Nothing like traveling abroad to know you miss home

Today. Wow. 

We woke up this morning somewhere in the Adriatic Sea and and took some early morning pictures of Venice and now, 14 hours later, we're sitting in the Philadelphia airport waiting for a flight that doesn’t leave for another 4 hours. It’s been a long day.

Things I Learned While Cruising the Mediterranean...

1. MSC Cruiseline doesn’t have what you need on board. You would think, as a small floating city, there would be some kind of market, a market containing advil, sea sickness medicine, maybe something for an upset stomach, or even socks. But no, nothing. I got pretty good at finding pharmacies in foreign cities. Although I only trusted one.
2. MSC Cruiseline also has horrible food on board. I don’t know if it is the fact that it is based out of Italy, but every meal pretty much sucks. And I don’t get the obsession for cold cuts, they even have them at breakfast.
3. Which brings me to my next point: great Italian food may be a myth. I have yet to have a great pasta meal. All Italian meals are based on lamb, veal, fish, or some other baby animal. 
4. I have a new obsession with sailing. As soon as I get home, I am taking sailing lessons. I also find any man who can sail, that much more attractive.
5. Speaking of, Venice and Santorini have amazing looking guys. Had I not been with my dad, I may have come home married. 
6. Italians are rude, pushy people. They cut in front of you when standing in line, they push their way through service people. Initially I thought they were rude to Americans but I think they’re just rude in general. An experience getting gelato in Athens extends this rule to apply to Asians now too.
7. If there is one thing I have learned this trip, it is that Greece needs money, they are poor, at least according to their tour guides.
8. Internet completely sucks on MSC Cruiseline! You pay quite a bit of money and it’s the slowest thing ever!!
9. When English is one of five languages spoken with every announcement, it becomes a foreign language in itself.
10. US Airways is not a friendly company. Some of the flight attendants were friendly but I’m not impressed with the company as a whole. Our flight came into Philly an hour early. There was another flight out of Philly to Cincinnati that would put us at home 5 hours sooner. However, without even looking at our tickets, the man at the counter said he couldn’t change our tickets, we would need to buy new ones. Our tickets did not sat non-refundable or non-transferable. Oh well. I just won’t fly them again!
11. I would go back to Venice, Santorini, and Dubrovnik in a heartbeat. The others, at least I can say I went.

You know I really got a thing for European guys...

Yesterday was a great day. I know I didn’t post last night, but I had too much fun and was too tired to post. Morning went the usual way, woke up and had breakfast (though we ate in the restaurant downstairs instead of the buffet). 

Sailed past a lighthouse.

We pulled into Dubrovnik around 7:30am. We were going to wait a bit but decided last minute to leave early (kind of an oxymoron, I know). 

We took the shuttle bus into the Old Town. First impression of Dubrovnik is that it is a very clean and beautiful city. 

The Old Town was amazing!!! Old Town, is just that, an old town. It’s a walled city dating back from forever ago. 

It cost 70 Kuna or 10 euro to walk the wall around the city. 

We went up just long enough to take some pictures

And realize too many steps were involved for an increasingly hot day. 

We walked around the city some more, grabbed the necessary ice cream (I managed to get ice cream/gelato in every country and every sea), and had drinks near a really cool farmer’s market in the main square. 

We shopped a bit at the farmer's market (they had great candied nuts). And took an early bus back to our ship. I grabbed a few more hours of sun (at one point rolling over in my chair to see boobs: Europeans, if there is one thing they’re not, it’s modest). Then came time for the farewell reception for Auto-Owners. During the reception, there are free drinks, based on my new found love for the Miami Vice, I got one to have during the reception and another one to take to dinner with me. When we got to our restaurant, someone had taken our table. Being the last night on the cruise, I was bummed the waiter from Montenegro wouldn’t be our waiter again. We found another table nearby and were joined by the other two couples we ate dinner with most of the trip. Lo and behold, we had the same waiter! Dinner was a blast; one of the most entertaining meals we had on the trip. After dinner, we had an hour before the show, in which we were all going to meet on the left side of the stage, a few rows back. Well, of the 6 people at dinner, only 3 of us made it. It was alright though, the show pretty much sucked. And I’m pretty sure the lead singer forgot some of the words to Bohemian Rhapsody. I was so tired from the day that I passed out as soon as I got to bed. Today was a long day, so I was planning ahead :)

Corfu: the beach rocks...

