Phoebe's wacky vacation log

ElvenAngel

ElvenAngel

I forget stuff because I had to make room in my he
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May 28, 2011
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38
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A bunker in Athens
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So I decided to try and keep a daily log of my trip to the island of Santorine where I'll be stuck for 4 days with my brother. Yes, the fanatically religious one. Anyway, I'll try to update it as the days go by, at random hours, to let you folks know what I'm up to, whether I've socked my brother a punch in the gut or whether the island's volcano's about to blow up and take me with it in a blaze of pyroclastic glory. :ryan:

DAY 1
8:15 am

So after a very rude awakening at 5:30 am (didn't have a good night) and a very long and stressful drive to the port (the traffic at Piraeus is honestly something out of a horror movie), and panicking to find our bloody ship among all the docked ships and all the chaos of tourist mass...we're finally chilling in one of the ship's lounges. Thankfully, the ship has WiFi, so I'm able to plug in and check out the news and the like. The ship's getting really crowded but at least its a pretty good ship. However...soon I am expecting one of the banes of my existence: screaming children. When that starts to hit, I'm going to creep over to our cabin and hide there to watch a movie or sleep or something. XD Anyway, that's all for now, I'll post an update later today if the laptop's got juice.

12:13 pm
Somehow I managed to pass out on the sofa seats we got in the lounge, instead of being sane and going to our cabin to sleep. I guess it's better this way because I had moments of waking up so I didn't leave poor Costa completely alone... we're pretty bored though, since we forgot to bring a board game or something, or even a deck of cards to kill time. D:

Anyway, we've had some pretty nice, smooth sailing, mercyfully as the Aegean seems to be having one of its nicer days and the sea isn't incredibly choppy. I took a walk on the deck a little earlier and when I was dawdling about on the prow area, I saw dolphins racing the ship all around the prow. They looked like they weren't even trying. That was probably one of the coolest things ever :ryan: On my way back inside, I got tackled by an excited little dog too, heehee.

I feel kinda bad because Costa's the one who always gets up to get things or check stuff. D: I guess I look so dazed, disoriented and sleep-deprived that he feels sorry for me. Blarg. Right now he's gone to get us fewd from one of the on-board restaurants. Dear God, I hope he doesn't drown my dish in salt, he's got a veritable OBSESSION with salt. XD Laptop's holding up okay, I found a plug that the ship's crew doesn't mind me using so I hooked it up there to recharge while I was passed out. I might try logging on skype or msn after I'm done with this log.
 
N'aww, the Phoebe's crashing on the boat =3 Still you're lucky to have a cabin and an on-board food joint; a lot of ships don't have that. Now the trip BACK, however, since I know you're not getting a cabin, is going to be UUUUUUUBBBERRRRR fun ;D
 
Yeaaah, we were kinda lucky. On the way back won't be so bad, I bet, unless we're already shattered from the 4 days of degenerate fun and mayhem. :p Which I doubt, lulz.

The good news is, the WiFi's AWESOME here and later tonight I might be able to get on skype and chatter with ya =3 I've missed you and Jason! If you see him on skype before I do, tell him hihi and wubs from me! ^_^

NOW! MOAR updates! 8D

DAY 1
4:00 pm
WE MADE IT! 8D We're safely in the hotel and ohmygosh it's really, really nice. The owner's a really friendly and polite guy, very obliging as well. He's offered to book us tickets for the volcano tour, suggested non-tourist trap tavernas and restaurants and even arranged for our WiFi, which is shockingly good quality.

And the best part?

Our room is like 2 steps away from the edge of the pool... LITERALLY. I'm currently in my swimsuit, doing this quick update before I go divebomb into that very inviting pool and spending some time sunbathing and finishing up Ben Thompson's "Badass: Birth of a Legend" which is a pretty hilarious book about cultural and entertainment figures of balls-out badassery. Costa's taking a nap since he's pretty obviously shattered. >: Silly boy didn't sleep at all last night, barely got 3 hours of crash down, even though I TOLD him the trip would be a looooong ass, tiring one. Oh well, as usual, the voice of reason is ignored!

