Friday

Left SLC at 0910.
Arrived in Toronto around 1430 local time. We were happy to know that the YYZ airport does not require an in depth procedure for connecting flights. My family and I found our next gate and then found food. The food options were limited for me, however. The burger joint had a menu broadcasting its customizable options. I waited in the long line to soon discover that the lady at the register did not like people customizing their order. As soon as I mentioned taking off items for my diet, she pointed and was stern that my options were burger one or two. For what it’s worth, my husband enjoyed burger number two. 

Left YYZ around 1800 local time. As soon as I sat in my seat, I changed my clock to destination time. I started my jet leg routine. I prepared my seat for the next 12 hours. This always includes wiping down my seat, my tray table, and my entertainment screen. Next thing on my list, was gather my immediate necessities for the flight. Most of the time this includes my phone, headphones, and snacks. Overnight flights are different. I packed different cubes in my personal item. The first one included my take off necessities. I change into compression socks and fuzzy socks, wipe my face with a baby wipe (quick and easy way to wipe your face if you do not have access to water), put on my face mask, take my medicine, get my ear plugs, neck pillow, and eye mask ready. I know it seems like a lot, however, this will be the next twelve hours of my life and will determine my state of the next two weeks.

Saturday

Arrive in Athens about 1100. Our plan was to head over to our hotel to drop off our baggage. My mama wanted a hotel with king size beds. This is a limited accommodation in Athens. My mama decided she wanted to stay at the Marriott. The hotel is great, however, is farther from public transportation as I would have liked it to be. We ended up walking and taking wrong buses until we finally got to our hotel.
Check into hotel. We got to our hotel closer to 1530. That meant that everyone was ready for a nap. My rule book of traveling is not to “nap” until after dinner. This meant we needed to avoid the room until then. I put on my swimsuit and headed to the rooftop pool to get some Vitamin D. Unfortunately, no one prepared like I did for jet leg. I found my husband asleep with swimsuit in hand.
Dinner at Koutouki Kalypso (Κουτούκι Καλυψώ). This outdoor restaurant was a beautiful start to our trip. Greeks use their mealtime as a social gathering. This was the case here. First off, they had an iPad to translate their menu for us. Then, they made sure we had a meal instead of just dinner. The server brought over appetizers (free of charge), then our meals, then desserts (free of charge). This gentleman made sure these Americans were given the local dining experience. It may not be custom in Greece, however, we had to tip big for this big welcome. 
Early bedtime. We arrived back at the hotel shortly after dinner. We walked the neighborhood to sightsee a little before bed. This did not stop us, however, from going to sleep around 1900.

Sunday

Check out of the hotel.
Arrive at Port of Piraeus.
Begin Cruise. Cruise day one is where you complete the muster drill, walk around the ship to familiarize yourself with the most common destinations, and set up your cabin for an efficient stay.

Speciality Dining for my birthday. I actually don’t make a big fuss about my birthday, which is one of the reasons I got married a week later. I did, however, have two nights of speciality dining.

Monday: At Sea

Participate in onboard activities. The cruise director and the activities team come up with an itinerary for your entire trip. This is usually left on your door the night before. If you ever need another copy, head down to the customer service desk. My biggest activity is always bingo. No one parties like the bingo crew onboard. Each cruise line does it different, however the rules are the same. If you are at sea, then prepare for someone to yell “BINGO!”

P.S. I just happened to win a free cruise but playing bingo onboard. It would have been nice to have the cash prize but I’ll never say no to a free trip.

Tuesday: Istanbul

Sightsee. My family decided to do an excursion with the cruise line. I’m usually not an excursion type of person, however, we thought a sightseeing bus was the right call for this day. We got picked up at the port and taken to the famous mosque. We were able to walk around, explore the beauty of this religious site, and then try a Turkish delicacy. I do not believe in pictures inside religious sites so you will have to check it out in person.

Check out Europe and Asia from one city. This excursion took us to the Asian side of the city to view the Maiden’s Tower.

One thing to keep in mind is to be respectful. This is the home to many people with religious backgrounds different from most Americans. One thing I made sure to pack was a shawl. I knew that walking to religious sites would require some respect on my part. It was hard to see the way some people reacted to needing to cover up. Be respectful and choose your outfit wisely. Long skirts and pants, along with a scarf or shawl to cover your head when needed.

Wednesday: Kusadasi

Sleep in. You read that right. Now this is my personal opinion to choose Kusadasi, however, I choose one of the destination ports that I am fine missing out on. Sleep is important on vacation and you need to find time where ever you can. 
Explore the other side of the port. My husband and I did get off the ship to see some shops in the town square. We did not have a set schedule on this day. If you know me personally then that says a lot to you. 
Try something unexpected. My husband wanted to try Turkish coffee. He is not a coffee drinker at home but likes to experience coffee when traveling. In fact, that was his “bucket list” item for this trip.

Thursday: Mykonos

Walk away from the crowd. I know it seems hard to do when you just walk off a cruise ship. Be open to exploring. Walk those cobble streets and find something different to look at.
Eat local. While walking around, we came across this bakery with delicious donuts. My dad was sure happy to find some baklava that reminded him of his Navy days. This artisan bakery is called il forno di Gerasimo (ο φούρνος του Γεράσιμου). Lunch was at Saki’s. We all left fed and happy.

