Month: May 2022

Sometime in the night we switched into the next time zone, but mom and I on our WiFi connection had no idea. I slept awfully, I don’t know if it was just because it was the ship swaying some in the sea, or if it was my mind not allowing me to shut it down since it knew it didn’t have to consider things like train schedules and taxis and the logistics of anything. Either way, at 3 something in the morning, I was thankful for the time difference because Nana was up (it was like 8-9pm Lolol) and chatted with me until I finally got sleepy.

I slept until what I thought was 10am, Mom did too.. and then I realized that it was actually 11am with the time change, which only showed up on the cruise app. I had to manually go in and change the time on my phone.. I guess with my phone being on airplane mode + WiFi only, it wouldn’t swap over automatically.

Because of the time, we missed breakfast.. so we had pasta for breakfast instead at the buffet style restaurant by the pool. I didn’t mind it at all, mom hated it Lolol. We changed and made our way to the pool to sunbathe and swim. The water was still pretty chilly, but we made the best of it.

I started reading a new book, “Get Out of Your Head,” by Jennie Allen. I chose this book on purpose and have been waiting for it to “arrive” on the free Libby app, because I do think I could benefit from learning how to stop my toxic thought spirals. I tend to always consider the worst case scenario, almost like if I think of the worst that could happen, and it doesn’t-then yay! But if it does, my head has already had time to prepare for it so maybe it won’t hurt so bad? It’s definitely a defense mechanism that serves a purpose sometimes, but is usually not a benefit to my well-being.

This way of thinking is definitely NOT helpful in my social life, since I naturally just think anyone and everyone is probably setting me up, or pranking me, or intentionally wanting to hurt me (which sounds crazy as hell when I type that out, but when you’re in a spiral tell me how easy it is to not believe the thoughts your own brain comes up with). It does however come in handy for my work as an ICU nurse.. if I think of all the bad things that could go wrong, I can think of ways to fix A, B, and C when they happen-and then I can think of what to can do now to prevent A, B, and C from ever happening to begin with.. prevention over reaction.

In regular old life, though, it causes problems because I somehow start believing that A, B, and C are probably happening already, or they’re definitely going to happen, and then I set myself up for worry and anxiety over something that probably won’t ever happen-and it affects my mood and how I react to normal things.. and then social media has you tearing down a rabbit hole of comparison and negative thoughts. It’s like always waiting for the other shoe to drop, like I don’t deserve the good things when they’re happening, so I’m waiting for the “reality” to show me I was dumb all along for thinking that I did.. and then that turns into worrying about creating a self fulfilling prophecy. Sheesh, I know it’s TMI, but you’re the one reading this and can choose not to.. hahaha, plus it’s therapeutic for me to type it out.. to see my thought processes.

Anyway, this book so far has had some insight, but I didn’t expect it to be so religion based. I was wanting “when this happens, try this, or do that..” instead I’m reading, “when this happens, lean into God.” Umm-ok.. but like.. how? It makes me think of the episode of Schitt’s Creek where Moira keeps telling David to “fold in the cheese..” if you haven’t seen it, you should Google it.. it’s hysterical. And again I ask, “how?!”

Anywho-a few Prosecco’s and mixed drinks later, I didn’t need to think about spiraling thoughts anymore since I wasn’t having any thoughts at all. Lol we laid out and swam until almost 6pm! It was fantastic! After showering and getting ready for dinner, we went to our specified dining room. They set us at a 2 person table, sandwiched between 2 other 2 person tables. So, it was wayyyy too close to other people. So much so that we had no choice but to hear other people’s conversations and could barely hear each other.

Either way, the food was nice so we made it work. After dinner I ran on the treadmill and then walked around the upper deck until I got my 10k steps for the day (gotta love garmin points for motivation). Because of our lack of sleep last night, we’re both laying in bed watching a movie with our eyelids drooping. I think we’ll sleep much better tonight! We have our first excursion tomorrow, I’m excited 🙂 goodnight y’all!

We woke up docked in Katakolon, Greece! We definitely slept well! That fan Jackielou found us on day 1 has been a lifesaver.. besides the cooling aspect, the noise it makes-ah that sweet white noise that keeps your head from feeling like it’s going to pop off-Completely necessary!

We had to be up and at breakfast by 8 so we could be at our meeting spot by 8:45 for our tour. Breakfast consisted of eggs, bacon, and toast which I made into a sandwich, because-why not? Afterwards we walked down to the meeting spot on the ship to get our number for our shuttle bus.

