Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Greece - Travel with Suzanne
In this episode we are visiting Suzanne, a full time traveler and author (FINGERPRINTS and CHOOSING TALLY) She shares her experience at writing workshops and a recent stay in Greece for six weeks!
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Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with Kristen and Carol. I am Kristen and I am Carol, and we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure.
Speaker 2:Each episode, we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next. Suzanne and I met on Instagram from you know, following each other and hearing about travel stories and just went to Greece. So she's going to to tell us about her six week adventure in Greece.
Speaker 1:Excellent, nice to meet you, suzanne.
Speaker 3:Nice to meet you too. I love what you guys are doing. It's really it's a very cool podcast and it's fun. I'm learning a lot.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so great to hear. I really do appreciate that we. It's just fun for us. So it's neat to be able to hear that feedback. So thank you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and congratulations on your one year of shows.
Speaker 1:It's pretty cool.
Speaker 3:You know like the average podcast usually doesn't get past, you know eight or 10 episodes, so it's amazing that you're that you're doing it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, yeah. So how did you end up getting to Greece?
Speaker 3:So it all started during the pandemic. I had been living in LA for 25 years and I had recently moved into a new apartment. I moved into a new apartment in January, I know, february of 2020. I was so excited. It was beautiful, it was right over sunset Plaza. I was like this is going to be the most amazing time. I can walk to the restaurants, the bar, see all my friends. I was so excited. And then COVID hit. So that was on March 14th. I had the we call it the last party ever and then the 16th, la shut down and then I had like four months of bliss in this beautiful apartment.
Speaker 3:And so that, in combination of with the pandemic, and in the beginning it was so scary, we didn't understand what was going on. And you know, I decided to come to Vermont, where my mom and my stepfather live on a mountain in the middle of nowhere, which is exactly where I am right now and and hide out Right. So I came here and I quarantined and um in a school house that was haunted, which is another story and then, um, then I came to their house and I spent the winter here and when the spring came and the snow started to melt, I realized my lease was up in July and so I thought, well, what if I don't get a new place? So I got rid of everything. I got rid of my car, I got rid of my apartment, I got rid of all of my belongings, except for like five boxes of stuff that's in my friend Gail's attic God bless you, gail, I love you. Stuff that's in my friend Gail's attic God bless you, gail, I love you. And it's only, like you know, my granny's silverware and my granny's artwork that like that's, there's nothing and some cookware Very practical. But got rid of everything else. I have one drawer of clothing at my mother's house. I have one drawer of clothing at my father's house.
Speaker 3:And I left, I got on a plane, I went to Bonaire for about two months. So Bonaire is an island in ABC islands, so there's Aruba, bonaire and Curacao, super close to Venezuela, yeah. So I went there last summer and I thought I was going to stay there five months and I made this big announcement that I'm going to B. And I thought I was going to stay there five months and I made this big announcement that I'm going to Bonair and I'm going to stay there for five months. I'm going to stay there until December and the first month was awesome. I had the greatest time. I met tons of people. I snorkeled every day with my Airbnb. That was like oceanfront Two bedrooms cost less than my one bedroom. Yeah, it was beautiful. I mean, the water's incredibly beautiful. It was just incredible. I had a friend of a friend there, jean, who, god bless her, showed me around, took me everywhere, took me out to eat, took me out for drinks, took me to the beach. I mean amazing, it was great.
Speaker 3:And then I had a place for August and September, and then October was coming and I couldn't find anywhere to stay and at that point it was like I had bug bites all over my body and it was 400 million degrees and the place I was living in really smelled bad, like there was just this weird smell in the Airbnb, and so, and I couldn't find a place to stay, I kept going and everything was like it was full. We smell in the Airbnb and so, and I couldn't find a place to stay, I kept going and everything was like it was full. We don't have anything. And so I was supposed to go to see an apartment on a Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock and so I'm ready, I'm dressed, I'm showered. It's like an excellent location, just a couple of buildings down from where I was. It was still oceanfront, it was affordable, and but they wanted a little more than I wanted to spend.
