Weeks 34 to 37 – Greece

Sat amongst the Italian 'lads' chanting Mykonos (like the Island was some kind of Euopean football team) we eventually arrived, via Athens, to Mykonos.  On this trip I have decided that the only good thing about travelling on budget airlines is your heightened appreciation of the non-budget airlines.

We caught a taxi to Our hotel in Ornos.  We always like to stay within walking distance to the beach so you can imagine our reaction when Ornos beach came, and went, and we kept driving.  We eventually arrived at our hotel, En Lefko Prive Suites, at the top of an enormous hill and about 3kms from the beach.  It was 7am and not a sole in sight, so we grabbed a couple of pool loungers for a sleep before the lovely Elina woke us.  Luckily she had come straight from the clubs and was happy to give us a coffee, check us in and keep our bags while we went to the beach. We would later find out that this was Alina's routine, work until 2pm, go to the beach for a couple of hours, go home, sleep until midnight, party until 7am and then head to work.  This would be her day, 7 days a week from May until October.  After which she, and many other hospitality workers in Mykonos, return to Athens for work or uni.

En Lefko View with Nth African Sandstorm Cloud Layer

En Lefko proved to be a fantastic choice and not since Valbonne had we met so many fantastic people from such diverse backgrounds.  

I'm not sure if it was the hotel kitten, En Lefko, who was found in May abandoned by the side of the road, adopted by the hotel and loved by all, or the breakfasts that went from 9am until midday, or the intimacy of the hotel; but something brought people together.  It may even have been the owners who, along with their 2 daughters, came from Athens to Mykonos to run the hotel in the summer and gave the place a homely feel.  An early sense of the hotel came when we were offered drinks and invited to join the owners and some other guests to watch the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics.  Of course Middle A did her usual round of meeting, greeting and interrogating the guests to ensure she knew everyone's life story (whether they liked it or not)!

Breakfast with En Lefko the cat

A few of the standouts were 3 couples.  Firstly were Xavier and Aturo from Ecuador.  Such lovely guys who shared a love of animals with our family (including the local goats and kitten) and long breakfasts over looking the 280 degree ocean view and talking about their beloved country especially the Galapagos. Another couple were Albert and Joshua who live in New York. While Albert seemed to be a workaholic constantly online to the offices at the CNBC, Josh spent hours with us, over a very long breakfast and later over some drinks by the bar, talking about his very creative life including the ownership of a production company responsible for the Blackout Haunted House experience in NYC (read a review here http://observer.com/2011/10/the-disturbing-reality-of-new-yorks-premiere-haunted-house/).  We had many hours of laughs over the time they were there including when a guy from England tried to join in on our conversation and, when introduced to Albert, spent the next 5 mins going on about the name being made famous by Paul Simon and asking, how many times he got called Al. 

"Oh, you must have heard the song and you must get sick of hearing people make reference to it and calling you Al all the time" said the guy who said that today his name was Herbert (go figure).  

"Nobody actually calls me Al and no, I don't get people making reference to the song or Paul Simon", said Albert.

Josh chimed in and said that not even he or Albert's mother called him Al.  Herbert couldn't believe this and spent the next 5 minutes trying to convince us (or himself) that the link was really very funny.  Oh well, at least Herbert did tell us a funny joke about consultants which was relevant given the decisions Big A and I were making regarding London v Brisbane.

The Heathrow Injection

The last but certainly not the least was a couple from England.  Jo and Chris were hysterical and if you’ve ever met a mental British bloke you’ll know what I mean.  They both had really interesting life stories and as a couple were great company.  The girls loved Jo, especially Little A who was instantly drawn to Jo’s very high shoes and her Swarovski crystal nails.  Although Jo owned a dance school, they had no children by choice, opting instead to parent a huge mastiff dog.  This dog had it’s own sofa and Jo proudly told us how she spent 3 months trying to lure the dog into the kennel, by getting in there herself, in order to transport the dog from Australia to the UK.  Chris introduced Middle A to Face in Hole and I’ll let you be the judge of the results. Jo set up a temporary nail bar at Hippy Fish and gave the Little and Middle Jo-like nails.  They're like the aunt and uncle you send your kids to for a one week vacation only to receive them back with a bit more body art,  addictions and attitude than when they left!  

