One last update from Europe...

[kimana517]

This is not how I intended my last night in Europe to be. I woke up at 5:30am having to pee, and then could not fall back to sleep. We didn't have to wake up till 8:00! GRR. Well, hopefully this will just help me sleep more on our first flight, which is 12 hours long. (What's crazy is that I've been on a plane for twice that long four different times in my life.) Isaac said he just thinks it will make me more irritable. He's probably right. Poor him. But hey, at least we had our own room last night! We were in the same room we've been in in Athens, but with no roommates!

I hardly bought any real souvenirs from anywhere, but I have managed to pick up 2 pairs of earrings here in Athens. One pair is rectangular, made of chips from a beautiful blue opal, and the other is mother-of-pearl with silver viney-looking things. Those + my two scarves (one from England because I was freezing, and one from France because it was so pretty and I was tired of wearing the one from England) + the requisite postcards/Christmas ornaments/keychains are all we got. Well, those things and who knows how many photos I've taken. My grandma gave us some money for the trip and I decided we'll say that the amazing Tuscany tour we took was using that money. I'm going to get some pics from that printed out and mail them to her with a thank you note.

Last night we had dinner at a place recommended by some dude on the internet, and it was really good. The server stormed out halfway through the meal though, yelling something in Greek. I am a nosy person, so I must say I'm still curious as to what on earth was going on, since prior to that she was very sweet and calm. I ordered grilled mackerel, and it came in the whole fish body. Isaac tried to get me to gross out by making it talk to me and say things like, "Why did you eat me?" I told him I am not his mother (once when we were in CT his mom realized the chocolate chunks were in the shape of bunnies and then she couldn't eat the rest of her ice cream. LOL!) or his sister, and that sort of thing doesn't work on me. Didn't stop him from trying though. In fact, we made our own version of the "Llamas in Hats" video. It makes us laugh and laugh and laugh...

I hope there's a Starbucks in the airport. I could use a gigantic cup of coffee right now. None of those little European shot glasses of coffee, no sirree.

I think we're going to be under budget for the trip. Go us! I guess there are perks to being anal and OCD about being cheap. Because of this, we're going to continue our vacation at home. It worked out that we'd save hundreds of dollars to a) fly home on a Wednesday, and thus b) have 3 nights we could've been in Europe at home instead. Now we get to recover from jet lag at home. We're going to go to the 4 or 5 restaurants we've been craving, as well as to the beach at least once. I'm hoping to have a painting party on Saturday though, to finally get rid of the nasty walls of the guest room. And then Sunday is church! I'm so excited about church. =oD

Well, that's all I have to tell you for now. My goal is to get pics uploaded and recaps written sometime next week, although I make no promises. Talk to y'all soon - from the USA!

P.S. Soon I will have CLOTHES! Lots and lots of CLOTHES! Clothes of every color and style... clothes that are not the same 4 shirts and 2 pairs of pants and 1 skirt! Different underwear! JEANS! *chorus of angels*

Comments

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

How exciting! :) I'll pray for a safe flight home. Can't wait to see pictures!

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

Thanks for praying! It was actually quite a good trip home, length aside.

[t-jay.livejournal.com]

LOL - I'm a nosy person, too! Every time I see someone throw a fit in public (which I encountered Monday AND Tuesday this week) I eavesdrop on them; yes, I'm wrong, but not as much as the one causing the commotion!

And LOL on Isaac's comments on your fish! Once my friend had a party, and her mom boiled live crab for a dip; her mom called me in the kitchen, and when I went in she held up a crab, after it had been boiled --- staring at me!

On sort of that same subject, I have a set of married friends in which the wife is a vegetarian and the husband is not, and someone mentioned going to Red Lobster on their birthday and the husband said his wife won't allow him to go there because of the live lobster tank. He said, "She would rather catch me in bed with another woman than find out I ate at Red Lobster!"

