After Birthright, you have the option to extend your trip rather than flying back to the US with the rest of the group, or of course you can cancel your flight back altogether (me). A bunch of people from the trip were extending, and five of us planned a trip to Mykonos, Greece for a few days. Well, five of us went to Mykonos, but MVP goes to Ethan for actually planning the whole thing and being our Mykonos spirit guide. Squad up, bless up.
The rest of the Birthright group left on Monday morning, and our flight to Athens wasn’t until 6:45 on Tuesday morning, so we had the day to hang out in Tel Aviv. I ran some errands at the mall and talked Courtland through his first tattoo, and then we all went out in Tel Aviv. Our rationalle was that for a 6:45 AM international flight, we needed to get to the airport at 3:30 AM, so we probably should just stay out all night rather than risk going to bed and accidentally oversleeping. We’re idiots.
Highlights (struggles) of our journey to Mykonos:
– Travis going to “get a sandwich” near our hotel right before we had to get in cabs to the airport. Get a sandwich = fall asleep on a bench.
– Drew asking why we were at the airport
– Figuring out that Drew’s plane ticket was in Travis’s name, and Pegasus Air forcing her to buy a new ticket. Gotta love budget airlines.
– Courtland being put in the “suspicious person” security line (obviously if you’re wearing an Orioles/Budweiser t-shirt and flip flops, you’re trying way too hard to look American) and taking an hour to get through because they somehow found bomb residue on his bag?
Two flights and a four hour ferry later, we finally got to Mykonos. Our airbnb host Bobby picked us up at the port and drove us to a perfect two-bedroom apartment with balconies off every room. We grabbed two-dollar gyros for dinner and kept it low-key at a hookah lounge our first night.
The next day we rented ATVs/scooters and spent the day cruising around the island. We found this awesome hidden beach, saw the windmills that Mykonos is famous for, and watched the sunset over the ocean from the waterfront. That night we went out to Cavo Paradiso, a famous club that hosts big name DJs. The music was a little trance-y for our taste, and we were the only people over the age of 20, but you can’t beat a club on a cliff looking out at the Mediterranean.
The next day we walked around Mykonos town and then went to another bar on a cliff and drank rosé. After that, we had a crazy last night out, but that’s between us and our Italian friends.
Highlights:
– Riding along the coast on an ATV
– The food
– Climbing on the rocks at the base of the cliff bar
– Mermaiding (my new hobby where I sit on rocks by the ocean and pose for pictures)
– Sunsets
– The pool at this really bougie hotel that I found one night. It had all of these twinkling lights in it and it looked like the sky. I don’t have a picture and I can’t describe it, but it was beautiful.
Lowlights:
– Being exhausted the whole time from Birthright
Food:
– Grilled octopus
– Calamari
– Fish grilled whole
– All of the tzatsiki. Actually just all of the dips.
– Fried anchovies
Lessons learned:
– If you’re tired, don’t go out. Go to sleep.
– Set at least three backup alarms when you have to wake up for a ferry/flight/anything
– Waking someone up from a nap with a Smirnoff Ice is always acceptable
Greek words:
– Yasas = cheers