The Travel Diaries: Greece

It has been a couple of days since I left Greece, I'm actually in Zanzibar, Tanzania right now, typing away at a messed up keyboard in a tiny internet cafe. I don't have any photos to upload right now, I'll have to do that some other time as wi-fi isn't available here.

Athens
I flew into Athens Airport on the 17th and took the metro to the Acropolis. It took a little over an hour and set me back 8 euro, I later found out there was a 5 euro airport bus that took you right to the centre of town (the X95). I stayed at the Athens Backpackers, which I'd highly recommend to anyone travelling there on their own, it was a bit of a bitch to find, but the locals were very helpful. 

Spent my first day checking out the markets and my hour long stroll turned into a 3 hour hike in the 38 degree heat because I got lost and didn't know how to read my map. The streets are really hard to navigate because they seem to just go everywhere and there aren't any street signs anywhere. Cool markets though.
I met Jasmine from Melbourne who was staying in my dorm, and we went out for a drink and dinner. She had been travelling for about a week around the Greek Islands and was finishing her trip in Athens.
Athens Backpackers offers a 6 euro tour around the city, and depending on which tour guide you get, it can go for as long as 4-5 hours. I met some pretty cool people on my walking tour, including Evan, who's video of him playing the piano backwards went viral and landed him guest spots on Ellen and Jay Leno.

Mykonos
Andrew, Mari and I took a 3 hour ferry from Piraeus and arrived in Mykonos. We stayed at Hotel Teo (worst place I'd stayed at in all of Greece) and was picked up from the port by Theo, the guy who ran the place. Our room was TINY, infested with mosquitoes, our bathroom light didn't work, the toilet didn't flush and the shower clogged up every time we used it. I was so fed up by the second day, I had a shower outside our room with the garden hose while an old creepy man watched me from across the road. Backpacking in true class and style. Honestly, there was not all that much to do in Mykonos unless you really like drinking, partying and laying around on the beach. We tried to sleep on the beach one of the nights we were there but it was so windy. There were also lots of Aussies there.

Santorini
Hands down, my favourite place in all of Greece. We stayed at Villa Manos, Poppy who runs the place, made us a dinner when we got there, free of charge and we were put up in a really nice two bedroom suite. Just what we needed after our hellish ordeal in Mykonos. We visited a volcano, a couple of the smaller islets around the main island, rode donkeys and watched the sunset in Oia. I also swam fully clothed into a hot spring and spent the better half of the afternoon walking around town in a black dress with very obvious white salt stains all over the place. It was definitely not a good look and not one my proudest moments, but I definitely don't regret it.

Crete
Crete is the largest island in Greece and also the most boring. We stayed in Heraklion and all we really did was see the Palace of Knossos and spent the rest of our time watching Parks and Recreation, there was nothing really to do there. Crete was pretty shit, don't go there. We were told there was a really nice beach, Bali Beach, about an hour out, but we just couldn't be bothered.

Things you should try when in Greece: ouzo (disgusting liquorice tasting alcohol ), moussaka, stuffed peppers, gyros (the Greek version of the kebab at only 2.50 a pop) and souvlaki, of course.

The Travel Diaries: Singapore

I left Sydney on Sunday July 15 for Singapore on my way to Athens. I realised once I left the house that I had overpacked, I could barely put my pack on myself and when I checked it in at the airport, it weighed 17kg and my carry on was 7kg. Oh god.

I spent my last Australian dollars on a breakfast cider at the airport before I boarded my flight and sat out on the porch for about an hour with Roxy.

I flew with Scoot Airlines, my ticket was only $286 for a single journey to Singapore, but didn't include any amenities. It was average, the seats were really uncomfortable and I was really fidgety after about an hour and did lots of stretches and walked around a bit for a good 45 minutes.

The woman sitting next to me refilled her water bottle in the bathroom, returned to her seat and drank from the bottle. Ew.

After about 8 hours, we arrived at Changi, and I took a $9 shuttle bus from the airport to my hostel, I had to walk my gear up 4 flights of stairs to the hostel in humid, 28 degree weather. I was dressed in my heaviest clothes, and was about to pass out by the time I reached the 3rd floor. The hostel was great, the staff were really helpful and I got a free upgrade to a 6 bed dorm (I'd originally booked a bed in 26 bed dorm), went for a stroll around Chinatown for a bit, and had dinner (Spinach Mee) which set me back only $3! Got back to the hostel, had a shower, played Xbox Kinect with other guys at the hostel, met some really cool people from Holland and Germany.

Next morning, I woke up at 6am, got my things ready, had breakfast with 4 (very cute) French medical students from Lille, who were on an epic trip through South East Asia for about 6 weeks - they were travelling from Singapore, through to Malak, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. 