The reality of travelling with Big A

Final mention for En Lefko must go to the young staff who work there.  It makes sense that the family are lovely as this is their business and they genuinely have a keen eye for great customer service, but the way they have instilled this into the very young staff is incredible. In fact I’d have to say it seems to come so naturally to all of them.  Remembering coffee orders, giving the girls food scraps for the neighbouring goats, fish, cats etc, the twice daily servicing of the rooms to such a high standard and engaging with the girls as if they were genuinely happy to have them around were all qualities that made us fall in love with not just the hotel but the people as well.  We will definitely keep in touch with Dora who was exquisite inside and out. 

Given the distance from the beach we decided to rent a scooter.  Of course could have walked it if it wasn’t for the kamikaze scooter riders, a 3km vertical incline or fear of ‘bollock’ rash from walking a distance straight after swimming.  We would leave the girls at the hotel with the staff, Big A would drop me off, return to get the girls and then reverse the order to go home.  It actually worked really well and the girls had such a ball on their first scooter rides.  We would have hired a car but frankly the chances of parking in Mykonos town or the beaches, is almost impossible and the negative impact on the budget was unacceptable.  So we rode the scooter to the beach and local restaurants, and caught the bus to the town.  

Manicures at Hippy Fish

Despite the hill, En Lefko was perfectly situated between Ornos and St John's beaches.  Ornos had been our favourite but this time it didn’t have the same appeal.  There are definitely more beautiful people per square meter in Mykonos than anywhere else I’ve ever been.  In the town they wear very little and on the beach they wear even less, so I’m not sure whether it was my age, my cellulite, my michelin middle, my fat arse or all of the above but this time I felt really out of place.  So we gravitated to St John’s where the people were a little older, fatter and uglier (and even then they’d make Bondi look like a holiday camp for the Biggest Loser)!  

Our two favourite restaurants were Hippy Fish at St Johns and Ithaki at Ornos.  Ithaki is simply a place we've been going to for over 10 years now and it's fantastic, right on the beach, decent food, great padded bench seats with lots and lots of cushions to lie back in and watch the day go by and really cold beer served in chilled glasses.  Hippy Fish is also right on the beach but is only one of two places and has a real party feel about it, regardless of the time of day.  They have their own DJ, a PR guy who walks around sharing shots of Ouzo with his "brothers" and getting jiggy with the, mostly male, patrons who randomly stand up and dance, and a local philosopher who returned from a trip to India a changed man imparting wisdom on all who got within earshot.  ‘Aristotle Mykonos’ also carried a little black dog around with him, which meant our girls were never far away from him, and therefore, neither was I.  He knew all about us from Middle and Little A and happily dished out his very "insightful" views on what we should do and how we should live.  So in taking his advice we will be living where the wind takes us, playing it cool and not letting conformity destroy our girls’ spirits.  I’ll send you all a postcard when we land…  He definitely put the 'hippy' in Hippy Fish.  

Hippy Fish and St John's Beach

We spent a few nights in Mykonos town and ate at two restaurants, Nikos Tavern and Uno Con Carne.  Nikos is a must when in Mykonos and, like Ithaki, has been a regular on the 3 times we’ve been to the island over the last 10 years.  It is most known for it’s resident pelican but it also has decent food at reasonable prices and great service. Uno Con Carne is a really upmarket steakhouse, chosen because of Middle A’s obsession with ribs, and whilst not bad, I’d only go back late at night for a drink and to watch the beautiful people get progressively less beautiful.

Typical day at the beach in Naxos

After 10 days we caught a ferry to Naxos where we returned to Summer Dreams Villas on the beach at Agia Ana.  We stayed about 30 seconds walk from the beach and 1 minute from this great beach club called Santana where for the price of a coffee or a 4 course meal you could use their beach chairs and umbrellas for free.  Santana also had a great waitress who looked like Pink so that was a novelty not missed on Big A or I.  Naxos is a really uncomplicated island that focuses on simply the beaches and tavernas.  We caught the bus into Naxos town a few times to break up the week and book ferry trips to Santorini and back to Mykonos.  We also caught a movie “Snow White and the Huntsman” in an open air cinema, but waiting over 45 mins for the bus home at midnight spoilt, what would otherwise have been, a good night out.    