On a slightly disappointing note, the famous Ancient Akrotiri archaeological site, which I wanted to see so badly, is closed. :( Those moronic British archaeologists fucked up badly, the site's been damaged and it's under repair and restoration. Stupid Brits! Always cocking up archaeological sites here in Greece! What IS it with those people!? I mean ffs!

Still, the hotel's amazing and I'm really looking forward to seeing the island now ^_^

;D Talk to you later hons, I'm off to do sum splashin'!
 
^_^ Thanks Lelouch~!
DAY 1
7:36 pm
Did I really spend 3.5 hours waffling in and around the pool and sunbathing? Holeh sheet that's gotta be a record for staying away from computers/games/books for me, lul. I'm quite enjoying myself, although I shouldn't talk too soon since we haven't started the long hiking or walking under the scorching sun yet XD
We're about to go have dinner at the hotel restaurant now, and then plan to go to a village to the north to enjoy the sunset and have coffee and ice cream. Santorini's famous for its vistas of the caldera and the phenomenal sunsets it produces, so it should be pretty cool to watch. I promise I'll take more pictures! ^_^
 
DAY 1
10:47 pmOur attempt at a little excursion to check out the sunset from a reputed sweet spot didn't end so well. We kinda set out too late and when we got there it was dark, to say nothing of us getting lost like n00bs. Sadly my brother's sense of direction is pretty bad, and in the pitch dark of night mine went on strike as well. :(

Anyway, at least we got our bearings for tomorrow. Otherwise things went ok. The dinner was pretty good although apparently dad settled it so we can't choose our dinner but rather have a set menu, which is pretty okay so long as nobody produces a dish of mush-boiled vegetables or something like that. I suppose in such an ocassion we'll just eat out or whatever. Who cares.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow; we're probably going to take a swim although Costa's beach of choice is a rock-strewn place, from what I'm told, hence I'll stick to the pool. I'll just get him to take photos of that place while I check up info about a sandy beach nearby.

Although it's pretty great to hang out with Costa in such a great island, it's still kind of weird. We don't really have much to say and wind up having these strange silences that we don't know what to do with. And although mercyfully he hasn't been droning on about religion and such, he does insist on praying before every little thing, be it a meal or setting off to drive to somewhere. I don't want to be an ass and tell him off about this thing, but it's starting to get kinda annoying, what with him dropping long prayers like that.

I'm quite comfy here, sitting on the porch of the room, looking out at the pool and having the lappie plugged in and on WiFi. I'm feeling pretty good, but I do terribly miss my bed and the fact that I can keep the AC on and drop my room's temp as much as I want before I go to sleep--to say nothing of the fact that I wouldn't have my brother snoring right next to me. XD

I hope tomorrow we'll manage to get more things done and have a little better time ^^
 
DAY 2
10:01 am

Well this morning started weirdly. Costa sorta got up before me and when I woke up he was nowhere. I got a mite worried and plenty confused because the car seemed gone too yet his swimsuit was still here, eliminating the chance he went to the beach without me. Which would've been odd btw, since Costa's not one to ditch me or anyone. I got breakfast without him, thinking he probably went some walk or srive or something but I was still confused.

It turns out the dummy was just hiding away in a corner of the hotel talking on the phone. Don't know with whom, maybe his gf, maybe his priest, I don't know and I don't care @_@ I just got miffed that he vanished on me like that and got me worried.

Anyway, today that we're all rested and we're up early, Costa's gonna go check out a beach but I won't follow because it's a rocky beach and I have incredibly bad experiences with those... And anyway, I kinda like the pool bit better. But we do have info on a much nicer, sandy beach nearby that we'll probably go to. But when he gets back and we're all done with out cooling morning swims, we'll head out into the main city to check things out. Being Sunday, the Museums probably won't be open, but we have enough time for that on other days. Monday's going to be for volcano sight-seeing so Tuesday's gonna be museum day :3

The only issue I have with the hotel, by the way, is the matress... Ouchie mamma, that thing was filled with rocks or something D: Quite uncomfortably hard.