I only had a day in Singapore so I planned to do the zoo and check out Topshop on Orchard Road. I also had enough time to squeeze a walk to Marina Bay, only the Merlion was on 'holiday' and was being prepared for its 40th birthday.

The zoo was really impressive, I caught a couple of shows and gave myself a good two hours before it started to rain. I ran into a very bogan family from Perth and we caught the tram around the zoo two times to kill time until the rain died down. 

I caught the MRT to the airport during peak hour, it was pretty intense experience especially with the heat and all the stuff I was lugging around. A random stranger gave me $2 to pay for the train ticket since the machine didn't accept $10 notes. So it only cost me $1.20 to get to the airport. Win? I think so. 

See that black pack in the bottom right corner? That's me.

I bumped into another Australian family who were on their way home to Brisbane from Phuket and they gave me the rest of their sunscreen when I mentioned I didn't have any. I love it when fellow travellers just strike up random conversations with you and you get freebies out of it. Haha!

There wasn't all that much to do in Singapore other than shopping so I'm glad I only gave myself a day. If I hadn't packed so much already, I would have definitely hit up the shopping there, Orchard Road was insane! My only regret was not getting to try an ice cream sandwich. I also lost my American Apparel Circle Scarf somewhere in Changi Airport which was lame, but I'm going to try and pick up some fabric in Athens before I head over to Tanzania and make my own circle scarf.

Next stop? Greece!

Warrior - Mike Foster, A-Trak and Kimbra

So I've booked my flights for The Trip.

After months and months laboriously flicking through travel guides, bookmarking thousands and thousands of websites and endlessly talking to friends about all my possible travel plans, I have finally booked my flights!

I am relieved and terrified all at the same time. I bought my backpack - a 70L Macpac Genesis which I am very eager to use, packing cells, stuff sacks, you name it. I've planned outfits, itineraries, made lists of places I want to see, budgets I should stick to and how I should pack my backpack. It's all a little overwhelming and has been occupying quite a lot of my time lately, but now that I have officially booked my flights, I can relax a little.

I fly out July 15, first stop being Singapore. I'm there for just under 24 hours and it was not part of the plan, but it was the cheapest way I could get to Greece. My flight was only $285 with Scoot Airways, which is incredibly cheap, so I hope the plane doesn't fall out of the sky. If you haven't heard of Scoot, it's the new budget airline under Singapore Airlines and launches Monday 4th June this year, so at least it'll give me a bit of time to change flights if I need to. My flight from Singapore to Greece is with Qatar Airways and set me back only $580! Considering flights from Sydney to Greece are about $1,200-1,400 one way, I am pretty pleased.

From what I've heard, there isn't really all that much to do in Singapore, so I only really want to see Singapore Zoo and maybe the Botanic Gardens and maybe do some shopping (I plan to hit up Topshop and Uniqlo, haha).

I fly out of Singapore July 16 for Athens and I have an 8 hour layover in Doha, Qatar. I was thinking of maybe booking a hotel room to sleep for a couple of hours, but I was really worried I might miss my flight. There isn't all that much to do at the airport aside from a few restaurants and the one duty free store, but I read that you can pay about $40 USD to stay in the Oryx Lounge at the airport for up to 6 hours. Included are snacks, wifi, newspapers/magazines, an airconditioned room to sit in, and even showers! Apparently the airport even offers a free breakfast for people who have long layovers so I'm all set!

I haven't planned too much, if anything at all for Greece, but I definitely want to see the Acropolis in Athens and maybe some of the museums, then hit up the Greek Islands - Santorini, Ios and Mykonos are on the top of my list, and if I have time, maybe even Crete!

I am planning to meet Lexie in Tanzania sometime early August - we're planning to spend about a week climbing Mt Kilimanjaro,  a volunteer program for two weeks and then Zanzibar for a couple of days if we can fit it in. I'm actually a little nervous about this leg of the trip because the Smart Traveller website has listed Kenya as a 'Do not travel' destination and I'm planning to fly into Nairobi and take a bus to Tanzania from there, on my own. With all the political unrest and conflict there right now, I'm worried we'll be turned away at the boarder and throwing all my other travel plans out of whack.

After Tanzania, I am hoping to get to Valencia, Spain for La Tomatina - I need to be there before August 29, so I really hope I make it there in time! It's been a life long dream of mine to participate in a food fight, so this will be just the perfect opportunity!

I thought I would start blogging about this trip so that I can see if my trip goes according to plan! I'll also put up some reviews of things that I've purchased for my trip and things that come up from now till I leave. My first review will be of my backpack so keep your eyes peeled!