Greece Adventures Day 6 (4/7/17): Saying Our Goodbyes

Day 6, the last day. What a holiday it has been!

♥

I'd converted my friends by this point, and instead of me being the one insistently telling them we needed to have a 'beach holiday', they were the ones who demanded we visit the ocean one last time before we leave Naxos. And I'm glad they did. We woke up bright and early in the morning to slot in some time for photo-taking there, something we didn't do much of in the past few days - expensive cameras, sand, and water don't mix well!

After 'de-sanding' ourselves the best we could (we all know that once you visit the beach, there's sand following you around forever), we had a quick breakfast by the port, whilst keeping one eye out for our ferry.

As soon as it arrived, we ran over, probably looking like we'd just escaped from a mental asylum. All five of us, flying past in a storm of flapping clothes and wide-brimmed hats, whilst dragging our suitcases, which were bouncing up and down on the cobbled floor, behind us. The whole island and all its neighbours may have heard us, but hey, we got on the ferry at least!

Once back in Santorini, we milled around for a few hours before our flight. Seeing Santorini again was like reading old news - we'd had enough already (hence the lack of photos!).

There was a little museum that we decided to visit, the Museum of Prehistoric Thera, a fancy name for a frankly average, borderline boring, museum. It had some artefacts that were taken from Akrotiri, the town we visited on Day 2, which was alright. There was also a small live lizard/gecko that had found its way into the museum and was scuttling around on the floor.

I'm telling you, lizards are getting smarter by the minute! They're already showing interest in humans - they'll be taking over the world soon and we'll all be bowing down to the lizard gods!!

Anyway, I'll end this here before I go too crazy! The flight was okay, I was so exhausted that I slept for quite a lot of it. I also never realised how much I missed my bed at home whilst away. There's just nothing better in life than your own cosy bed :)

Greece was one of the best holidays I've ever had. Not only was the location perfect (you'd have to be blind and in denial to tell me Greece isn't pretty), but I also shared this experience with the people I love, making each moment that much more exciting, beautiful, and special.

Ok, I'm leaving before it gets cheesier than this. There's practically delicious, golden, melted goo seeping off the page and slowly dripping down your device as you read...

♥

I love you

xxx

JET LAG SUCKS! (17/08/2014)

THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING! I WROTE THIS IN CHINA, BUT THERE WAS NO WIFI SO I COULDN'T UPLOAD IT! SO, LETS JUST PRETEND I'M STILL IN CHINA EH?

Hey people! I don't know what time it is in England right now, but I'm kinda across the world and it's nighttime now so...it's confusing. Welcome to China, where you'll get the delightful experience of squat toilets with no tissue, the army of mosquitoes, and ruthless taxi drivers. I literally got into a type of taxi which was basically a metal frame on wheels. And the driver drove through red lights, scraped past other cars and cyclists, and I feel I was a hair breadth away from death.

Anyways yesterday, I finally came here, to China. I had a flight at local time (England)1:15pm, and I had to get up at like 8am or something to finish packing, not a nice time to wake up on a Sunday in the holidays. The flight itself was nine and a half hours long...ugh I hate long flights.

Well I guess I like the fact that there's films and TV shows on the plane...on my own personal screen! I watched Divergent (finally!) and it was amazing! I love how the film is so similar to the book (except for a few small changes) and how the characters are nearly exactly how I imagined them. Such a good film...

Though in the middle of watching it, these two random kids sat in the one seat next to me! They were kicking around there and just about turned me into a pancake. Right in the middle of Tris' fighting! The nerve of kids these days!

I also watched The Notebook, and cried disgustingly everywhere with snot flying all over the place. And I was sitting next to a stranger...yeah, sorry!

I'm hopefully going to watch the Lego Movie and Noah on the way back...

As well as films, there were also loads of TV shows...and guess what?! ("What?" you say). There was SHERLOCK! Sher-frickin-lock! It was The Empty Hearse, not one of my favourite episodes, but I'll take what you give if it's Sherlock!

And you know what I said about sleeping on the plane? Yeah...I didn't sleep at all. It was so disorientating though, we left England when it was daytime, then once in the air, it was nighttime for a few hours, and then arriving in China, it was daytime again! Nighttime was only 5-6 hours! And the thing is, by the time I arrived in China, it was 6:30 am there. That's 11:30pm in England when I would usually be in bed, sleeping. I basically had to get through another whole day without sleep! That's around 24 hours of nonstop travelling and movement and no sleep! 

When my dad and I arrived at Beijing, we went to a place called the Temple of Heaven or something... It was fun, but oh so hot! I'd completely forgotten how sunny China can get, even through all the fog and smog. I probably tanned ten shades darker, but oh well...I'll be a new person when I get back to school! It was also really tiring - you must realise that it would have been around 4 in the morning in England, *sigh* jet lag sucks. 