Today was another pretty great day. We woke up early for breakfast, roasted apples have become a staple (Jenny take note, I’ll expect one every morning with a really small glass of water). We weren’t due to come into Corfu, Greece until 2pm so we had a pretty relaxing morning. At about 11am, I went to the Auto-Owners desk to get shuttle bus passes, it’s free for us to use the bus and my goal was to find a taxi to the beach (Corfu is said to have the most pristine beaches in Europe). After talking with the people at the desk, I determined our best path to the beach was through an excursion (both of the people working at the desk, plus a worker from the cruise ship, said we would have to pay for a taxi to the beach, for them to wait for us, and for a ride home, the cheaper option was to take an excursion). So, I booked an excursion to the beach; however, the English-speaking bus was full, so dad and I were booked on the Spanish bus. 

We eventually pulled into Corfu. The ride to the beach was filled with hair-pin turns that were pretty much horrendous in a bus. We eventually got to the beach though, about 30 minutes away from the port. 

The beach was very pretty, our excursion gave us chairs and an umbrella to use and each a drink, which came in handy because the sun was very hot. 

The beaches in Corfu are rock, no sand. 

They’re pretty but I wouldn’t call them the most pristine beach I’ve every seen. Walking from our chairs to the water was like walking on hot stones (not like, was), only to get into water that was cold and you couldn’t get a footing in because of the rocks. We got to the beach about 2:30 and stayed until 5:30. Sun felt good. 

At closer to 5, we stepped into the little cafe to have french fries and coke (you can find coca-cola everywhere over here, never pepsi, and diet coke is known as coke light). Our bus led us to the port, where we had to go through port security which took forever, and eventually to the ship with about 30 minutes to spare before dinner. A quick body shower, and it was time for dinner. Tonight was probably one of the best meals yet (a salad and roasted turkey). We managed to sit at the same table as the past few nights (aka same waiter) and were joined by another couple (Steve and Rhonda) who have ate with us every meal. 

After dinner, I took some more pictures of the sunset. Then, it was time for the show. Tonight’s show was French inspired, there was a lot of can-can. Tomorrow is an early morning in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The city is a UNESCO Heritage Site and is completely walled. Croatia is our last stop on the cruise before heading to Venice and heading home. Until tomorrow...

I went to Athens and all I got was this blog...

Sometimes I arrive back to our cruise ship cabin and cannot comprehend what just went down. This morning we woke up early, I thought we had to be ready to disembark into Piraeus by 7:30am, turns out it was 8:30am, oops. 

Oh well. We caught a beautiful sunrise while getting ready and had a non-rushed breakfast. 

At 8:30, we left the ship and met with a small group of other Auto-Owners people, jumped a bus, and headed for Athens. My oh my was traffic heavy. I swear it took us an hour to get there. Once we got to Athens, we made our way to Acropolis, the original city home to the Parthenon. The place was packed but we managed to get a few photos. 

The Parthenon. 

The temple.

An unobstructed view of the temple. The temple had 6 virgins on the front and an olive tree close by.

Athens from the Acropolis.

After Acropolis, we were given a city tour. For most of our time in Athens, I felt like we were in the wrong end of town. Along our tour we kept seeing these signs (the poster on the pole) and found out they were for the demonstration Athens has been having. There were police everywhere and they had riot gear!

We made our way to Plaka Square.

Where we had a nice lunch (chicken souvlaki is always a safe bet). And a coke; you can find them everywhere, they are easy to order, and seldom come in the same shaped glass bottle as the previous city. This one was square. 