We followed everyone in our group to the bus outside on the dock area. Our guide, Helen, was an older woman, maybe in her 60s, with white/gray hair. She was hysterical! She taught us a few Greek words throughout the day and had us all laughing. I think she’s been my favorite tour guide yet 🙂 and yes, she does give the best hugs. She kept calling herself out greek mama.

She took us to the ancient Olympian ruins. Without her there to explain things, honestly it would have looked like a bunch of piles of rocks to me. She showed pictures of what it would look back when it was created. She explained the gymnasium area, the bath houses, the entrance to the stadium and the temples of Herra and Zeus. The temples would have been incredible to witness in their prime, today only pillars here and there stand, some of which are only there because they have been restored.

The stadium, where the athletes (like Hercules) competed, was very underwhelming overall. Helen says that was because they didn’t need the stadium to impress the Gods, they needed the athletes to impress the Gods with their abilities. Each distance ran always ended at the same area, so the athletes would cross the finish line by running towards the temple of Herra, to run towards the Gods, in order to be seen. You would never finish a race with your back to the Gods, as that was bad luck. Also, for the record, if you were first, you were the winner, if you were second you might as well have been last. Hmmm.

There were no grand stands around the stadium floor, just grassy hills for the spectators to sit on, and during the Olympic Games, only men were allowed inside. The athletes competed naked, covered first in olive oil and then with dirt so they wouldn’t get sunburnt and wrestlers wouldn’t be too slippery to make contact with their opponent.

History says (by history, I mean Hellen, because I don’t remember much of this from school haha) that the first people that settled in Olympia abandoned the valley after an earthquake destroyed the city, along with flooding from the river through town. The second group of people to resettle in that valley were Christians, because they built a church on top of what used to be a workshop. Archeologists could tell the timeline by the different ways they built their buildings, even if the christians reused the same marble and limestone from the original Olympian people.

Apparently they were wiped out or abandoned the area due to the same thing as the original settlers: earthquakes and floods. It seems they left by choice because they haven’t found human remains left behind from the natural disasters.

From the ruins we went to the actual town of Olympia and had a little snack and walked around the shops. It was a quick break before getting back on the bus and heading towards the “farm” for lunch. We’d be eating at another winery! I knew I’d be happy with that (which is probably why many of the tours I’ve booked include lunch and a winery lol).

The grounds of the farm were stunning, like a movie set from the 1800s. The buildings had vines and roses climbing the walls, and peacocks, turtles, and dogs roamed the grassy paths between them. It is still too gorgeous to even begin to describe adequately. We got to see the old farmhouse that they’ve turned into a museum filled with all of the tools the farmers used to tend to the fields. We also got to see the old ways of turning grapes into wine and olives into olive oil.. and the new way, too.

We ate our lunch out in the gardens with the sea peaking out behind the trees. It was truly lovely. We had a charcuterie board each, filled with salami, cheeses, tomatoes, and cucumbers.. plus white and red wines. Mom tried to like at least the white-but no go. I’m just happy she tried!

Hellen took us back to the ship and we changed into our bathing suits and B lined for the pool. We got to lay out for a couple hours before going to get ready for dinner. At dinner, when they went to sit us at that awkward middle table again, mom asked the man if we could literally sit anywhere else.. he seemed real nervous about it, but went and got his manager anyway. Amor happily sat us at a table for 2 just under the window. We could see the sea from the very back of the ship and we got to watch the sunset. It was magnificent.

While none of the food has really been outstanding, none of it has been bad either.. it’s just hard to really love it after the incredible flavors from the meals we were eating in Italy-even the little cheap hole in the wall places were mind blowing. So, we liked the food-we just didn’t find it as amazing as the other foods we’ve eaten. As a matter of fact, they aren’t really memorable at all. But that’s ok. We’re definitely not going hungry here. Hahaha

We went back to the room and I changed into running clothes to knock out my mileage at the gym. I’ll be honest, even though I was and am so excited about this gym on board, I really despise the treadmill. It’s a perfect means to an end but man does it suck! And on a ship, it can get a little wobbly. Even still, I got it done, before they close at 10pm no less. Thankfully, I had already gotten my 10k steps so I didn’t have to do anything afterwards but go back to the room, shower, and get ready for bed.

Tomorrow we will wake up in Santorini! I’m so excited, it’s my favorite excursion I’ve booked, so I’ve been looking forward to it since the day I read about it-back in November 🙂 Goodnight!

Y’all. What a bummer today was. I woke up several times during the night thanks to the ship rocking side to side. I got a little queasy but tried my best to ignore it. We got up at the same time as yesterday to get to breakfast and to the meeting point for our full day trip in Santorini including a boat tour with snorkeling. The wind was whipping and the waves looked so high from the windows-but I’m no sea captain.