We then had lunch with a few of daddy's colleagues in China, scientists in their white overalls and all. It was hilarious, we went to the hospital's staff dining area, where everyone there were in white overalls, except for us. All the stares...*cowering under a table*

In the afternoon, we took a train to Henan, daddy's hometown. It was one of those super fast trains, so only took about 4 hours to get from Beijing to Henan in the middle of China. I finally slept a little on the train, only for 2 hours or so, but that was alright. We were also travelling first class, so the seats were extra big and comfy. Yay for unnecessary comforts! 

In Henan, I was finally reunited with all my relatives. My cousins, my aunts and uncles, my grandma, and my cousin's adorable little girl. Someone please tell me what relation I am to my cousin's kid. I'm confused...something like an auntie? My lord I feel ancient. We all squished together and had dinner, and that, my dear friends, was the end of the day...or two days? I don't know!

This was a really jam-packed post, loads of stuff happened so it jumped around loads...sorry about that, but that's all for today thankfully. 

I love y'all, and goodbye! Goodbye from China! Xxx

TURKEY ADVENTURES DAY 7: THE END OF THE JOURNEY

Hello everyone, it's been a few days since I've written anything, and of course, I'm now back at home. I've just been way too tired to write anything on the last day of Turkey, then yesterday I was too busy getting things sorted out. But I'm back, and ready to tell you about the weird and wacky last day in Turkey!

The day started off with us having to get onto a coach which had been parked in the middle of a road...in busy traffic. It was a nightmare, there were four lanes and our coach was parked in the middle so we had to cross a lane to get onto the coach. This was in Istanbul so there were lots of cars honking at us, obviously getting annoyed that we were basically blocking two lanes... We also had our suitcases, which meant we had to load them into the coach before we could get on, which was terrifying because all of us were lined up squished against the coach whilst vehicles swerved around us. I think our teachers also aged about ten years during those ten minutes, poor them.

Once we had finally clambered onto the coach without being flattened by cars, we set off to go to the Sultanahmet, also known as the Blue Mosque. It is actually still used as a place of worship nowadays, so we had to wear head scarfs to cover our hair. The mosque is huge and so grand, it reminded me of a mosque version of Hogwarts a little bit. There were giant chandeliers that had candle-like lights in them which were hanging really low from the high domes of the ceiling, making them look like they were floating. Tons of people were there, the place was really crowded with tourists like us that is was nearly impossible to move without accidentally elbowing someone or stepping on someone's foot. At least no one was wearing shoes (shoes aren't allowed inside mosques).

Anyways, let's carry on. We then went to the Basilica Cistern, I think it's called. It's basically an underground lake, complete with fishes and an underground cafe. The whole place was supported by pillars and there were raised paths for tourists to walk around and explore the cistern. It was a really cool place, the lights made the dark place look kinda eerie and the droplets falling into the water made little dripping sounds now and then.

The last place we visited before leaving for the airport was the Hagia Sophia. I'm not really sure what it is, but I think it used to be a basilica, then a mosque, and now a museum. It's very confusing, it's kinda like three-in-one. It's a great building though, the ceiling is made of tiny mosaics and I think the floor and walls are marble. It's very impressive.

When we got to the airport, we had to say goodbye to our tour guide who stayed with us for the whole week. It was really sad, he was amazing and we all loved him. He asked us to write a little bit about how we found the trip because we wanted to make a memory book thingy to remember us - so cute!! Anyways, he's Turkish, but he did our tour thingy in English, even though he had self-taught it to himself and learnt it all in four years. As well as doing Russian and German tour-guiding too. He's so determined and clever! Imagine, learning three other languages and doing tours in those languages, when he probably isn't even 30 years old yet!!!

Ok, this paragraph is going to be weird and random. Basically, I don't really remember all this too well because it was a few days ago, but I have written it down. And what I wrote in my notebook was 'teacher'. So I wrote 'teacher' because one of my teachers (one of the more calm and sophisticated ones) swore. I don't remember why, but something terrible happened which made said teacher swear really quietly. Of course, being the half-nerds and goody two shoes my friends and I are, we were sitting at the front of the coach near the teachers and heard it... Lol, our reactions!! This teacher is always all sophisticated and collected, so we kind of just went silent and stared at each other, and of course pretended that we didn't hear. I dunno why I felt the need to mention this whole paragraph...I told you it was going to be random. I also feel kinda bad now...but I love my teacher, the lessons are amazing and everyone learns so much.

Well anyways after checking in our suitcases and getting through security, we were allowed some time to explore the shops. To me and my buddies, this was interpreted as 'go to Victoria's Secret and try on every single perfume they have'. Which is what we did. And omg they are amazing!!!!! I especially love Tease and Gold Angel - they smell amazing!!! We spritzed all over ourselves with Gold Angel and ended up smelling so strongly of it that it almost got too strong to bear. But it wasn't enough to put us off it. A few of us were almost going to buy it, but sadly it was in euros whereas we only had the Turkish lira. It was so fun, I'd never been to duty free with only friends before, so it was a great new experience. Usually, I'm with my parents who only care about getting to the boarding gate or buying a tax-free alcoholic drink. So I end up trailing behind them, wondering what the difference is between one vodka and the next.