It's funny but when I called mom this morning I felt incredibly homesick... D:

6:00 pm
Well here we are in the hotel again. Costa ended up going to the beach and I just went to the pool
=p.gif
Afterwards though, we went to the capital town for lunch and to chill out, which was pretty good. We found one of the better restaurant-cafes that overlooked the massive caldera and had lunch there. It was awesome ^^

We waffled around the town a bit too, visited one of the museums (worth it :3) and then went for ice cream. We even found the shop that belongs to a friend of dad's, but he wasn't there. Now dad's been a bit meh and asked us to deliver a package to the guy, but it turns out he's only there in the evenings. Oh well. We're gonna try again late in the afternoon tomorrow. Costa's taking a nap right now and I'm chilling after another dip in the pool. We're going to be heading to the town of Oia again tonight to see the sunset. This time we'll go early to catch the sunset, and find a cafe to chillax in, then come back to the hotel for dinner and stuff.

Tomorrow morning we're heading out on an excursion to the volcano and the caldera tour by boat. I'm a little tiny bit worried about the volcano hike because it'll be mercilessly hot and I'm not in good shape... I may not be able to even make the darn thing and forced to go back D: But I shall grit my teeth and TRY DX

11:26 pm
Well, we missed the sunset...by a mere minutes. By the time we got to the vantage point, the sun had gone under. Drat. Costa and I decided to eat out instead of the hotel, to sorta compensate but I just feel bad for wasting the paid meal we had... Afterwards though, Costa wanted us to wander around but I was just too exhausted, sweaty and concerned to do so. See, when he drove to Oia I noticed the gas in the rental car was dangeously low. I kept being worried over that. Thankfully on our way back we did find a gas station.

The other thing that worries me is that tomorrow I'll tucker out and won't manage the admitedly short but scorching and rough hike to the volcanic crater. I'm just so bloody out of shape and the heat and sun are so much, I'm afraid I'll just be unable to go and retreat to the cruise ship for the rest of the excursion... But I really don't want to!

Other things are going a bit wrong too. I don't feel quite so rested and relaxed as I should. The bed's got a really hard matress, that thing has absolutely no give. I think I may have hurt my shoulder sleeping on it, somewhat. The shower stall's painfully tiny too... It's a real effort to actually wash in there. Not to mention that Costa's not awfully good at cleaning up after himself... I also keep worrying about the time and what we'll do all the time. And then I left my mind wander and it goes to the money issue. Dad forked out a LOT of cash for this trip and I just feel so massively guilty over it.

I'm really confused. The island's gorgeous, the ambiance of the place is terrific, our hotel is great and everything SHOULD'VE been fine and dandy, a relaxed, fun vacation. I mean, ffs, I even got excellent ideas for my novel, the part of it that I've actually got set on this very island.

And yet--and I hate to use these words--I feel like I want to go home... D:

*sigh* just 2 more days to go, I guess. Tomorrow will be very long and exhausting. I don't expect I'll be able to update much.

On a completely random note, I found some interesting reading material in the form of e-texts of W. H. Hodgson's stories of Thomas Carnacki, detective of the paranormal. Really good gaslight era literature, actually, somewhat like Lovecraft and fun to read.
 
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DAY 3

9:35 am
So this is the big day, the trek to the volcano. D: I really hope I last. I don't think I slept so well, the matress really isn't good at all. In fact, it sucks. Anyway, let's hope I don't collapse from heat or exhaustion due to being fat and out of shape... >_< I will be away most of the day and I already think I"ll probably be completely shattered by the time I get back.

Sadly the feeling that I want to go home is stronger today...
 