Speaker 3:So I said to the universe this is the thing that I use. Right? I said universe, I'm going to see this apartment at 10 o'clock. I want to pay. I want to pay. I think it was $300 a month less than what they're asking. Bless it or block it. Five minutes later I get an email from the woman who owns the apartment and she says I'm so sorry, I can't show you the apartment. It's already been rented. And that's what I was like. I got to go, getting off this island. The universe is screaming at me, it's time to go. So I left. So that's kind of how I live. Okay, I love it.
Speaker 2:I'm down with that too. I get made fun of sometimes but I'm like I don't know. The universe will tell me what to do. Doesn't mean you won't work hard. Doesn't mean you don't set goals, but you got to kind of listen.
Speaker 3:And when something isn't working or you're feeling a lot of friction, it's a sign, right. So so I moved on. So from there I I came back to Vermont for a little bit and then I went off to Ireland, which was amazing Friendliest people in the whole wide world.
Speaker 1:Oh, interesting, I didn't know that. How long did you stay there for?
Speaker 3:I was not there very long about 10 days. I spent a crazy night in a castle, where we ended up in the pub talking to the butcher. I was invited to join a stag party. We hung out with a bachelor party?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't think I'd want to do that as a young woman or a woman, not a young woman anymore but it was so fun.
Speaker 3:They were a bunch of 30 year olds and um, and they and I asked you know well how old is the groom? And they said and I asked you know well how old is the groom? And they said 30. And I said and then the guy said how old are you? And I said 49. And he said 39? I said no 49.
Speaker 2:39. The accent Very good, that's awesome. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:You let us hang out anyway.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so great. So then you went to Ireland for 10 days and then so you kind of use Vermont, your your folks place, as your base, and then you go back and forth to different places.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so. So then I came back to Vermont for Christmas and then I am fortunate enough, my, my father, has a home in Northern California. Yeah, so I was fortunate enough to stay there, home in Northern California. Yeah, so I was fortunate enough to stay there while he was staying in somewhere in Florida for the winter. So it was amazing. And then I went to Greece in May and spent six weeks there, and that was amazing.
Speaker 2:So you went to Greece with the intention to go to this some workshop you're saying a writing workshop so you had like some kind of core anchor.
Speaker 3:Yes, that was, yeah, that was one of the lessons. So one of the lessons from Bonair was, you know, I, I enjoyed it and, thank God, I had a friend of a friend on the ground, jean, when I got there. But somewhere along the way, I don't know, the sixth or seventh or eighth week, I thought to myself, you know, I should travel to writing retreats, cause that way I have like a built-in group, you know. And so, um, so I went to one. I went to one in Monterey, california, in April, which was a horrible writing retreat. It was not well structured, the hotel was gross.
Speaker 3:It was like what, if I go all the way to Greece, um, I, I did decide to to go to a writing retreat and a residency, um, so it was a total of 20 days, um, and, and that that was a blessed or block it. Because I, I just said to the universe you know, I want to do this, go to this writing retreat, blessed or block it. And as soon as the mastercard goes through, then I know like, all right, I'm going Now was it affiliated with a school of some sort or university, or just some independent person?
Speaker 2:school of some sort or university, or just some independent person?
Speaker 3:No, I was searching for writing retreats and I actually Googled Greece writing retreat and I came up with this one and the instructors were amazing. Their names are Kate Emerson and Sarah Boland. They're two South African authors and Sarah is also an agent, and they have been running this retreat. It's in Scala Erisos on the island of Lesbos. I just heard that in Greece?
Speaker 2:Okay, I think I just listened to a podcast about that island.
Speaker 3:Okay, what's the island? So? So the island is Lesbos, oh, okay, uh-huh, and the village is called Scala Erresos. So e r, uh, I think it's e, I don't know if it's two r's or one r e r e s s o s, okay, and so, and it's this little seaside town village with, like you know, thatched roots, roofs on all the restaurants, and there's just, you know, I mean it's, it is like paradise, nice, so incredibly beautiful and, like you know, not a huge place, the tiny little village. So in Greece they have, they have these summer villages that are right on the water, and then there's a, and then, at the top of the mountain, there's a winter village, and, and the winter villages, usually all the buildings are rock colored, and they built the winter villages so that they could hide from pirates, because they're not usually visible from from the water. I mean, it's like amazing, their history is just incredible. I mean, it's like amazing, their history is just incredible. Wow, that looks beautiful as well.
