1200s the then ruler of Dubrovnik made every visitor to his city bring a stone that could be used to build the walls...how cool is that!?

So we walked around, got some ammazing pictures, and headed to a nice cafe for some delicious pasta, which for some reason I was craving.

Then it started to pour, which has lead me to a nice internet cafe to escape the yuckie rain, which clearly only decided to happen since we came here~!

Tomorrow we are off to Lokrum Island for some hiking, beach time (we pray!) and to see some beautiful gardens.

Split & Hvar Island

So I have told you already, but Croatia is so gorgeous. The water is crystal clear that you can see your body completely though the water. The people are so friendly and minus the bed bugs, it has been a great and different experience.

While we only really had a day or a night and morning in Split and Hvar, it was great to experience. Split has a beautiful port, where we had some delicious pizza and people watched.

Hvar Island, an island merely for "holiday" aka vacation, is so tiny and has some great pebble beaches.

The girls & I got to dive into the Adriatic Sea and just float around for the afternoon and although the sun decided to hide for our trip, it will not stop our fun!

Off to Dubrovnik for 2 days of exploring what is hidden inside the city walls and then off to Bari to catch a boat to Greece.

Ciao.

Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite

The next morning we grabbed our stuff, got the rental car, and hit the road with a GPS system this time, in case the Croatians decided they did not want to finish any roads we might want to take like the Spanish!

We made it to Zadar in 2 or 3 hours and settled into our shady looking hostel, which I think was army barricks before.

We wandered around the small town and saw the sea organ which was so cool! I have to post the video I took when I get back!

The sea organ plays random notes throughout the day depending on how the sea hits and it sounds so cool!

After that we decided to treat ourselves to a real meal since the Croatian Kuna is
.20 cents to the American Dollar (Sweeet!)

So finally, in a country known for great seafood, I decided to get a salmon filet and vegetables..yum. Such a good dinner and made me feel better from the unreal amount of carbs we have been eating in Europe.

Side rant--all they eat in Europe is bread! It is ridic!!

So we hang out around town and are pretty worn out from a few straight days of travel. We shower (no hot water, only solid freezing in Croatia...seriously.) and go to bed.

J and I have our sleeper sacks and E doesn't, so she just uses the sheets given. She wakes up to a mosquito in her ear, freaks, and gets up at 5:30AM because she cannot sleep. We eat our "free breakfast" of a piece of bread and marmalade and pack our stuff.

Slowly E realizes she has small bit marks up and down her legs and arms, and counts almost 57 bites. They cannot be all from one mosquito...and J realizes, oh god, you got bed bugs. gross.

The place was crappy and E has bed bugs all up and down her body! We stopped for creams and luckily they are swelling down, but let me give the girl props...she is covered in bits and holds her head high! A little cover-up and some long pants, and she is good to go!

Just remember people, BRING A SLEEPER SACK!!! You never know what lurks in your bed!

The Pearl of the Adriatic Sea

So we arrived in Croatia, which let me tell you is so gorgeous. I know I probably say that about every place we have gone, but I give us props...we picked pretty places!!

We arrived at about 11pm in Dubrovnik, to stay the night and then head to Zadar, a small Croatian town the next day. We got picked up by a nice man named Sergio, and dropped off to our hostel that was right in the middle of old town, surrounded by the city walls and made of marble. Unreal.

We were so excited and found our hostel on a small side street and began to climb up. It was in an old building where you can see your neighbors almost face to face the buildings were so close, and we had our own kitchen and bathroom. Wonderful!

We get in the shower, geta few things unpacked and hit the sack after a long day of traveling.

We turn off the flights and I start to feel things crawling...no it can't be bugs...okay...that itches...OKAY something is CRAWLING ON ME!

I get up and say something, next thing I know J is up saying the same thing. Lights go one and BUGS ARE ON ME.

Granted I think they were only nats, but ew.

So we slept in our sleeper sheets (thanks to moms advice!) and had a pretty crappy sleep full of drunks on the street, hearing someone vomit downstairs, and constant yelling.

What a great start!

The Road Less Traveled Does Not Exist!

Sevilla was ammmazing!! I finally got to catch up with my friend K, who I studied abroad with almost 2 years ago. We got to dance and hang out and explore the city all over again. It was wonderful.

The only slightly frustrating thing was not remembering my Spanish. I was surrounding by great people having fun conversations and not understanding anything and with only 3 days there, I had no time to get back into it! argh.

All the more reason to go back again and for even longer!!

So when we left, we got up super early (aka 7 am) (early for us!) and hit the road. We caught 2 buses, made it to the Sevilla airport, grabbed some breakfast, and got our cute rental car.

I was the only one on the insurance to drive, and it was stick, which I dont drive all the time, so I was a bit worried, but in fact it was great!

I loved the car and it had a great shift...so off we went!!

About 3 or 4 hours into the trip we come to our first big change on the road, getting off at exit 170 onto the A-43. We go ahead and do that and J and E fall asleep. I am just going along when the A-43 changes to A-40. Oh well, no biggie, I am still going in the right direction. Wrong.

I start seeing signs for Cordoba, which is back towards Sevilla) and have a little panic, plus the car is almost on empty. FUDGE.

So we turn around and look for a gas station. About 45 mins later, we find one, get off and hurry over. While I am filling up, E goes inside to ask for directions.

She comes back with a smurk of, `you will never believe it but...´oh god now what??

The road we need according to the gas attendant..DOES NOT EXIST.