During our time in Naxos we eventually made our decision on where to live, or in fact I think our decision was made for us.  The choice London (global city, vibrant, multicultural, culturally rich, close to Europe, great friends, great opportunities) v. Brisbane (family, at least one secure job, good school and neighborhood, great friends, known entity) both cities so different no wonder the decision had been impossible.  However, Big A’s options and mine seemed to finally come together at the same time and we had to make a choice.  I’d already decided against the consultancy role and hadn’t heard back for 2 weeks about another EMEA role so it was looking like our move to London would be on the basis of no jobs.  Big A on the other hand was given the option to take the money and run or return early for a better role.  He had 24 hours to make his mind up.  12 hours in I got a call on the EMEA role and although it was all going ahead, due to the UK summer vacation, they were struggling to get the signatures to enable them to put the offer in writing.  They needed a few more days a least, but I knew we didn’t have that much time.  So I handed the reigns to Big A to make the call and, similar to when IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch proclaimed SYDNEY as the host of the 2000 Olympics, Big A said a simple but significant word … Australia.  We would go home via London and Thailand, forfeight the last leg of our round the world flight (as Qantas wouldn’t give us seats on the flights we needed) and arrive via Asia Air into the Gold Coast at the end of September.  But for now, back to Greece…     

Lunch at Sphinx in Santorini

We’d booked to stay 10 days in Naxos but after 7 days we interrupted our stay to hop over to Santorini. We’d been to Santorini twice before, even got married there, so the island wasn’t part of our plan this trip.  However Big A’s mum and dad were passing by on their 5 star cruise ship and had a scheduled 1 day stop over.  Unfortunately, Summer Dreams wasn’t prepared to hold our room and not charge us for the time we were away, so we booked a couple of nights at the cheapest hotel in Santorini, near Fiera we could find.  Villa Romantic was anything but ‘romantic’ but at only €115 a night it was good enough. Typically the hotels in Santorini come with infinity pools, sweeping caldera views and/or breathtaking sunsets. Villa Romantic came with a cockroach on the wall, a violet guard dog chained to the wall of a neighbouring hotel that stood between us and Fiera, no footpath to speak of so we had to walk on the road and for about 70% of the time, we were overcome by the smell and slipping hazard of an endless stream of fresh donkey dung splattering the road.  We later learnt that all the working donkeys in Fiera used the same road as us and there was no alternative for them, or us… there was no mention of this in Tripadvisor!   

Another tooth bites the dust

Ignoring the hotel, the trip to Santorini was a success and seeing Big A’s parents, especially when we announced our move back to Australia was lovely.  We had lunch at Sphinx on the caldera (where we had our wedding dinner 4 years ago) and took a quick trip into Oia.  There were tears all round when we said our goodbyes and even more when we had to face the walk, savage dog and donkey dung back to Villa Romantic!  

Island hopping

Back in Naxos I rang mum for her 70^th birthday. Luckily, unlike dad’s card, the tickets for the Beachboys concert and a letter had arrived but the singing and dancing videos the girls had done had failed to get posted on Facebook … must have been too good for Zuckerberg and his cronies!

Family catchup in Mykonos

From Naxos we returned to Mykonos and En Lefko and had another 4 nights before we caught our flight to London.  This was the flight we’d booked when we thought the girls were returning to start school in the first week of September.  The highlight of the 4 days was a catchup with my cousin and his girlfriend.  We took them to Nicos Tavern and then decided to have a drink at one of the bars.  Needless to say that 1 turned into a few and apparently I had a Jaegermister (I have no idea how to spell it but it's pronounced the same way as the Fashion Label with mister on the end,,,,,).  S & L didn't sleep in the 16 or so hours they were in Mykonos, nothing unusual about that surprisingly, but I have no idea how the hell they caught the ferry the next day. I was a brilliant shade of green and drove the big white bus a few times around the block before I felt semi-human again.  
As we flew out of Greece we couldn’t help but feel a little saddened by the fact that this was the first leg of our journey home and effectively the beginning of the end of our gap year. 


Big A's Perspective to follow....(when he can be asked as he's just way too busy on I_need_to_look_at_a_million_cars_before_I_buy_one.com)