Speaker 3:The pictures are really pretty, it was fantastic, the food was great, the instructors were amazing and people from all over the world. I mean it was. There were writers from South Africa and England and France and Australia, someone from Syria.
Speaker 2:So was the was the name of a retreat center. We can mention or just their names Kate Emerson. And what was the other one?
Speaker 3:Sarah Bullen, b-u-l-l-e-n. And the Greece retreat is on Sarah's website, which is the writing room. Okay, so Lesbos is an island off of Turkey? Yes, yeah, it's really close to Turkey, so you can see Turkey from Lesbos, and I actually stayed in two different villages on Lesbos. So the first 20 days or so, well, the first couple of days, I was in Mitilini, which is the, which is the you know city.
Speaker 2:I'm making quotes M-I-T-H-Y-M-N-A. God, their writing is so weird. Mitamini, Is it like? It looks like?
Speaker 3:Mithyma. Well, that's actually Molivos, that's that. I know that you're saying Mithyma, but that's the Greek name of Molivos. It's hard to explain. That's the third town I stayed on in on that island. There's a castle at the top of the island, I mean at the of the town. It's just beautiful. But so it went like this so retreat for the first 20 days, then after that I went to Athens and I met my friend, a childhood friend, in Athens, and we went to Santorini and then oh it was amazing and then Mykonos and then back to Athens, and then I went back to Lesbos to go to that town that had the castle on the top Moulibos. I stayed there for another couple of weeks.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness. Okay, and so which island did you like the best? As just like more of a tourist.
Speaker 3:So Santorini is just magical, it is otherworldly. You know the photos that you see of the white buildings with the blue tops on, you know it's mind blowing. It's like it just feels like you're on another planet. I can't explain it. I mean it's just Like artwork. Yes, it's like you're walking in planet. I can't explain it, I mean it's just like artwork.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's like you're walking in the art picture, you're walking in a sculpture.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, exactly what it's like. That sounds beautiful, like a dream.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is sometimes. I'm in Colorado hiking. I'm like I feel like I'm in that scenic picture that you see and you know in museums. This is I'm walking through this.
Speaker 1:That's really cool. How long was the writing?
Speaker 3:retreat for so. So there was a retreat that was a week long, and then there was a residency that was 10 days after that. I did them both. You could kind of choose one or the other, or you know both, but then there were there was a day off for two, I think, in between. So it was a total of about 20 days, I think it was 21. But I actually left a day early to go meet my friend in Athens.
Speaker 2:So did they give you the lodging for the whole time, or did you have to coordinate some of that yourself?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so with the writing retreat, the lodging is included and many of the meals were included Breakfast, every day was included, and then, I would say, a lot of dinners.
Speaker 3:Oh wow, yeah, and again, I mean, the instructors are just fabulous. The workshop sessions were really wonderful. We would focus on one thing every day, maybe it was voice or tone or dialogue or action or whatever and then we would have to write a scene or do an exercise and every day people were reading, you know, then they would read aloud what they just wrote and it was like oh, my goodness, wow.
Speaker 2:Now what is your? What was your writing training before that? Do you have a degree in writing or literature? Yes, okay.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, so I have a degree in creative writing from Emerson college in Boston, and, and then and then, beyond that, I so when I graduated from Emerson, I started to write for teen magazines like 17 and teen, when they had actual pages, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I used to, oh, I subscribed to 17, probably until.
Speaker 3:I was 19. Me too, then I moved to Cosmo. Yeah, Right, I know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So that's kind of how I got my start.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry I didn't hear you oh no, I said, now I have like outdoor and active ones. Yeah, exactly my, how we change, yeah totally oh wow.
Speaker 2:So I mean, one thing that sounds so amazing about Greece is how old it is, like the buildings, the cultures, and especially on the smaller islands.