We shopped a bit, had some ice cream, and caught the bus back to the ship. Another nap (can’t say I’m not getting enough sleep on this trip) and then it was time for formal night (not my favorite picture but our only one from formal night). I got ready and dad and I headed to dinner. We ran into the couples we had dinner with the first night (and a few nights after) and grabbed a table. We had the exact same waiter from a few nights ago (a cute guy from Montenegro, he remembered serving us, don’t know if that is a good thing, I’m going to take it as a yes) and Auto-Owners footed the bill for drinks tonight! Our table split 4 bottles of wine and 9 beers (dad and I each only had two glasses of wine, just an fyi). An hour after dinner was the show for the night, I went by myself so dad could sleep. The show tonight was Excalibur in which a lot of river dancing occurred. I’m not sure what I think about these shows, they’re mostly very random. Tomorrow we head to Corfu. My hope is to find an amazing beach! Until then, sorry for the short post...

Santorini cab drivers: like Boston but on a mountain!

Today was an amazing day! We docked this morning in Santorini. Dad and I grabbed a quick breakfast (for me it has become fruit and a muffin, the only stuff I have found that I like) and we headed towards the tender. Being with Auto-Owners, we were able to be the first to board the boats to head to the coast. 

Once we got on the coast, we had to get to the top, two options were available: donkey or cable car. 

Both seemed pretty hairy but of the two, we opted for the cable car.

And saw some goats on the way up!

After a few minutes ride, we were in Theiry. We walked a bit, contemplated renting an atv, but ultimately decided on hailing a taxi to Oia (e-uh). The taxi ride there cost 20 euro, our driver offered to wait for us, said it may be difficult to find another driver, he wanted 60 euro total, we told him we would take a chance. 

Oia was beautiful!!! 

We walked a bit, found a cute little restaurant, and sat and had dessert.

Our dessert was a crepe with nutella and bananas, yum!!! 

The restaurant had an amazing view. 

We walked around a bit more. Then we went to catch a taxi back, there were a ton of taxi drivers waiting. Our taxi ride back cost 15 euro (cheaper). Santorini taxi drivers are like Boston taxi drivers but are driving on a mountain. Mom and Jen, you wouldn’t have liked this stop at all. We got back to Theiry, shopped and walked a bit, and then caught the cable car back down. We could have walked down the stairs the donkey took but it could take 30 minutes and there was no wait at the cable car. 

Once back on board, we had lunch in a restaurant on the ship, better than the buffet, laid out for a bit, took a nap, had a drink...

And in the meantime, sailed to Mykonos. 

We got to Mykonos at about 7:30pm. Mykonos is known for their nightlife, never really been my scene. Dad and I had dinner on the ship and decided to stay in for the night. The only thing to do in Mykonos would have been to have dinner and that can get expensive. I did finally get some pictures of a good sunset. 


Dad wasn’t feeling very well today, no good food combined with lack of sleep and being forever in motion, can do that, plus we have an early morning in Athens tomorrow, so he went to bed early. Since we’re docked until 1am, there’s not a show tonight. That’s okay, I’m good with an early night. Athens is tomorrow. Until then...

Do something with your life, drink...

This morning we woke up early, again, and had breakfast. The breakfast cafe was so packed we ended up eating poolside. After breakfast, we came back for a few more zzz’s. At noon, our ship pulled into Katakolon, pronounced differently by every tour guide we had. 

The town was small and cute with a good size beach, though our tour guide said it was a ghost town, only active when cruise ships arrive. Once we were off the boat, we were into a bus for a 30-40 minute drive to Olympia, home of the first Olympics. 

We rode through town and landed in the parking are for the tour of the ruins. During the tour, our guide told us the history behind each section and showed us pictures of what it may have looked like once upon a time. The small roped off section is where people used to sacrifice animals to the gods. Today, it is where the torch is lit for every Olympic Games.

Today, the area is in ruins thanks to Christians (who stole the bronze and ivory) and mother nature (who destroyed it with floods and an earthquake). This is the stadium where athletes competed. No stands, spectators sat in the grass. Our guide said athletes used to compete naked; it was considered honoring the gods to show them a perfect body. We were advised not to run around the stadium naked. No worries there!

