Back to London... and then out to the Greek Islands

Ok so back to London, and coming in unannounced, i stopped off at the florist to surprise auntie Lol... She is the best...

So in those five days, i caught up with Tommy boy (whom i met in Lagos), a great kid with a passion to be an Aussie, we helped him with several Aussie-isms... and he was quick to greet the Doff and I with an Absa-fruitin-lutely...

Found out that the Mambo store in Fulham was having a sale and everything was 5quid... So we bought up big... everything from t-shirts to jumpers and pants... Awesome...

Met up with my cousins again and we had a little pub crawl through Parsons Green and Fulham... I think i may even move back to this area... It has terrific night life. We ended up at the Wilton, which is the pub where my Auntie runs kareoke... Yes i did... and so did all the boys as well... Terrific night...

The next day, being totally sick of my hair, it was time for a cut, and i mean a cut... the boys brought out the clippers and i gave myself a number 4... No more worries, just had to remember to put sun cream on the head when i went to the Greek islands, which was next on the agenda...

Met up with my mate Mick at the train station and headed to Gatwick Airport, check-in opened at 4am for our flight to Athens, so Mick and I set up camp (with my new sleeping bag purchased the day before, excellent) and slept... Some very grumpy Virgin hostess' woke us up, so we moved to the check in line... and we waited... and waited... and waited... and waited...

For about 2hours to check in... There had been a massive Terrorist Attack foiled by British Intelligence. Peroxide bombs were what we were to learn the next day... Apparently all other airports had been closed down that day but flights out of Gatwick were still allowed, yessss!!! But for Mick, who couldn't even carry his magazine on board, or me, my book!? And the line to get through security, the length of the entire airport... ridiculous... i thought everyone was getting a body cavity search... I was wrong, but everyone was almost down to their knickers before they went through... and certainly no water bottles were getting through!

Another three hours wait at the boarding gate, obviously bag checks were extensive down stairs, and we were away...

Because of the delay, our trip to the Acropolis had to postponed indefinitely, Mick and I caught the night ferry to Santorini... Not something i would ever recommend... First class does certainly not mean "First Class"... This was the longest journey and the boat stopped off at every single island on the way... and everytime there was this horrendous sound and then the announcement!!! AHHHHH!!!!! I just wanted to sleep! The longest day of my life!

Having booked no accomodation, again, we just decided to go with the guy holding the Anna Hostel sign... excellent choice as it turns out. Although Mick had just purchased a gyros (greek kebab) for me and the driver was absolutely adament that i was not getting on his bus with the kebab... "NO FOOD ON THE BUS!!!" were his words, kinda like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. I was scared. Not a great start with the locals...

Met a great guy from Canada named Steve who explained that his job was a travel researcher, the envy of every Traveller, to get paid to travel. I hated him instantly. no just kidding... He was a great guy... So the first day was just relaxing on the beach and having a couple of beers back at the resort up the road... i love a good pool and a beer in the sun.

That night we made Pimms (kind of an English Sangria, but no red wine, it was on sale duty free, i couldn't resist), a great drop... we bought the fruit and even found some mint (thanks big steve). Had a great night and then booked in for the pirate ship tour the next day...

18 Euro for a full day guided tour to see the sites of Santorini... The best money ever spent... Found out that Santorini is actually a dormant Volcano (that would explain the black beaches) that erupted years before creating its shape... and even felt the warmth of the volcano itself when our tour guide Maria dug deep into the dirt... very cool...

We swam from the boat to the hot springs, and i even put the mud on my face, meant to be very good for the skin... my face was yellow for a while, and so are my shorts now.

There were a couple of highlights from that day, the oppotunity to ride "TWO DONKEYS"! oh yeah, i did it twice. My first one was quite possibly a relative of Makaybe Diva, just kept pushing the whole way up the hill, had chamions blood in her. And then there was the sunset in Oia... i filmed the whole thing and will put it up on You Tube as soon as i get my laptop... It was breath taking... I can imagine a lot of men proposing to their girlfriends here... I was right up the top of this cocktail bar with some new friends...

Bought a beautiful picture from Oia, which i cannot wait to put on the wall next to all my other little purchases from around europe...

Missed the tour bus back to Perissa, but it was ok, so did many others... Got back on the public transport, left my sunglasses on the bus... AHHHH!!! Gotta stop losing things.

The next day headed to Ios with Mick to meet up with the Doff and the rest of the gang...

Next Chapter... The Doff is not happy and Ios becomes home for almost a month...

Probably would've liked to have stayed another day in Santorini as well... but i had a brilliant time there.

Ios next

Mills