Speaker 3:Like you will never see a modern building on Santorini, you will never see a modern building on um in Mykonos, and and Mykonos was really unique and it's in its own way because, um, it has these tiny little pathways and the city was built as a labyrinth so pirates couldn't find people. It's all about avoiding the pirates. So it has these tiny, tiny little walkways and and and I'm talking about, like you know, the, the walkways. At some point they're they're five, four, five, six feet wide. You know, and and like, how would you get a refrigerator or a sofa in these buildings? You know, how would you get something delivered? I mean, it's just incredible. So, definitely, definitely very old buildings and uh, and and and beautiful Mykonos is also that very, very white style, um, like Santorini, which obviously was to reflect the sun and the heat.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, and just seeing a picture and that looks almost like like a little mall, this girl's like walking through the streets and white everywhere, brick, just gorgeous.
Speaker 3:Oh, my goodness. Yeah, I think I posted some pictures so on of the of the walkways in in Mykonos on my Instagram. So that's at, suzanne Casamento. As I'm traveling, obviously I'm. You know, I'm writing lots of stories about these crazy adventures, like you know, hanging out with the hurling team in Ireland or going to the hamam in Greece. That story is called Hamamamia because it was like oh, I love it.
Speaker 2:My daughter's in Mamamia this year. I'm so excited. I love that movie. That's so fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:That sounds great yeah.
Speaker 1:So what would you say? You know I'm thinking for the audience and things like that. So, in terms, know I'm thinking for the audience and things like that. So, in terms of, I know some of the folks have, like, lived in different places. I really love your story in the sense of that you're going back and forth, you have a home base. There was someone else we spoke to recently too and he had a home base and they would. Actually he was going from place to place and then the winter he spent a place that you know just like during the winter time. In terms of, so you were there for six weeks and now you're back in Vermont, is that right?
Speaker 3:I am. After that, I went to New Jersey. I'm from New Jersey, so I spent some some time with family and friends there. I spent six weeks there and then I'm in in Vermont for six weeks. Oh, that's so funny. Yeah, six weeks is kind of like my thing, it's the same.
Speaker 2:I need to change your book.
Speaker 3:Maybe, maybe six weeks, yeah, and then I'm going off to Scotland in.
Speaker 2:October so.
Speaker 3:I'm super excited about Scotland Because so I know I mentioned earlier that the people in Ireland were so friendly, like seriously everywhere you go. If you go and you have a meal in a pub, someone will come up and say oh, you're from.
Speaker 3:America. Where are you from? I went to Las Vegas once, oh, I was in New York once and oh, I love you know, and it's like you have instant friends. It's incredible. And so somebody I, a lot of people have told me that they eat Scottish, or exactly the same way, and so that is wonderful for me, because I'm usually traveling by myself and it's really nice to know that if I go to a pub, it's likely someone's going to say hi, or if I say hi to someone, I'm going to make an Insta friend. So, yeah, I'm very excited.
Speaker 1:That's great. So, going back to grace, because I know the title of this is is is Greece? What would you say for someone who's trying to, maybe would like to do something similar, whether they're going to retreat or not? And then, in terms of you know, expense wise and getting around and foods?
Speaker 3:and yeah, so Greece is. Greece can be a lot less expensive than you would imagine it would. So for me, obviously, I paid for a retreat and that kind of thing. So it's a little bit. How do I explain this? So in Santorini and Mykonos I was with my friend and we went crazy Like we stayed five star. We went crazy because, you know, we figured once in a lifetime let's stay at the you know, luxury hotels.
Speaker 1:And how much is luxury there? Cause I just went to Bali and luxury there was a total different price.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, so luxury, I think the hotel in Santorini, the hotels, they were somewhere around like 800, $900 a night.
Speaker 1:Okay. So it's like, yeah, this is expensive, as maybe the U? S or something.
Speaker 3:Right, which we split between the two of us. So you know, and we knew we were going on this, you know we were going big cause, like we're going back to Zantorini and Mykonos, right, yeah, yeah, um, and did you?
Speaker 2:go there in prime season? Were you there in the summer or you're like May?
Speaker 3:or we were okay, yes so, yeah, that's the prime season is May or the prime season is, uh, june, july, august, august, and so we were there at the end of June. And how is the weather there?
