Let the Travel Begin!

April 6-8, 2017

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Word of caution: The flight may be cheap, but the travel long. Our journey (or should I say odyssey) to Mykonos included 2 layovers, 25 hours of travel time, and of course one hell of a time change.Our adventure to Greece started on April 6th when we departed SFO for Zurich, Switzerland. Before our flight we enjoyed some food, drinks, and conversation in the Centurion Lounge with Forrest. Of course, no Ryan and Heather adventure would be complete if it didn’t include a few blunders along the way. Mine occurred before we even boarded our flight. I somehow managed to spill my free, Forrest-sponsored mojito on my lap. I spent a good 20 minutes rinsing and drying my clothes in the bathroom for fear that I would smell like a drunk for our entire flight.The flight was pleasant with good food and great service spoken in 3 languages. And like all Swiss flights, it ended with free chocolate (thank you). Knowing we had two 5 hour layovers, we smuggled our pillows and blanket off the plane. Luckily for us, the newer, nicer terminal we arrived in was practically empty and very quiet. Since Ryan had not slept much, if at all, on the plane, he was able to get a good nap in before we took the tram to the other terminal for our next flight.📷Arriving in Zurich with contraband pillows in tow 📷Layover #1 Nap We left Zurich at 9 PM on April 7th to Athens, Greece. When we arrived in Athens (now 1 AM April 8th) the airport was essentially closed, aside from a lone man vacuuming. We found a quiet area in the lowly budget flights section (we mean you Ryanair) of the airport to take our second layover nap with our fellow red-eyed travelers. (Larger carriers had the upper section of the airport which included things like….gates and ramps to the plane). At precisely 4 AM, the airport opened and started playing wake-up music – nap time was officially over. When it came time for our flight, we queued up to get onto the bus that drove us to our plane.Apologies to all passengers aboard Ryanair FR 6592 to Mykonos. Why you may ask? Before our journey started our wonderful friend Forrest picked us up at the CalTrain station at Millbrae where he gave Ryan a half-pound of brisket. Ryan, knowing what deliciousness lay ahead, decided to save said brisket. He also saved bread and various cheeses from our flight meals in preparation for his feast. Despite his planning and multiple opportunities in which to eat the lovely brisket, Ryan chose to devour it as people were continuing to board the plane. Ryan sat down, pulled the brisket out of his backpack (contents and all now smelling of smokey goodness), and chowed down. He then proceeded to use his boarding pass to wipe the grease from his fingers. Good thing the flight was only 40 minutes. I fear I may have been recognized by two groups of people in downtown Mykonos that were on our flight.📷Layover #2 Nap 📷Finally in Mykonos After grabbing our single 10 kg bag (compliant with Ryanair, we grabbed a taxi to our AirBnB apartment just steps from downtown. We took in the views from our balcony before showering and promptly passing out.📷Arodou 📷Our Apartment 📷View from our balcony 📷Oh so tired At around 4 PM we woke up with still plenty of time to enjoy our first day in Mykonos. Still relatively tired we decided to just walk around downtown and eventually eat. Downtown Mykonos is full of shops, tasty eats, churches, and white hand-painted streets. The whole of downtown is off limits to cars (except for permitted business deliveries), allowing us to stroll through the winding narrow alleys and enjoy.📷📷📷📷Painting the lines white 📷We now come to the part of our blog for obligatory food photos. To all those who depend on Yelp to make their food choices, sorry to say it does not exist in Greece. But to be honest, I think every place you happen upon will be delicious and the Alegro Cafe was just that, delicious.We started of with various freshly baked breads with a tomato spread with olives. Mark it on the calendar mum, I actually ate not one but two olives and enjoyed them! Next came the zucchini balls with tzatziki. These wonderful creations are lightly fried and stuffed with zucchini (obviously), mint, dill, and melty feta. I could have easily gorged myself on these. I am happy to say that these are common fare on most menus in Mykonos and our next destination of Santorini. For our mains, Ryan went with the grilled octopus served with a spiced fava bean dip, and I went for the wild mushroom risotto with black truffles. After enjoying our meal, our wonderful waitress brought us some local liqueur, Mastika, which she said helps with digestion.📷Alegro Cafe 📷📷Zucchini balls 📷Grilled Octopus 📷Wild mushroom risotto with black truffles 📷📷Sunset Thoroughly full, we then decided to do a sunset walk through town to Little Venice and the Windmills of Kato Mili. Interestingly, like other areas in the region (Turkey for instance) cats are everywhere. While feral, dirty, and most certainly covered in fleas, these cats are super friendly. You will see them roaming around, basking in the sun, and eating food from the dishes locals leave out for them. And, if you are anything like me you will have to keep reminding yourself that you probably shouldn’t pet them, or at least not too much :).📷📷Little Venice 📷📷Windmills of Kato Mili 📷