Tag: vacation

It’s Greek to Me!

October 2019 was so long ago. September 23, 2022 is…exactly…469 days away. The world in which I have lived in between those two dates has been upended, set back down, shaken a little more, and may be *finally* finding some footing. When in Greece on that first trip overseas in 2019, the little stop we SQUEEZED into our Italy trip so Lee could dive the Mediterranean, I fell in love. I’m an island girl. This we know. But the people here? Amazing. The views? Stunning. I did not want to leave.

I was planning a trip to go back before we even left it seemed like. Making the connections via social media so I could stay in touch with the time difference. Looking at my vacation days to see when/how I could stretch them. Then COVID hit. Don’t we start almost all stories that way when we talk about 2020? My travel plans came to a screeching halt. I feel fortunate we got to Mexico for 10 days before even that became taboo.

Slowly as the world has opened back up I’ve watched for info on when this beautiful place was gonna let us Americans back in. Finally the news came in May. If you are vaccinated you are welcome! (Yet another destination factoring into my vaccination decision.) Despite all my best stretching and figuring I couldn’t get back in 2021. Not monetarily or vacation days wise. #poutyface

So 2022 will be the year. It was so wonderful when we went to go at the end of the tourist season. But a some things were beginning to close for the season. So I am choosing to go about a month earlier when things will be less touristy but things still open. I have two friends with rental properties there so accommodations are easy (that is so stressful usually when planning a trip)! I can’t get flights yet – I sure wish we could book flights way out like we can cruises.

Santorini is just such a beautiful place. Cats roam freely amongst the shops and restaurants. At sundown it seems like everything just stops and you sit and watch the beautiful sunset. The people are friendly and welcoming. For a sheltered American it was Greek to me! 😉

And I can’t wait to go back. Just 469 more days. #sigh

Planning the trip….

In my opinion there are two types of people in the world…the plan every detail person and the jump in the car have an adventure type. One guess where I fall. 😂

My travel buddy Bev and I knew after how 2020 played out that our usual summer cruise was gonna be a non starter this year. So we planned a road trip. Loose use of planned. We identified the dates and the destinations. Besides that we haven’t done much more. I should add we are three weeks out from that trip.

A couple of weeks ago I began to realize I really didn’t have the fervor and excitement for that trip I usual do. We had so many stops on the road trip we were gonna be in the car every other day. Driving is NOT my thing. I have been driven everywhere but work most of the last fifteen years (thank you Lee). I reached out to Bev and said “umm how about we scale this back”. We chopped three stops off the route and got down to three cities. One of which is a fav place.

Now comes the stressful part. With it being a holiday week and with some of the COVID protocol still in place…reservations have to be made. We have to know, like now, what we want to do in any given day. Eliminating any spontaneity which it has taken me fifteen years to appreciate. (My kids can tell you stories of the early family vacations where every day was so planned it was exhausting.) Trying to identify what we want to do on any given day is 🙄. I mean what if I wake up and I am not in the mood to tour the civil war battlefield I had scheduled that day? Or what if we stayed out too late on Broadway St the night before and don’t wanna get out of bed? You see my dilemma.

I have finally narrowed it down to this. We are going to make reservations at the important-to-us-not-to-miss places for in the mornings (because one of us never sleeps past six am 🤷🏻‍♀️) and leave our afternoons free as a bird. Because in the end? It’s supposed to be relaxing!

P.S. if you have any must do’s in Memphis or Nashville send them to me!!!