Speaker 1:Is it like really hot and uncomfortable, or nice?
Speaker 3:Beautiful. It is like California it is. It's a dry heat, which was so surprising. So everything that grows in Concord, where you are right the figs, the grapes, the apricots, the olives, all of it is exactly what grows in Greece. I mean, it's like. So it's the same kind of climate, which is so weird because it's an island and you would think that you're going to be like hot and sweaty and humid like Bon Air. No, interesting, it's like a hot and lazy, humid like Bonair. No, it's like nice.
Speaker 2:And it's probably a little breeze all the time yes, and the water, yes.
Speaker 3:And if you go to the less traveled islands, so, for example, in Lesbos, when I was at so, so after Santorini and Mykonos, I needed to relax.
Speaker 3:So I went back to Lesbos and I went to Moldavos, that town that has the castle at the top of the village, and there I stayed at a five-star place that had an infinity pool overlooking the sea and a restaurant on the premises, a restaurant on the on the premises, and it was a beautiful. My room was, I mean, it had an American size shower, which is a very big deal in Europe, which I know, you know, and and it and it was, and it was like a casita, so it had, you know, a living room and a patio and a bedroom and a bathroom, and that was a hundred dollars a night. Oh, that was on Lesbos. So if you go to the smaller islands, right, and and now I didn't go to this, any of the smaller islands, but I'm told that Paros, eos, which ones, oh gosh, capillonia there were there were a whole, a whole list of less traveled islands where you can be in a nice place for $400 a night.
Speaker 2:I mean, can you get like a decently safe place, maybe not nice, but like decent neighborhood, you know clean for like 5060 bucks a night then?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean so. So like in in Mitellini, which was, which is, I guess, the capital of Lesbos, if you will. You know, there there are hotels for 65, 68, 74 euro a night. Okay, that are a lovely area, so you can travel really, really inexpensively and the food is so inexpensive.
Speaker 1:Like what's a meal and what does? What were the meals, the food and then the cost.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so well. First of all, I ate so much spanakopita, you know the Spanish pies, oh my goodness.
Speaker 3:They're so good, right, uh-huh. And then there are things like gyro, so, which I had to ask. I said you know how is this pronounced, is it gyro, gyro, gyro, gyro, roll those. It's like a Y instead of a G, right, you know? Yeah, exactly, but they, but so they, oh, no, actually they, they use the G for that. Oh, they do, yeah, gyro, they told me gyro, but you know so, huge gyro for like $3 and 50 cents. Oh, that is so cheap, yeah, and and then but, but, but so like, let's say that we went to a restaurant and we had, like, um, you know, a fresh fish meal and a Greek salad and, um, a glass of wine. You know, it's probably 20 bucks.
Speaker 2:Okay, and so is the Greek salad. Like we get a Greek salad here. It always says the feta cheese and the pepper cheese and I don't know what else.
Speaker 3:It was so cool. I discovered that Greek salad is totally different than American Greek salad. That's what I figured. So what is a Greek Greek salad? I know right, it's salad, because it's totally different than.
Speaker 1:American Greek salad. That's what I figured. So what is a Greek Greek salad?
Speaker 2:I know right, it's salad right, because it's in Greece.
Speaker 1:I was just telling my mom, the other day.
Speaker 3:You wouldn't believe it. There's, it's cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, sometimes olives, but not all of them had olives. And then there's a block of feta cheese. It's like a well, not a block. It was like a, like a slice of a block right on top of the salad. And then there's, there's oil. There has to be some sort of acid in it, but it does not taste vinegary or lemony. I'm not really sure what they used there. There's some dried herbs that they sprinkle on top, and I don't know what's in them. I bought a pack and brought them back for my mom because I, you know she loves a Greek salad, but there's no lettuce. You know there's.
Speaker 1:I was going to ask if there are lettuce, because sometimes there are and not in Greek salads. And yeah, I've had both before but, yeah, no lettuce.
Speaker 2:No lettuce, yeah, okay. Oh yeah, more like a Caprizi, salad or something. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh, that, yes, so good. And then you break up the block of cheese. It's like part of preparing your salad.
