Love at first sight? I think YES!!!

Thursday, August 21, 2008. 8:30 AM Santorini time

Oh wow. We have arrived!!! And in case you were thinking that there is no way that Santorini is as beautiful as it is shown in pictures or in the movie, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, IT IS!!! The water is as blue as a crayola crayon and the buildings are WHITE!!!

Now, our travels getting here, not so beautiful. I left my house around 9:30 am, met up with my friend from Birmingham, Elisabeth. We finally left the Atlanta airport around 12:40 pm and made the venture to Philadelphia to meet up with our friend, Katie. We then spent the next nine hours TRYING to get comfortable on the airplane. Conveniently enough, it was only about 25% full! So we all got to spread out and sleep (with a little help from Tylenol PM…) The trip passed surprisingly fast—as fast as 9 hours on a plane can go. The food was mediocre at best: gross pasta, and a pathetic excuse for a jam filled pastry. Then we arrived in Athens, hopped off that plane, got my first passport stamp (!!!!), and onto another one to Santorini, our final destination!

Our arrival into Santorini marks the beginning of the drama. We waited for our baggage that never came. No joke. After waiting for about 30 minutes, we went to the Aegean counter (this man took us through a side door that bypassed customs… oops) where we tried to talk to some women to explain our problem. (by the way, the keyboard was GREEK!!!!) They informed us that our baggage would be on the next flight! Conveniently, we were waiting for our friend Meredith to arrive to all travel to the hostel together. So we waited. And waited… Meredith arrived, no baggage. We approached the woman again. Next plane, she said. It was about 2:30 pm by this time. The next plane was scheduled to come in around 5:00. We didn't want to COMPLETELY waste our first day, so we left our numbers with the woman and went on to the hostel.

We met up with Ellen and Kendra to make our six girls in the hostel, which is beautiful—not what I would expect from a hostel! The beds are just bunk beds, and it is a little warm when you close the door, but otherwise, there is a fountain in the courtyard and everything is white and blue. It is stunning. I am writing this from the desktop in the hostel, but as soon as I can get internet on my laptop, I will upload my STUNNING pictures!!

We went into Fira for dinner and ate at an “authentic Greek” restaurant. I had something with pita bread and chicken, it was great! I am still getting used to the money here (they have 2e and 1e coins… how strange!!!) We then went to a place that over looks the “middle of the C” of Santorini (look at a map and you’ll see what I mean) and watched the sunset while all sharing some Greek wine. It was so wonderful!!!! The sunset was UNBELIEVABLE. Wait until I post the pictures!!!

Because I have NO clothes, I had to sleep last night with almost no clothes on and pretty much didn't move the whole night to stay cool. The hostel has no air conditioning (not surprising since we are paying 17e to stay here INCLUDING BREAKFAST) so it was pretty warm. I am not sure what our plans are for today, hopefully I find my luggage…

I love you all and miss you dearly!
xoxo
mckin