Ooh, I'm actually envious. I know trekking up a mountain is just arduous, particularly in such exhausting heat, but I would love to be there, purely because I have never been near a volcano before. xD

Try not to think about home too much and just enjoy the days as they come and the experience. Good luck up there, and try not to be caught in a blaze of pyroclastic glory. ^^
 
Yeah you go ahead and go to a Volcano ~.~; I would never do that cause I don't wanna be near one when it decides to go boom xD better safe than sorry.

Anyways Hope the trip gets better for you,even if the place is grand you should always expect something to go awry sometimes ;P.

Enjoy the last few days Elven hopefully they'll be fun =3
 
Thanks all, I love ya *massive snuggles*

6:55 pm
I didn't make it. D: I tuckered out 2/3 of the way in. ANd I mean badly. I suffered a small heatstroke and broke down almost crying. I got so very disappointed at myself but I realized if I had pushed on I'd be in serious danger of a severe heatstroke. So I turned back. The volcano won. D: I'm sorry all. My shirt and pants are so soaked with sweat that I'll need to have them de-salinated by professionals or something. It's rather scary really. I'm thankful that we stopped for a swim and Costa helped me chuck myself off the boat and into the cold water. That booted me back up.

I'm so completely tired I don't even have the strength to really type out a big update with everything that happened. Suffice to say I should never have booked this excursion, I'm appaled at some places' prices and I really think I'll spend the rest of the day sitting on my ass and chilling. Screw sightseeing, really. I'm going to go die in the pool now.
 
I applaud you for even attempting to go near the volcano, let alone going inside the thing. I probably would have passed out inside that thing, even though I'm used to the heat and everything else. :sad3:
 
Thanks, I guess. @_@

Day 4

9:18 am
I've just about had it with this place and with Costa. I wake up with a bad back because of these fucking useless matresses that aren't even fit to transport fucking marble on, let alone for humans to sleep on. And now of all things Costa took over the bathroom and SANG while in it. He fucking sang some Christian song or other all the while in there, crapping for like 10 minutes while I waited for him to just leave the darn room so I could change. And now the bathroom stinks to high heaven and I can't even get near there so thank God I'd finished my business with it.


1:21 pm
I let Costa go off to see some sights along the shore and find a beach, since I wasn't feeling that well to go out myself. I just took a swim in the pool and lay down a bit, then worked on the laptop some, doing some writing. I was hoping he'd be back sooner but nope, he took his sweet ass time, also stayed in the shower for nearly 30 minutes when all he needed was a quick rinse! I mean wtf does he do, pray before every single thing he does? Jeez.

I have to say that I'm just tired of this. We're gonna head out to town for lunch now and deliver a package to someone from dad--dad just loves taking opportunities to force me into his stupid obsession with our family name and finding other people with it. This time he wants us to deliver a copy of his stupid book to this guy we hardly know. I mean ffs. It's great that dad has a hobby but leave me the fuck out of it and just mail the goddamn thing. Why do I have to be an errandboy?

Hopefully today we'll finally see that stupid sunset and get this whole charade over with. This has really stopped being fun for some time now.

I'm just so sick of being stuck in the same room with him. I'm just about done with this bloody place, and I'll be perfectly happy to go home tomorrow. Jeez. Today we're just gonna chill in the main city and tonight maybe go again to Oia to try and catch that goddamn sunset. Personally, I could care less about either. I'm just THAT sick and tired.
 
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Sounds like your trip has some struggles to it...those make up the best stories though!
 
I do believe that if I were by myself, or hell even with my BFF instead of my nutty brother, I'd have had a much better time. Costa's starting to become a bane of my existence ffs. @_@

D: I could do without the stories if it meant that my legs weren't jelly, my shoulder wasn't screaming betch all the time and my back didn't feel like someone threw an anvil at me.


10:42 pm
We finally got that stinkin' sunset in Oia and we can now stop running around like headless chicken! I have to say it sorta paid off for the trouble it gave us, it's a gorgeous sight that my photos won't do justice to, but still...