Speaker 2:So oh, so most of the food places with it mostly waiters and waitresses like servers, or is that mostly like quick serve?
Speaker 3:I mostly sit down. I don't think I actually encountered any any quick serve. Okay, and that's. You know that. That's another thing that's really different about, I mean in comparison to to the US, because you know they eat dinner really late. So dinner starts at like eight or nine and for me I'm in bed at like eight or nine and you know I like to have my dinner at like four or five. It's like I'm 103, but that's, but that's how I like to eat, and so I was finding myself.
Speaker 3:You know, when we had these group dinners and they were starting at eight, you know we would have, we would have sort of like a, a happy hour and and sort of a writing session or maybe a review of the day before. That started at six. That would get me to eight, right, and then I could eat. But otherwise I would go and and get something, some sort of um, take out like a gyro, and then you know, around four or five, and that's my last meal of the day. I don't, you know, yes, I don't think I could be.
Speaker 3:European, I think I would die.
Speaker 2:Like I take those naps in the afternoon right.
Speaker 1:No, I have a friend that lives in Greece and she would say they would eat gosh 10, 10 PM and it wasn't really late, and then sometimes they'd go to bed at like 2 AM or something like that. It was just insanely late.
Speaker 3:So when are?
Speaker 1:the meal you were from your experience being there, when were meal times and what were served for breakfast, lunch and dinner typically?
Speaker 3:So so, meal times, dinner, dinner earliest was like eight o'clock. So so the first night I came in I actually flew. I actually flew direct from direct from Newark to Athens, and then I flew from Athens to Mytilene on Lesbos. But I got there at a weird time, you know. It was like three or four in the afternoon and I was starving because of all the time changes and I was just, you know, on airplane food and blah. So I was trying to wait as long as possible to go downstairs. I was in a hotel that had a restaurant in it and I wasn't about to go wander around town because I was all jet lagged and nutty. I went downstairs at 745 and asked to order and the person said well, the chef isn't here yet. You're like what? Chef isn't even here yet it's 745 pm, so I had to wait.
Speaker 1:Oh wow. So like is anything open or nothing's open?
Speaker 3:Luckily things were open. It just happened to be in that I didn't want to leave that hotel that day because I had just gotten in and I was all messed up. But things are open in the afternoon. You just might not get, you know, a dinner menu, but that's okay, I don't. You know, I don't need a parade at every meal.
Speaker 2:So did you get a chance to meet local people? What did they like to do? I'm sure it's different on Athens than the islands, I would assume. I mean, did you meet a lot of people that live in like Lesbos year round, or is it mainly just tourists?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so in Scala Oresos, that little village where we had the writing retreat that was along the beach, the people live there in the summer and then they pack up the entire village and then go up to the winter village in the winter and they stay there for the winter.
Speaker 2:On the same island, same island.
Speaker 3:And I mean, they actually physically move everything.
Speaker 1:It's like they're birds, like they migrate.
Speaker 3:They do Like, and that was amazing, like what. So, yeah, so I mean, the people that I met were generally the people who worked in the restaurants and the hotels where I stayed, but you know, they love to do the same things that that we do. They, they, you know, they go to the beach, they go for a boat ride, they, they're all amazing cooks and some of them are artists and Is there hiking there?
Speaker 2:It looks like there's some mountains on that southern part of the island. Okay, yes, so you said they moved from what you were in the more southern part of the island or the northern part when they moved so the the winter village is only a couple miles from the summer village.
Speaker 3:So the winter town it's called eriso. Oh, I see, is there a?
Speaker 1:significant difference in the weather if it's like only a couple miles, or is it like up a mountain, straight up or something. It is up a mountain straight up.
Speaker 3:Okay, something, it is up a mountain straight up yeah and and again. I mean that winter village exists to stay away from the pirates, because you know the summer village would have been at risk for the pirates. And I guess the difference is in the village at the top they have heat, oh okay, and there's no heat in the houses in the village now.
Speaker 1:They just moved and put the heat in the bottom one, and then they could open up and have more people live in the bottom. Is there other types of retreats or other activities that you can do on Lesbos? Is that where you spent the time? And then, how close? Is it close to Santorini and Mykonos, or is it pretty close.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're about an, yeah, they're about an hour flight from each other, so you can see from Molibos, you can see Turkey. You know it's right across the water. It's like a, it's like a 20 minute ferry ride or something so close.