We ate the same breakfast as yesterday and went to the meeting spot only to hear that the current weather had us delayed “for now.” It was 8:45, they’d update us at 9am. Ok-fine. No problem. 9am rolls around and the captain of the ship comes over the PA system to tell us that there are 10ft swells and 60knot winds-it’s too unsafe to get off the boat, waves are literally crashing over the gangway higher than a human. Cool. No worries. They’ll update us again at 10am.

The issue with the updates was that we had to be in a public place to hear them, because they don’t make announcements into the staterooms (fantastic when you’re sleeping, not so much when you want to nap AND be in the know.. ya win some ya lose some..). Mom laid down on a couch in a lounge area that they started doing trivia in. I half listened half scrolled the internet trying to stay awake until 10 to hear the announcement. The whole time you can hear the wind whistling through the doors and windows from the deck of the ship.

As I was watching the waves rolling by seem only higher and higher, I held out hope that the announcement would be in our favor. Absolutely everything in the last 20 days has worked out, mishaps be damned, surely this would, too! The 10am announcement comes on: “we’re so sorry, for your safety we cannot dock at the port nor can we allow anyone off the ship… refund.. blah blah blah.” I was heartbroken! Of all the places.. this is SANTORINI! The captain let’s us know that he will head on to Turkey a day early, we’ll dock around 7:30pm and see how the weather fairs.

To drown our sorrows, mom and I head back to our room and decide to take a nap. If anyone knows either of us well-you already know neither of us knows how to actually take a nap. We were out cold comatose for HOURS of the day! While it was sunny outside, the wind had the upper decks closed, so there was honestly nothing for us to do unless we wanted to gamble, eat, or play more trivia. If Nana and Joe were here-sure-I’d play some trivia and probably get some right (I did get a few correct that I was half listening to, even if I wasn’t officially “playing”), but without the entertainment of them-nah, I’d rather sleep! Drinking was off the table for me, too, thanks to the rocking of the boat from the waves.. the last time I thought I’d drink through sea sickness I ended up on the cruise ship bathroom floor for hours on end and it was quite ugly (not this trip lol). I won’t say never again-but I will say not today!

So, we napped until some time in the afternoon. We whined about not getting to go on our awesome excursion, and then I whined about them crediting our “onboard accounts” (separately I might add) when I paid for them on a card-we’re talking $720.. like-I better get that money back on a card-mine or moms-but not a cruise credit! Lolol anyway, it’s fine, we’re fine, I promise 🥴😬

Then we ate lunch. I read a bit, we went to the casino-mom was bored and went back to the room, I promptly wasted $20.. I was up by $37 and then lost it all-of course. After losing my money and finding no one to commiserate with, I went back to the room too.. I did verify the winds were too high and the pools were still closed. Back in the room, we both started to watch a movie until we fell asleep AGAIN. Yikes! We slept until 8pm! I swear, we have to have a sleeping disorder!

When we woke up, we realized we were about to miss dinner. ONLY THEN did we realize we were docked in Kusadasi, Turkey! We weren’t sure if we were allowed to get off, since they don’t announce in the rooms.. so we went to the buffet to grab some food and ask someone there about getting off. The water was much calmer, even though the wind was still pretty strong, the decks were open, the pools were not-and it was suddenly quite chilly.

After some quick eating (pasta), we went down to the gangway and excited the ship! The port of Kusadasi is absolutely beautiful! Ocean meeting the mountains almost immediately. Buildings and homes built into the cliff side, one area with homes literally painting into rainbow colors.. so so gorgeous. Mom and I walked around, saw the oceanfront-I did my run (1.35 miles) and met mom at a coffee shop. Why we decided to drink coffee at 10pm after sleeping all day-I could never explain-BUT we did! And it was fantastic! I got an iced coffee, for the first time in forever. The Turkish people were all so nice! Even their port security guys were beyond nice.

We hung out and walked around until close to 11pm when we finally moseyed back on board the ship. We showered and got ready for bed, again, and I’m here to tell you it’s not even 12:30 and I’m half asleep already! Fingers crossed tomorrow goes well. We have an excursion planned to see Ephesus along with the home of the Virgin Mary and also the burial site and church of John the evangelist. It’s a long tour-so let’s also hope it’s as cool weather wise as it is today.. because if it’s as hot as Venice was, mom is going to bail! Lolol

Goodnight, y’all. Thanks for following along! So sorry for the delays.. the WiFi onboard does not like to load pictures to wordless-or on Instagram either, really. Lol