Now the area is a bunch of stones laying on the ground with a few still standing erect. Throughout the areas, there were men with whistles making sure you didn’t stand on the stones, they were fond of blowing their whistles. 

When we started our tour, our guide said it was going to storm; at the time it was bright blue skies. While we were walking through the ruins, you could see a dark cloud rolling in and then hear thunder and see lightening.

To not get rained on, after seeing the ruins, dad and I walked back to the town to find a pharmacy to purchase some advil (they don’t sell it on the ship, nor do they sell socks, fyi). We found a pharmacy and purchased a box of 20 advil for one euro (after putting some thought into it, I’m not taking the advil. When have you ever been able to buy a box of advil for essentially $1.50, it was probably made in a back alley somewhere. I know, very close-minded of me). Then we bought some souvenirs and headed to a spot to eat. 

Dad ordered a gyro 

And I had a Greek Salad. Having eaten at Zoe’s Kitchen, I assumed I liked Greek salad. When I got the salad, there was no lettuce in it, just cheese, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives. So, I ordered something with pork in it, which was essentially pork on a stick with rice and french fries (I think it was Pork Souvlaki). It was good though. I had two cokes, dad had a beer, and we both got dessert. Bill ended up being 41euro, the cheapest we’ve eaten yet for the amount of food we got! After lunch, we boarded the buses and went back to Katakolon. We had a different tour guide that time who told us about the gypsies living in Greece and, after asking if we (the bus) had tried several Greek drinks, to which everyone responded no, told us we needed to do something with our life and drink. We got back on our ship. I laid out for awhile while dad stayed in the room. Then I napped. Apparently, being in the sun makes me sleepy. We had decided early on, not to go to the formal dinner tonight. I didn't really feel like it, dad didn't feel like, so we relaxed in the room. Won't make that mistake again. At 8 we went to eat in the cafeteria, not very good food there. I was not happy. Plus we found out later that Auto-Owners foot the alcohol tab for the night. Oh well.

We meandered around the boat a bit, tried to get a good sunset picture but it fell behind the clouds before I could get one. I'm getting ready to go see the show tonight: Hollywood Parade. It starts late so people can meet with the captain, hence the formal night I'm sure. Tomorrow we land early in Santorini where we travel to the top of a volcano by cable car or donkey, we'll probably go the cable car route. After Santorini, we leave for Mykonos to experience the night life. Safe to say tomorrow will probably be busy. I bought some more minutes for the internet but in the last 30 minutes have managed to only get one picture on Facebook. Eventually I'll have pictures on, probably when I get home. Oh well. Until tomorrow...

I always wind up on the wrong side of the boat...

Today was another wonderful relaxing day! We woke for breakfast early. Apparently dad is the early to rise type. Though after breakfast we did come back to the room to sleep for a little while longer. 

At about noon we docked in Bari, Italy. We spoke with the Auto-Owners group who said there was nothing to see in Bari, it was mostly a stop for people to board the cruise and leave it (apparently Venice isn’t the only place you can board this cruise). Dad and I opted out of going on shore. Instead, we grabbed lunch, changed clothes and went to the top deck to get some sun. There was a nice breeze that kept us cool though you could still feel the warmth. We laid out for a bit. At some point in the day I got banana gelato, yum!!! 

At another point we grabbed Miami Vice drinks. Came all the way to Italy to have a Miami Vice! They were quite delicious. Dad and I took them to our room so we could enjoy them on our balcony. I love that balcony.