I have to say though, my legs are completely jelly now. I mean shit, man, I know I'm out of shape and overweight but this is ridiculous. I know I'm able to at least walk a kilometer, I do that rather frequently when I go to the supermarket! I think the main problem is the heat! Apparently these are the hottest days of the year and the stress, plus trying to walk up the ridges of a fuckin' volcano may have just simply caused my system to utter a 'fuck that' and go on a general strike or something. I suppose it's time to stop walking around outside and just stick to indoors and the treadmill to try and stay in shape.

All I know is that when I get home, for the next two days after that, at least, I'll barricade myself in my room with the AC on and very possibly go into a coma to relax and recover. Dad can go suck an egg--I am NOT going anywhere else this year, certainly not down to our famly in the country. I'll accept the fact that it makes me sound like an anti-social bitch but I'm just THAT exhausted of all this traveling and vacationing.

I can't remember who it was that said it, but it's been said: "No man needs a vacation more than the man who just had one." Amen to that! Frankly I believe that 7 hours on the boat will be piece of cake to deal with. I'll just get WiFi, find a corner near a working plug, dock in and start chatting on MSN, Skype or whatever, or play Portal 2. =p But I can't say that I'll remember the trip completely fondly. I think Costa was the biggest frustration of them all, really, with his crazy uberreligiousness. I mean shit man, I made a little joke about how Momma Nature's the real artist behind the sunset and all these great sights of the island, and Costa's like "Nooooo, it's God's work, don't blaspheme! He set the sun and the moon and all in order..." at which point I was doing my best 'whatever' impression and just kept on walking and kept my mouth shut.

I'll be glad to be back home where I can avoid being in his face all the time a little more easily and have some more peace of mind. I tell you, I'm starting to appreciate the fact that he doesn't actually live here... =___=

Anyway, tomorrow we're checking out of the hotel, getting our shit together and getting off the island and BACK HOME. Woo-hoo! :awesome: :ken:
 
I've already asked you to, and you probably won't, but let my big-brother-by-extension Costa know that I say hello. And that I want to rip him a new one so huge that his God would be dwarfed by its magnitude, because he keeps proselytizing.

...It might be safest if he and I don't meet when I make a visit. For him, I mean; I'm actually a black belt now, and I CAN and WILL kick his ass the minute he starts to preach the bible and all that to me.

That is all.

I hope you enjoy the trip back home, Phoebs =D Pity Santorine wasn't as good as you'd hoped it would be.
 
D: Thanks hon. I know he's such a pain in the ass. But what can I do? *sigh* Yeah I don't think he'll be around if you ever visit. We'll be too busy nerding off and having fun :3 Didja see the new Thundercats btw? I already reviewed the first ep.

LAST DAY

10:20 am
Finally we're going home. We've got to vacate the room in an hour or so so we're busy packing. Or I should say, Costa is because I'm already done and just need to put the laptop away. Short business for me
razz.gif


I gotta say, I don't regret going home. This island's awesome but it was a total mistake to come here with my brother. Absolute disaster. Our ship supposedly leaves at around 3 in the evening so we have to be at the dock at least by 2. We're going to have to loaf around the reception hall here for a bit to kill some time. Bleh.


12:35 pm
Okay, it's official, my brother's a religious, proselytizing idiot. Here we are, chilling in the reception till departure time, because the owner's such a freakin' nice guy and letting us chillax in his very own, AC'd office. And what does Costa do? Out of the blue he goes up to the guy, while he's busy managing his business, and starts to ask him if he thinks he'll go to heaven and whether he's 100, 90 or 60% sure of it.

Insert massive, echoing facepalm of stupid fail here.

I mean FFS, we're just about to leave and Costa manages to devolve into a proselytizing berk! The poor man's awkwardly responding to him right now and being such a patient human being that he deserves a medal for this.

As much as I'd LOVE to just stand up and slug a fast one to Costa's jaw and tell him to shut the fuck up, I can't. I can't afford to piss him off now, and I have no desire for a retarded scene of religious fervor from his stupid ass. I just want him to shut up and play with his iPhone or something.