Speaker 1:And is the flights expensive? Or are they pretty cheap, Like no, the flights are super cheap. They're like a 20 minute ferry ride or something so close. And is the flights expensive?
Speaker 3:or are they pretty cheap? Like no, the flights are super cheap. They're like a hundred dollars between islands, which is amazing. And also when you go to Athens this is something for the listeners when you go to Athens, there are Ubers, so like you don't have to even know where you're going to the hotel, Like you can just get off the plane and put it in your Uber app, which was amazing. Nice, that was great. We did ferry from Santorini to Mykonos and it was a nightmare.
Speaker 2:So really good, or really?
Speaker 3:bad. Yeah, I wrote a story. It's called the terrible. Yeah, I wrote a story. It's called the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and it's on my website, oh my goodness.
Speaker 3:Oh, my God, it was. I mean it. We were herded onto the, onto the ferry. First of all, we had to wait for an hour in this terminal that felt like it was going to be terminal. It was a million degrees, no air conditioning, all these people packed in there, and then we were put on the wharf, which was cement, and the sun was beating down on all of us. We were in this huge line. I mean there must've been a thousand people easily. And and then, you know, the ferry pulls up, I mean out of nowhere, whoosh, super fast, right. And then I want to say plank, but the whatever comes, the thing comes down the ramp, thank you.
Speaker 3:And all these cars start coming off the ramp Right and people, the people are running out while the cars are coming out down the ramp and then the people who are waiting in line start to move forward and then people start blowing whistles at us like stop, stop. You know you can't move until they all come off. Then we're all herded onto the ferry together and we're like shoulder to shoulder and again, and it's a million degrees in there, there's no ventilation. We're in the bottom of the ferry, so where the cars go right, and then the doors shut and there's no ventilation and I am sweating. I mean sweating from like crown to foot, and all I'm thinking is it's okay, this is not Bon Air hot, you can survive this. You survived Bon Air heat. I mean, I was totally, completely soaked.
Speaker 3:We were packed in there and then we had to go to these two tiny staircases on either side of this huge hall of this boat and we're inching towards the staircases and people are carrying bags and luggage and backpacks and I mean, you know, slamming into each other. We're inching towards the staircases and and I turned to Nicole and I said we're moving and the ferry just start. I mean so people are rocking back and forth into each other and this is like June, there's still COVID going on Right and so, and so we're like holding onto the walls trying to get up this staircase. You know, we finally get to the top and it's like and she was just not happy, right, and I don't blame her, cause I think I had meltdowns about other things during the week, right, so it was her turn and it was fine. Yeah, we get to the top and you know, we find out where we're supposed to be sitting and I said you sit down, I'll go to the bar, you know, got two little bottles of.
Speaker 3:Prosecco for her and two beers for me. They didn't have any, like we usually drink tequila, long story. And I take the Prosecco back to her and she's like, oh thank god, you got two, you know.
Speaker 2:So how long were you on the ferry for from one place tonight? An hour 20 minutes, maybe an hour.
Speaker 3:We were still wet with sweat by the time we were disembarking Right. Then we get to Mykonos and there's this huge line for taxis. I'm trying to call an Uber I realize Ubers don't work there and then some guy comes up to us and he's like you want to ride, I'll give you a ride, you know, and all I'm thinking is, like there are these digital nomad forums where for women, so female digital nomads who are doing the same thing that I'm doing right, you know they're traveling the world, and it's like the number one warning is never, get in the car unless it's a real taxi driver or a real Uber driver, you know, and I'm like, no, we don't want to ride from you, you know.
Speaker 2:Totally.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't either.
Speaker 3:It was horrible. We end up waiting in this horrible, horrible line and it's like a million degrees and we're sweating and I'm getting sunburned and it's horrible, and finally saying to Nicole, did we call the hotel? Let me call the hotel, Right. So I call the hotel and I say we've been waiting and we've been waiting in line for an hour and we are sweltering. And the man says, oh, that's because there's only 32 taxis on the whole Island. And I'm like this is not funny.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, okay, so would flying to mykonos make more sense then?