After drinks, dad decided to stay in the room a bit so I grabbed Jenny’s Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang and went to the top deck to lay out and read, very relaxing. When I decided that I was getting too done, I came back to the cabin to find dad ready to grab coffee and dessert. A bit more relaxing later and it was dinner time. So, our itinerary said yesterday that the dress code was informal but everyone dressed casual, today, it said informal, so I dressed casual. It wasn’t really an issue. Tomorrow it says formal, I’ll wear my dress and hope everyone else does too. Dinner was okay, we had a cute waiter from Montenegro; he had gorgeous eyes and I could easily understand him. After dinner it was time for bingo. Bingo was 10 euro a card or three cards for 20 euro, I bought 3. The announcer asked what languages were represented and then announced the numbers in each language. For the majority of this cruise thus far, every announcement is made in Italian, English, French, Spanish, and German. During bingo I got pretty good at getting numbers right no matter what language he said them in. The jackpot for bingo was 3000 euro if bingo was reached within the first 40 numbers, easy right? So numbers were called and I eventually had bingo. As soon as I realized it, I yelled BINGO! The casino director and a waitress came to check my card. Fun fact: they don’t do lines here; bingo in the Mediterranean means getting a full card, not one line. My bad! Feeling immensely embarrassed, mainly because I was one of only two English speakers in the room and had just yelled out bingo, I retreated back to my chair and prayed for no Bingo after that. It turns out I wasn’t the only one though. Shortly after, a few more Americans joined the game and one of them called bingo. It’s safe to say, though, that I will not be playing bingo anymore here. After bingo, we went to see tonight’s show, Pirates (which they did not pronounce the way we do, made me think tonight was going to be a repeat of last night). I dragged my dad again. Tonight was much more entertaining. There were disappearing acts, a rope/curtain swinging (I don’t really know what to call it, he pulled himself up a big piece of fabric hanging from the ceiling, think Pink’s performance of Glitter In The Air), and a few more acts that reminded me of Cirque du Soleil. I don’t really know what it had to do with pirates, other than that was the way they were dressed. After the show, we wandered into the casino. My dad got 25 euros in chips and played some roulette. He didn’t fair so well. Then he cashed out the 12 euro he had left and gave them to me to play slots. I ended up hitting a payout of 173 quarters (don’t know what they are called in euros but it was .25 euro, like a quarter). It all together ended up being 50 euro. Now we’re in bed for the night. I know when to take my winnings and leave. Tomorrow we jump one more hour ahead, making it 7 hours from home. We also go to Katakolon, Greece. There we catch a ride to Olympia, home of the first Olympics. I didn’t take many pictures today, it was mostly a chill day. Tomorrow I’ll be sure to take a ton! Until then...

He was high on xanax...

Today was a pretty easy day. It started with an early breakfast of nutella on wheat bread and cantaloupe followed by a little bit of sleep. 

While waiting for the boat to take us to the ship, dad and I took some pics. 

And one more with Venice in the background. At noon we hopped a boat to our cruise ship. I have to say I like Venice and I like their boating but my sea legs got worse as time went on and I probably wouldn’t have been able to stand much more. After our boat docked for the cruise ship, we walked about 10 minutes. About 30 minutes of standing in line, going through security, and getting our picture taken, we landed on the ship and were led to our room. 

Ah, having a balcony makes all the difference. Even though it was about 1pm when we got on the ship, it wasn’t set to take sail until 5:30. 

We sat on our balcony for quite some time and then took a power nap.

The view of Venice from our balcony.

I wandered the ship for a little while, trying to learn where everything was. 

Then it was time to get ready for the Welcome Reception put on by Auto-Owners (open bar). The paperwork said dress was informal but described that as sundresses for women and jacket and tie for men. No one at the reception was wearing that. We felt somewhat over dressed. 

We left port and sailed through a canal in Venice, I was able to take some pictures of the city from above. 

Including a few self-portraits. After the reception was dinner. It was pretty good. Ended on a rum cake that was light and rummy. We ate with two couples from our group, conversation was good. 

After dinner, I made it back to the room in time to get a picture of the sunset from our balcony. 

Then it was time for our first show, Cuore Italiano. The Italian title should have given me the heads up. I talked my dad into going knowing it wasn’t his cup of tea but he came along anyway. The show was Italian singing and dancing. Quite obviously not his, nor mine in this case, cup of tea so he left in the middle and went to the casino. I stayed until the end and then went back to the room. Tomorrow we head to Bari, the main economic hub for Southern Italy. Tomorrow’s theme on board is pirates, should be interesting! Unfortunately, I don’t get cell reception on the ship, can’t even text. Hopefully I’ll figure out how to get online tomorrow. Until then...