Our ship leaves at 4 pm after all and we've gotta be at the dock by 3. This is gonna be another long day. *sigh* I hope I can find a plug to park myself by and just do something on the laptop to kill the 5-6 hours it'll take us to get home.


4:52 pm
We're finally safely on the ship after a hour and change in the sun and heat of the port, enduring more of Costa's religious fervor and ALMOST self-righteousness. We're lucky to find some mildly uncomfortable, air-line style seats right on top of a plug that's what letting me use the laptop for much of this very long trip. I asked someone from the staff and they told me it'll be about midnight when we reach Athens. I think I can manage that long if I watch a movie or something and play some Bioshock or whatever. As long as I don't have to talk with Costa for a long stretch of time, because I've already twice managed to slip out of my 'I will not engage in religious debate with him' oath and blurted something that'd give him an excuse to mouth off.

I'm still embarassed to high hell at him suddenly jumping that nice hotel owner with his religious nonsense and pretty much forcing the poor guy to hand over his email in order to receive a boatload of my brother's (get this) notes for understanding the Bible--in other words, a bunch of proselytizing stuff about what the Bible says according to the mind-washing morons my brother listens to and all that shit about 'being saved'.

*sigh* Now I sound like I'm the bad guy, I bet. I'm just tired as hell of what Costa's been doing and that he lives with his head stuck up the arse of religion. And worse yet, that he's encroaching on the right of other people to not give a flying fuck about what his views (aka regurgitated views of others) on the Bible are, and their right to believe in whatever the fuck they want. It's just pissing me off.


8:56 pm
Just when I thought this retarded stream of bad, annoying shit wasn't going to get any worse, it has! An hour or so ago we were forced to quit the comfy airline-like seats that were right onto a plug because it turns out, those AREN'T part of the stinkin' economy class, and we had to actually buy them--which we couldn't because they were already sold. So yeah, the shmuck who had the magic ticket with the number of our seats showed up. So we had to give them up, even though for one second I wanted to tell the dude to fuck off and even whip out my pocket knife to pake my point clearer.

For an hour we scoured the decks of economy class for another place to sit but there's nothing. Our only option would be to go outside on the deck, at the mercy of the wind and salt spray. Yeah, no fucking thanks. I managed to find a spot we could squeeze in, that even had a plug, but sadly because I've hurt my back on this shit of a trip, I couldn't sit on the floor like I'd planned and get it all over with. Costa and me found these two crazy uncomfortable chairs and we've squeezed up against the wall. It's insanely hot here, barbarously uncomfortable and we still have 3 FUCKING HOURS of sea faring to go. We can't even get a stinkin' table to put our water bottles on or the laptop--it's currently on my knees, causing me even MORE discomfort and making me angry.

I'm angry at just about everything and quite a bit more at dad, who couldn't be arsed to book us some fucking numbered seats so we could at least say we were moderately comfortable and secure in seats we wouldn't have to forfeit, considering this is a 7 HOUR JOURNEY! I swear, I am not going to speak to him for the next month... Neither to him, nor Costa. I'm just so bloody exhausted, uncomfortable, in pain and DEPRESSED. I was on what's supposed to be a FUCKING VACATION and I'm DEPRESSED. I'm gonna have to bother my poor shrink in the middle of HIS vacation for an emergency consultation over the phone or skype or even fucking carrier pigeon. I want to cry, almost.


11:35 pm
...I have very little fortitude to say anything other than that I want my bed very badly right now. I am quite literaly broken now. The ship's been a bit delayed due to weather and we'll be arriving past midnught. I think I'm going to be ill for the next 2 days. Also I wholeheartedly wish that whoever invented the economy class in ferry ships to burn in hell with a giant burning brimstone dildo up their ass.


1:47 am
I'm home.

I can't sleep yet, I'm too tense and shaky even though I'm dead tired. I just want to feel the comfort of my own frackin' bedroom before I crash on the mattress and CRY in relief. My 4 days as a hostage of obligation and stuff are over.
 
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