They have not finished it. Holy crap. Way to go Spain!!!

So we turn around and look for a road called N-301. Sweet, we find it and we hit the road. Turns out it is a single lane road, WITH trucks.

We had to haul ass and go around trucks and stay calm. OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG WE HAVE A FLIGHT TO CATCH.

So we get to a sign saying San Clemente or Madrid...what the hell, where is VALENCIA???

We ask the workers on the side of the road and they said go to Madrid. Fine, I pull a huge u-turn, truckers beeping at me, and hit the road Jack.

Oh wait...that road does not lead us there EITHER. So E has to get out again at some sketchy brothel looking place and they say turn around again. Magically 20 mins later we find an exit for A-43 and sail through the next 5 hours.

After all that a 7 hour trip takes about 10 hours and we RUSH to the car place, drop the car, grab our bags, and haul ASS to the desk with 15mins until they close for check in.

We made it...so a little victory dance and head to Dubrovnik.

Croatia here we come!!
More to come in the next week with fabulous stories of sightseeing, bed bugs, and no hot water!

Hasta Luego!

Running from the FBI in our Benz

So it was a long sleepless night before we arrived in Sevilla...we girls decided, who needs sleep, lets stay up all night until our 5am bus to Frankfurt Hahn (the OTHER cheap airport)to catch our RyanAir Flight at 9.

We got on the BOOKED flight, made it to Sevilla and got to our rental car place. I was SO excited to be back in my Sevilla! We ended up getting a slightly bigger car, which ended up being a Mercadesss!! So that was awesome, but fuel was 78€. Ouch.

We got on the road and I did a small tour of Sevilla, showing the girls where I lived, the universidad, the clubs, the SUPERSOL (best grocery in town!) and a few other places like Corte Ingles (Macys of Spain)

We then got on the road and made our way to Lagos, deciding on the drive to go to Lisbon first and then spend two glorious days in Lagos.

It took us about 5 hours and we did not have a hostel booked, figuring we planned every second of this trip, lets live a little. We learned that living a little=having no place to stay at 1am.

We had google map directions to Lisbon, but not to the hostel. We went up one way streets, got stuck in random areas, peed behind bushes at a historical landmark, and almost killed one another. Finally after I got out of the car, looked at a Bus Map and randomly came upon the street where I had picked a hostel from America! So excited!!!

Now we had to get there...after about an hour or so we made it through the windy streets and may I say I was quite impressed with my map reading skills...I cannot even believe we got there!

Once we did and we parked and went around...no hostel OR hotel was available. We ended up looking desperate enough to a woman at a hotel who called a friend and found us a room. They only had two single beds..but heck we would take anything! We got into our hotel...pushed the beds together and fell fast asleep.

The next morning we got up, put our stuff in the car, and went happy to the center of the city to start our Hop On-Hop Off Tour..little did we know our nice parking space was parked in a Portuguese FBI parking space.

We saw some amazing things, like the Castle of Libson, and many other historical things I now cannot remember the name of because we came back to our car to find it GONE.

OMG. IT IS STOLEN..ITS GONE, THERE IS NOTHING LEFT.

Well we went into the office, talked to a jerk off who basically told us we parked in a FBI spot and ´it is problem` well yes...it is...so please then tell us how to fix it.

Impossible to work with this man. We essentially had to get on the metro and show a taxi driver a piece of paper that said `Policia municipal`

The NICEST old man taxi driver took us to a police station with some delicious portuguese men were nice enough to help and spoke English.

The yummie officer, who if asked to marry, I would probably do, found our car and called a cab for us...but our problems were only half over.

We realized that it was going to cost 120€ to get the car back and once we did it was probably 11pm and we had no place to stay and nothing was open.

Oh god.

After about another hour of driving, yelling, and being overly exhausted and hungry with no place to eat, we parked and starting walking the streets of Lisbon to find a stupid internet cafe that our Europe book told us about (ps. these books STINK. you need every country, not one book of Europe).

We FINALLY found the dang place and started looking for hostels...oh wait...every single awesome hostel in Lagos was BOOKED. holy crap. could this day get any worse!!?

We decided to book a hostel in Lisbon, get google directions there, and book another random budget hotel in Lagos.

We found a parking space that HAD a sign, unlike the policia parking space, and made sure to be up at 7am to hit the road.

We got up and got going, our car was still there in the morning, and off to Lagos we went, and guess what? We MADE IT.

We are safe and sound in Lagos,with a bit less money, but there is sun, beaches, and a Bom Dia Sangria and Grotto tour awaiting our arrival tomorrow.

More to come in Sevilla and Croatia!
chao!

Play Dumb

So I have had QUITE the few crazy days! The first story is this however. Playing Dumb really helps, especially when it is a 40€ fine for not buying a ticket on the metro system in Frankfurt.

So J, E, and myself were going around Frakfurt, finding some dinner and took the metro...we realized after day 1 that no one checked to see if you had a ticket...day 3 we realized, oh shoot, under cover metro police are on the lookout!

They came over to us to ask for a ticket in German, and I just looked at them confused and asked what they said. Then in English he said ´ticket` and I said, ´`yes I would like to buy one`´(acting like I thought we should buy them on the train, knowing full well we just needed to act as stupid as possible.

Well it totally worked! It would have been 40€ EACH since all three of us did not get tickets and the nice undercover cops got off the train with us, showed us how to use the simple dumb machine, and made us just buy the ticket for that day...

sometimes playing dumb gets you a long way!