Friday: Rhodes

Rent a car. Best advice if you are heading to this island. The price of a day rental, plus gasoline, was way cheaper then any public transportation.
Drive the coast. We had one activity in mind, swim at the beach. Driving towards the other side of the island gets you an authentic experience.
Swim. We decided to Traganou Beach. There is a cave on the far side of the beach called the Traganou Caves. The cave itself did not have anything unique to them but the water was amazing. This was a pebble beach. Not uncomfortable to lay down but hard to walk with the wrong shoes. The tourists were nowhere in sight and the water was perfect temperature on this October morning. We could have floated for hours.

Acropolis. Rhodes has a beautiful acropolis. It is free to walk the grounds and explore. The land has different entrances. We entered from the top and saw the stadium from above. As we looked down, there were families exploring from the large field below.

Saturday: Santorini

Santorini is by far the best island with the most traditional landscapes. Our cruise ship was tendered for this destination. That means we stop the main ship and anchor it while we use smaller “tender” boats to taxi the passengers over. Once there, we have to decide our way up to the city. The “Greek thing” to do, as tourists will call it, is to use donkeys. Newsflash for some people, the stairs are over 500 steps and donkeys will go whenever and wherever they please. That means there will be smells along with the donkeys. Cable cars were installed on the cliff side. Cable car lift cost 6€ on way.

Explore Fira. We walked down through town and the shopping center. We looked at many shops for souvenirs but nothing stuck out for us here. 
Take a bus to Oia. A bus ticket for one way was only one or two euros. 
Walk around Oia. This part of the island is where you see houses on the cliff side.

Sunday: Back to Athens

We extended our trip for a few days so we could explore the capital. Disembarking is a day that is not my favorite, however.
Disembark. This process always seems like a chaotic mess. We were the last group to leave this time so I knew that I would be able to relax while eating breakfast. Boy was I wrong. We were called two hours earlier than expected and so sadly, no breakfast for my cabin. Then when you head down to the correct deck, you are funneled off to the next matter at hand. With U.S. ports, this is where the border control check passports. We entered into the port security building to see all the luggage lined up. We had to search through thousands of bags to find ours.
Check into our hotel. Our rooms are not ready until the time listed as check in but we head over to store our bags. Most hotels will provide this accommodation if you arrived earlier than check in is available. Once our bags were stored with hotel personnel, we decided to check out the metro system.
Familiarize yourself with the transit. Obviously we did terrible with the metro the first time, so my husband and I went and explored the different tracks with a few sightseeing opportunities.
Monastiraki Square. This is where we found our souvenirs and ate dinner the next few nights.

Rooftop swim. The Hyatt hotel in Athens has a wonderful infinity pool on the roof.

Monday

This was the day that we explored the city.
Parthenon. We walked to the Parthenon with a short bus ride. My advice is to save the walking for those steps… It was just over 1 kilometer of walking uphill. I regret not being able to climb up there with my husband. I have bad knees and I was having a flare up after that incline.
Acropolis Hill. This is technically the same thing, however, we specifically started to see all the other sites.

• ​Areopagus Hill – we grabbed some great pictures from up here since we didn’t climb the stairs.
• Remains of Athens State Prison – We stayed on the other side of the fence but it was still nice to see
• Roman Bath – This was right next to the prison.
• Roman Agora – This is another site that you can pay to walk around, however, you can see the gorgeous columns up close without needing to go inside the gate.

Monastiraki Square. We ended back at the square after visiting the sites.

• Hadrian’s Library – Last historical site we saw​
• Shopping ​

Metro Mall. After a long morning of walking, we grabbed the metro from the square and headed over to the mall. We checked out some stores that were unfamiliar to us. Besides that, not much different than American malls.

Relaxation. Once the morning breeze was gone, we headed back to our hotel for some relaxation. The pool was calling my name once again. A nap was not out of the question though. 
MS Roof Garden. Dinner is not common before 8 o’clock in the evening, however, I wanted to see the sunset by the Acropolis. The view at my hotel was a surprise so this sunset dinner was my chance to see it. It was definitely beautiful to see the view from this restaurant. 

Tuesday

Traveling home is never fun. After a week and a half, our trip came to an end.
Check out of hotel. We had an early start for an afternoon flight. The airline advised arriving 6 hours before take off. My parents are definitely the ones to listen to this advice.
Long day of travel. It felt like one thing after another. The line for Air Canada felt a mile long. One person was at the counter for most of the time. It took over a hour. They made me check my carryon as well. I informed them that I had something fragile in there and they asked if I could move it to my personal item… There I was, hangry and on the floor with my suitcase open. Not to mention that my fragile item was a Christmas gift I had purchased for my mama who was standing there trying to help me. Good news, she didn’t see it.

We arrived in Toronto and were told to go through Customs. I am happy that we were able to get this done during our layover because I was not in the mood to do this in SLC. 

The last part of my day included writing a statement for the multiple missing luggage. My husband and I were missing two bags and my parents were missing one. I put an AirTag in them and determined that they never left Toronto…

Don’t worry. We ended up receiving our luggage at 3:30 in the morning on Thursday.