Speaker 3:I will never ferry in greece again ever, I mean, it was, it was horrendous sounds like it was easy to get along.
Speaker 1:People talked english and everyone speaks english. Good to know, because that language is hard greek is hard oh, very good to know.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I'd like to go through a rapid fire questions. I don't know if you've heard this on some of our other ones, kristen, unless you have some other hot topics.
Speaker 1:Okay, I guess one last question I would say is how much should someone budget for a trip to that, knowing that they may not do the five-star hotel thing, knowing that you did the retreat, but how much would someone should budget, maybe per week or something like that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's really going to depend on the island. So so the very touristy, very famous islands like Santorini or Mykonos are going to cost you, I mean, a lot of money, like American Hawaii, what kind of money, you know. But if you go to the smaller islands, you can really you could, you could absolutely do it on a budget and the smaller islands are really just as beautiful. So, you know you, you could easily stay in a hotel for under a hundred dollars a night and have meals that are a wonderful meal for, for wonderful dinner, for $20.
Speaker 2:So the quality of the food you say is excellent, or?
Speaker 3:fresh, wonderful. Their food was wonderful, fresh caught fish, you know it was great.
Speaker 2:Okay, what is the popular religion there? Did you were able to figure that out? Maybe?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so they are Greek Orthodox. It's funny because one of my friends asked me to bring a rosary for her from every country I visit and I could not find one in Greece because there really aren't any Catholics, and so I learned. So I got her the equivalent, which is worry beads. Okay.
Speaker 1:Worry beads.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, and then? What was your favorite dish while you were there? Food wise.
Speaker 3:Moussaka.
Speaker 2:Moussaka. Oh, which is like can you share that? I mean I've heard of it, but it's like isn't it like a I don't know, like a square, like lasagna, kind of thing?
Speaker 3:Yes, it's like a lasagna, so basically it usually has like a potato base, and then there's some kind of ground meat that's sort of in a um, uh, maybe a tomato sauce, but not not too tomatoey, but some kind of ground beef. And then um, and then there's eggplant and then there is sort of a uh, a creamy layer on layer on top. I mean it is like quintessential comfort food, almost kind of like if you can imagine a greek shepherd's pie I have a plant at home.
Speaker 2:Right now it's in season, this sounds I might want to make this, so let's look it up what was the typical breakfast smoothies, granola, coffee, cappuccino so definitely cappuccinos, definitely.
Speaker 3:Um, something that was really interesting at like a hotel buffet is that they have what we would consider cold cuts at breakfast, so there would be sliced ham and sliced cheese, and which I thought was really kind of interesting, but also eggs and things like that. A lot of greek yogurt and fruit oh greek yogurt, of course. Okay, do they call it greek yogurt and fruit?
Speaker 2:oh greek yogurt, of course. Okay, do they call it greek yogurt or they just call it yogurt?
Speaker 3:they call it yogurt. It tastes totally different than what the greek yogurt in our grocery stores tastes like oh, okay yeah okay wonderful oh okay, gotta do that, and then I'm going to go.
Speaker 2:Is there any surfing out there with all those islands, or is it too calm and bay-like?
Speaker 3:I did not see any surfing. It doesn't mean there isn't any, but I didn't see any.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay. And then what's the money? Is it the Euro? You mentioned the Euro a few times, okay, yep.
Speaker 3:Euro.
Speaker 2:Okay, very good, well, great, thank you, this was so fun, yeah, and so we'll have you on, maybe for in my Scotland expedition or maybe when I'm one of your other adventures.
Speaker 3:I would love it. I would love it, yeah, scotland.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you guys so much. Have a great Labor Day weekend.
Speaker 2:Thank you, you too. Okay, bye. If you enjoy our podcast, be sure to subscribe to our show, rate us in your podcast app and follow us on Instagram at where next podcast, if you are interested in being a guest on our show. If you are interested in being a guest on our show or would like to nominate someone, please contact us on our website at wwwwherenextpodcastcom. Thanks for listening. Bye.
