The Princess and the Prague

Ending the Summer

And so concludes the summer of Forrest and Katharine…

With four and half hours of sleep, we were off to the airport. We shared a humongous hug and departed…

For the first time in 40 days, I was away from Forrest for more than 5 minutes. It was so weird.

As soon as he left, I checked the board. My flight had already been delayed an hour. So McDonalds breakfast time

Lots of gate changing and flight delays made me get home at 2 something.

The flight from ATL to RDU was the hardest. I wanted to be home so bad. I also missed Forrest a lot. I listened to “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and “Carolina in my Mind” as we landed.

I was reunited with the most wonderful people in my life.

My family and my friends were waiting patiently

What troopers!

oh gosh. i was so tan.

LOVE THEM SO MUCH!

So to wrap up the summer…

40 Things I learned this Summer

You have to be laid back and flexible. If not, you will be miserable.

Feta is amazing in Greece and I will be disappointed almost everywhere else

Skydiving is totally worth it

Not having a cell phone is nice

Carry a water bottle at all times; you will get dehydrated. You will save soooo much money this way.

Before I travel again, I want to buy a nice camera and know how to use it properly.

Water is one of my favorite things.

I take the beauty of the sunset and sunrise for granted too often

Journaling is worth the time-you start forgetting stuff real fast.

When choosing a hostel, towels, a kitchen, AC, and a shower with curtain are huge pluses.

When travelling, napping just about anywhere is appropriate.

Coffee can do wonders.

Shower when you can, you never know when you’ll be able to shower again.

Don’t forget to relax. You’ll get burnt out really quickly.

Burek, while it is a tasty food, will probably kill you within a week.

Watch the World Cup in as many places as possible; it’s such an awesome experience.

Peanut butter is ridiculously overpriced in Europe.

Milka chocolate is superior to almost any other kind of chocolate.

Anything with nutella will be delicious, especially donuts filled with nutella that cost a euro.

Princesa cookies are the cheapest and the tastiest

If planning on sleeping on a train, sit across from a friend, it’s a lot easier to sleep if you can stretch out.

Always have a jacket on a train—every single one was freezing cold.

Silent Discos are so much better with DJ Vincent 1000.

Find a journal with inspirational quotes; they’re super entertaining to read when waiting.

Eat gelato at every chance, but never pay too much.

Pljeskavica is always better with onions.

The unnamed traditional will always be one of my favorite parts of the day.

Don’t forget to splurge on dinner every once in a while.

White chocolate Kinder Buenos are the best snack on a late night train ride.

The amount of pictures at the end of 40 days can be overwhelming, but every photo is worth it.

You must sleep in occasionally or you will go crazy.

Sometimes you have to be only concerned about yourself and your travel buddy.

Pickpocketing is dumb, but it happens all the time, especially when you have a fever and are distracted.

A swimsuit with a dress over it will suffice for almost any occasion.

It’s a small world after all.

Letters from friends are some of the most special things ever and mean the world.

It’s really nice to get back home and really frustrating when your plane is delayed a lot.

When in Rome…or Santorini or Prague…take advantage of every opportunity.

Bold move of the day. do it.

Forrest Alexander Moog is the best travel buddy ever. Hands down. ever.

Day 40: Athens: OUR LAST DAY.

After arriving bright and early, we had to wait around to see if they had room for us. I got to chat with Chellup and Gordo while we waited, which was most excellent.

We finally booked a room and headed to the Acropolis. I got my last bit of shopping done and we had delicious cheap gyros for lunch :)

We went to the 10th MCDONALDS!!! DOUBLE DIGITS BABY!

Then we napped until our final dinner.

My hot date.

leaving Athens on a high note.

Day 39: Thessaloniki, Greece

MOST RIDICULOUS DAY OF MY LIFE SO FAR.

We woke up SUPEERRRRRR early and caught the train from Athens to Thessaloniki. We left on the 6 AM train and arrived in Thessaloniki around noon.

So we somehow found the two guys waiting for us at the train station. They drove us 30 or so minutes to the airfield. Forrest volunteered me to go first, but I’m glad I did!

After getting my harness on and doing a little run through on the ground, we were off in our little 4 person plane.

I honestly didn’t get as big of an adrenaline rush as I thought I would, but it was a blast and I would do it again.

Forrest on the other hand…

He went right before it started to storm really badly

They got wayyyyy off track, but they were found like 20 or 30 mins after.

We took the night train back to Athens and got to Athens around 5:45.

I slept so well the first hour on the train, but was disappointed to find out it was only for an hour.

last cookie.

instructions from maria.

GOGGLE MARKS!

What the skies looked like as Forrest went.

Lookin rough and not feeling too hot after skydiving.

We got off the ferry around 8 and had to find the metro station. Which was impossible. Then our normal stop was blocked and it took 25 mins instead of 5. Then Easy Access was booked, so we had to move to Hotel Zeus…and the map was wrong, but not off by too much, so we found it.

We found our way to the National Archeological Museum, which was pretty interesting. We wandered around a bookstore and wasted some time on the Internet waiting for our room to be ready. FINALLY it was. I skype-called my mom for her birthday and napped some more while Forrest made train reservations.

Knowing I was feeling terrible, Fo brought back a dinner of tzatziki, bread, chips, bananas, and juice. He’s the best.

Day 37: Santorini [Day 6]: WAITING

So we planned on catching our ferry back to Athens at noon, but it was full. The one at 4 was too expensive, so we decided to wait it out til midnight…

So, we played cards. ALL DAY.

LITERALLY.

Who knows how many games of Casino, Crazy Eights, and Go Fish we played.

FINALLY got on our ferry around 1 AM and passed out.

nice sunset though.

Day 36: Oia, Santorini [Day 5]

We headed to Oia (pronounced E-ah) today!

This is where the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was filmed :)

We headed down over 200 super steep steps down to Ammoudi Bay. We found a spot to swim and went snorkeling. It was phenomenal. We saw soooo many fish and even a baby octopus!

Then when we were taking a break from snorkeling, a huge wave came and knocked the snorkel gear off a rock :( It was really sad. The same wave slammed me against some rocks and bloodied my knee :(

We swam for a little while longer and then headed back into town where I had apple Fanta for the first time and sent Caleb’s birthday letter!

Then we had our last night on the island dinner, which was ridiculously good. It was at a restaurant called Floga. We met two guys from Chicago who were really entertaining.

Blueberry and Chocolate Mascarpone

Day 35: Red Beach, Santorini [Day 4]

We took the bus to the Red Beach, which was absolutely gorgeous. The sand was all red and black from the caldera. There were pieces of pumice [not hummus like the loud obnoxious American kids kept saying] floating around. We relaxed, sunbathed, and snorkeled allllll day. We found tons of awesome fish and hermit crabs.