May was an exciting month for me personally. I got married (peep my new last name above), and soon after, my husband and I embarked on a 10-day honeymoon in Greece.
Greece has been a bucket list vacation of mine ever since I saw The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants when I was 13. One of the characters in the movie spends a summer in Santorini with her grandparents — admiring the Caldera, eating traditional Greek dishes, and riding donkeys up and down the, what I can now attest are indeed, very steep hills. The scenes filmed in Greece were so breathtaking that I dreamed I could see it in person one day. Suffice to say, I was thrilled at the opportunity to live out that dream when my husband asked me where I wanted to go for our honeymoon.
After hours and hours of research, we decided to “island hop” around Greece — four days in Crete, three days in Santorini, and three days in Paros. My husband meticulously planned our flights, hotels, ferry rides, transportation to and from the airports and ferries, everything. Meanwhile, I was excitedly planning which restaurants we should try, where we should go shopping, what to see, and what to do while we were there.
Then we experienced what I can only describe as the worst travel day in the history of travel days. Fast forward 36 hours later, and we were finally in Crete. We lounged by the pool, we walked around town, and we ate one of the best chicken souvlaki pitas we’ve ever had.
After that, we made our way to Santorini. We had a spectacular view of the famous blue domes, the Caldera, and Ammoudi Bay — just like in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. We spent hours in the hot tub on our balcony, we petted stray cats, we watched beautiful sunsets, and we enjoyed an afternoon on a catamaran.
Then we moved onto Paros. We wandered the quaint streets, we stopped in all the local shops, we visited a nearby winery, and we rented an ATV to go see all the different beaches.
Overall, we had a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime trip. And while we enjoyed our time in Greece, we also found ourselves comparing some of our experiences to what we have at home here in Richmond. We had sushi one night, but we decided that we liked the sushi at Lucky AF, Fighting Fish, and Level just as much. We ate Greek food, but we realized we love the dishes at Stella’s equally. We drank local wine, but we also love the wine we’ve gotten at Sip Société and Jardin. I loved that there were dozens of stray cats wandering the streets, but it wasn’t the same as petting my own two cats who were waiting for me at home. We enjoyed walking around and exploring new cities, but we also missed taking our dog for a walk in our own neighborhood.
I’m grateful to have lived out my teenage dream of going to Greece, but I’m also grateful to live in a city that feels like a dream destination itself. Don’t get me wrong, I’m already plotting my move to Paros, but there’s still no place like home.
