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Thursday 25 July 2013

Final Thoughts: Rob

It's getting close to a year since we first left for our excellent adventure, and calling it excellent is an understatement and a half. Ever since we've been back, and there's been a moment for my mind to wander, all I can think of is this amazing trip. In this quick writeup, I'll try to summarize a few things about the experience, as a way of closure for this trip. Though I could write forever, I'll try and keep it short. 

Interestingly, if you asked either of us how we came up with the idea for this trip, neither would have an answer. The idea kinda came out of thin air and next thing we knew, we were saving up and looking at flights. The only planning we did was draw up a map of places we wanted to go, and try to get to as many as possible within the two months. Even while we were there, we only booked ahead to the next place we were going, no further. Regardless of how the trip was conceived, it was my first real traveling experience, and proved to be a major accomplishment in my/our lives.

While the entire trip was amazing, my favourite part was our stay in Germany with Uncle Robert, Natalia, and Jacob. Their hospitality was unreal, and they couldn't have been better hosts. I truly cannot thank them enough. I must also, once again, thank Brigitte (sic?) for letting us use her room during our stay.
Though it's so hard to choose, if I had to pick a second favourite part, I think I would choose our stay on Plakias. As Brigitte and Uncle Robert said it would be, it was a very peaceful change from the constant go-go-go we'd been doing most of the trip. Not that I disliked constantly moving to see all we could, it was nice in Plakias to just spend time together and not really have anything to see/do but wander the mountain hills and go to the beach. The memory that sticks out the most for me in Plakias, was the evening that we went to the beach right below our hotel and made a sandcastle as the sun was setting over the ocean. That was a stellar experience, undoubtedly.

What surprises me the most about our trip, was just how smoothly it went. We really only ran into two problems; almost missing the train to Paris, and our bogus adventure in Bari. Of course we got lost multiple times and the whole, 'we only speak English', thing came into effect once or twice; but all in all, it was way smoother than I thought. On the emotional end of the spectrum, we did great there as well, with no major meltdowns between the two of us. The only real meltdown (if you could even call it that) I can remember from myself, was in Paris, where I was struggling to read the map, and was getting real frustrated. Luckily, Danielle kept her cool, and took over that operation.

Throughout the trip I learnt many things about the two of us as well as the world in general. Prominently, I learned that commonsense can get you very, very far in life. We heard so many horror stories before we left about how people get pickpocketed, ripped-off, etc, but it now seems to me, that 99% of those cases could have easily been avoided with a little commonsense. I also learned that English truly is the international language; almost every single place we went, we could communicate in English with no problems, making it very easy for first time Eurotravelers. It is also important to note how friendly people are in general, many a time, random strangers would ask if we needed help, without us even requesting any (including the French by the way).

In closing, perhaps the most important thing I learned is just how good of a team Danielle and I were; handling ourselves under pressure, and being able to take charge when the other was struggling. She was the perfect Bill to my Ted, and there's no one I would have rather gone on this excellent adventure with. While I must thank everyone who made this trip possible (family at home, and everyone along the way), I must thank Danielle the most for making this trip undeniably the best time of my life (so far), which I will never forget. Furthermore, this blog was entirely her idea, and a good one at that.

Robert Wilson

Videos: London

For the last video entry I present the tour for the room we stayed in at the EasyHotel Heathrow. Quite a difference from the place we came from in Plakias.

 

Videos: Crete

Videos from Crete include two timelapses, a tour of some caves/tunnels, a tour of our apartment to compare to the place we stayed in London, a baby turtle at the Natural History Museum of Crete, and the effects of the wind on the water in Plakias.







Tuesday 2 July 2013

Videos: Santorini

Videos from Santorini include; many views of the Caldera from both Thira, and just above Oia, a view of the black beach, many kittens at Thirassia, and an Ohi Day dance. I also filmed the entire Ohi Day Parade, but that footage is on Danielle's Iphone, so we will have to edit and upload that to this post at a later time.