And you're disciplined on light packing! I couldn't do that, especially visiting EUROPE!!! I'd probably want a different outfit for each day, and I'd be one of those annoying tourists who wore exquisite-looking pieces! LOL

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

I KNOW! That is so me. I love eavesdropping, hehe.

LOL! Mmm, fresh crab sounds amazing to me, staring or not! ;o)

It would be so hard to have one spouse be a vegetarian and the other not!

I think it would've been more difficult to have limited, boring outfits if we had done Europe as most people do - i.e., stayed in nice hotels, eaten at expensive restaurants, etc. But for our purposes, no one else was really that nicely dressed, so we didn't feel out of place. I actually didn't get as tired of my clothes as I expected to, honestly, and having so few possessions was strangely freeing in a way.

[erikaerin.livejournal.com]

When we were in Paris, David and I made a naughty and steamy video in our hotel room.....but then we taped over it after watching it. We did it just because we could and because we were in Paris. We still crack up thinking about it. Though we both agreed that it would have been hilariously funny if we'd missed taping over some of it and were watching our trip video with family and then something awkward popped onto the screen, even for just 5 seconds. haha!

That's awesome that you were under budget. As much as we'd like a day or two more wherever we go, we learned a long time ago that having a day or two at home to recover is SO worth it.

Can't wait to see pics!

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

LOL! Our hotel in Paris was not the type to inspire naughty, steamy videos. (Though of course we had to check France off our list, so we still had fun there.) That would've been HILARIOUS. And I can't believe you guys didn't do that on purpose, knowing you! LOL.

Absolutely.

[erikaerin.livejournal.com]

Yah, our hotel wasn't the Ritz or anything, but that just made it more seedy and skanky! LOL!

We figured there would be kids watching the video, so we were good about taping over it.

I love that you guys have a list, too! :) Our ultimate goal, before we die (I think I told you this before), is to nail each other in as many countries as possible. :)

Now.....our will, on the other hand. THAT will be done on video and we don't care WHAT we have on there because we'll be dead anyway! Oh yes, we have naughty schemes cooked up for THAT one.

[princessmia241.livejournal.com]

You just THINK you'll have clothes when you get home mwahahahaha.

Seriously though, can't wait to see pics!
I don't think I have anything going on Saturday, I could help if you needed it.

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

LOL! I had forgotten that you and I probably wear the same size - even in pant lengths! I'm glad to see all my clothes appear to be in their rightful places though. ;o)

Awesome! Then you can tell me stories of all your wild parties here. ;o)

[pansyprincess.livejournal.com]

You mean you're going to get rid of that lovely wallpaper border? =( LOL

Have a good trip back!!

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

Sad, isn't it? LOL. Oh, the memories you have in that room with its weird flower-basket border. ;o)

We did. It was long, but uneventful.

[lupinskitten.livejournal.com]

Have a safe trip back! I look forward to lots of pictures. =)

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

We did, thanks! And there are many, many pictures...

[asoulinbliss.livejournal.com]

I really don't have that much stuff that I bought in Paris, either, even though I was there for 3 months. But I have tons of photos that I love, and that's what's important to me because they will recall memories years from now. :D

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

Definitely. I honestly didn't see very many things I wanted to buy. (Well, I did, but they were all dresses and such for 100 Euro each.) I'm content with my scarves and oodles of photos. =oD

[asoulinbliss.livejournal.com]

PRECISELY. Plus, I know from experience that buying clothes in Europe is fun for a couple of years, but after that you have worn out clothes or out of style trinkets. So I'm happy with 600 photographs. :P

[dizzy-liz.livejournal.com]

:D Can't WAIT to see you photos!

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

They're coming! One of these days. Hehe.

[breezy83.livejournal.com]

I think I've been away from LJ for most of your trip but I love reading this little bit about it and I am so excited for you and proud that you made it under budget! :D I will have to catch up on all your posts when I have some time. :)

[bluiidmommy.livejournal.com]

I would've been the one playing with the fish. ;) And I want to see your video.