τα λέμε σύντομα (see you soon), Greece!
Day 13 Paros/Athens:
Day 13 was another travel day. We met in the lobby at 0900 to head to the port. Our ferry was supposed to depart at 1015-1030, however, again it was delayed. We walked around and explored the port for a while and then hung out in the shade of one of the windmills (fragile skin…). When the boat finally arrived we shuffled on and settled in for a five hour trip back to Athens. There was a restaurant onboard where we had lunch. It was so windy our food almost blew away and it was incredibly difficult to walk. After eating, we made our way back inside. We were unable to find actual seats to sit in, so we found a little café and spent the rest of the trip playing card/dice games and coloring pictures for entertainment.
On arrival into Athens, we again were shuffled down to the bottom and waited while the boat backed in. CHARGEEEEE!!! A bus brought us back to the President Hotel were we originally stayed. Since we were so late, we didn’t have any time to explore more of Athens. We checked in, brought our stuff up to our rooms, and left.
We headed out for the farewell dinner at Misafir. It was another rooftop restaurant next to the one where we had lunch several days before. There was SO. MUCH. food. The wait staff kept bringing out plate after plate of amazing food. And… we had another incredible view of the Acropolis.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel. We were booked on a 0630 flight out of the airport which meant that we needed to leave the hotel around 0300. We showered in preparation and made an attempt to stay up in order to avoid jetlag. We were so incredibly tired already so we ended up passing out for a 2-2.5 hour nap.
Day 14 Athens/LA:
We made it to the airport without any issue. After another quick stop in Frankfurt, we landed back in LA around 1300 on the same day. It was 2300 back in Athens.
A unhealthy amount of five-hour energy allowed me to stay up until around 2030, but that was my limit. I woke up pretty early and couldn’t go back to sleep. Being awake didn’t actually mean I was functional, however. Amanda and I had discussed on the plane that we were not sure we wanted to go stand in the heat and sun, waiting in long lines at Disney Land, so we came up with a few alternative plans in case we changed our minds, but left the option open. Literally. NONE. of. that. happened. We couldn’t even get off the couch. I was so exhausted. I couldn’t even actually remember being in Europe. The whole thing felt like this weird, foggy dream. I, again, forced myself to stay up all day even though I wanted nothing more than to sleep. Until…it was actually bedtime, then I was awake.
Day 15 LA/STL/Southern Illinois:
I managed to get a few hours of sleep but woke up exhausted. We spent the morning relaxing and headed to the airport early since LA traffic is the worst. I arrived back in St. Louis at 2030 and made the 2-hour drive back to Southern Illinois. Dave was supposed to be in Pittsburgh so imagine my surprise when I got to my house and he was inside! He had flown back early to surprise me!! Very impressive. Hahah 😀