Now we skip forward to the plane flight itself, which was very uneventful. They were playing 'The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty' which I only half focused on. I was too tired to do much anyway, I just sat back and relaxed, drinking coffee and tomato juice (not together though, bleugh). Of course, I ended up needing to go to the dreaded toilet. I found out after last week's flight that I wasn't the only one who hated those toilets, in fact, I was part of the majority. Ugh, I don't even want to talk about it anymore.

Skipping to a few hours later in which nothing much happened in between, I finally got back home at around 9:30 pm - ish. All I know is that it was really late and I was really tired, in Turkey I would have been sleeping at that time. I hate jet lag...

And that's all that happened on the last day of my adventures in Turkey. Overall, going to Turkey with my school and friends has been amazing. I've kinda just focused on the details of each day and haven't really mentioned how the trip was as a whole. It was so fun and a nice break from schoolwork and upcoming tests which I now have to worry about. The teachers who came with us were so organised and kinda cute in a way. I guess it's because usually, I see them as strict people who don't have a life, but this trip has shown me that they're so sweet and are actually capable of doing other things such as joking around and playing on the beach with us (we buried one of our teachers alive with only his head sticking out)! Even though this last week has been tiring for all of us, we've all kept ourselves together and made the most out of this trip.

TURKEY ADVENTURES DAY 1: IN THE AIR, OVER THE EARTH, AND ON THE WATER

Hello peepsicles!!!! So today has been absolutely amazing and so much has happened since this morning... I woke up at around 4am because I was too excited, then I couldn't fall asleep again, so I guess it's literally and figuratively been a long day today... Anyways I was super excited and hyper, on the coach to Heathrow Airport, I kept on jumping and wiggling up and down, I just couldn't keep still!!! I haven't been to turkey before, so going somewhere with all my best friends was so exciting! When we finally got to the airport (late, may I say) we had to hurry straight to check in our bags and then security. And OMG security at Heathrow's north terminal is absolutely terrifying!!! They have huge machine things which look like a glass cylinder cages which scan you, and you have to stand inside with your hands up as if you were surrendering...ugh and I got beeped and had to go inside...never again, please!! In the end, nothing was wrong, grr...but I guess they were just doing their job. Finally, after going through admin and etc. we started boarding the plane...

There really isn't anything interesting about the plane or the flight, it was just a normal British Airways passenger plane which we had to stay on for about 3 hours...it was fun and we could watch Saving Mr Banks if we wanted to. But anyways, the food they served was amazing!! It was proper hot food with 2 courses(ish) and it was only for a 3-hour flight! Although for some reason they didn't have a vegetarian choice, which was kinda stupid, so I gave my vegetarian friend a few of my potato pieces, because I'm just such a wonderful friend. But, carrying on, after the roast chicken & veg main and salad side, there was dessert. And OMG, BLISS!! It was banoffee cheesecake in a little pot, and it was so good!!!!

We also got to have a drink (of course), plus either coffee or tea. And, being the most loyal and patriotic British, my friends had tea, unlike me, who had coffee...oh well, I like coffee more, and don't judge me for it...

However, one thing I didn't like about the flight was the toilets...and I'm sure I'm not the only one who hates aeroplane loos... Ugh, they're seriously scary...when you flush it, you could literally feel air blowing in, which I don't understand, because shouldn't flushing a toilet suck things out, not blow things in?!

Well, enough with toilets, it's not a particularly nice subject to talk about. So once we finally arrived in Istanbul, I was so excited, and even more so when I realised I was going to get a visa, which meant a stamp in my passport!!!! I had never got one before, that I could actually remember, at least. So yeah, I got excited again (I'm very easily excited, in case you didn't realise) and was so happy when I got a stamp AND a sticker!! This excitement was short lived though when we decided to queue up for passport control - we had to walk about a mile or something to find the end of the queue...and to actually start queuing... All in all, it was VERY long and VERY tiring.

After taking my first breath of outdoor Turkish air, we got into a coach which was adorned with broken rusty seat-belts which were so bent and deformed...though thank god the rest of the coach wasn't quite so disused and disgusting. Even so, staying in a coach for 4 hours (and we were told it would be only 2 hours) - even longer than in the plane - was not something I was looking forward to. The view, however, was something to die for. Istanbul is gorgeous!!! There are the typical clayish-red houses which you can only find in places like Greece and Turkey, apartments and shopping centres a huge contrast, and in the background, there's the sea, which was so beautiful and calm today. So frickin gorgeous!!

All too soon, as you can probably tell from the pictures, The sun had set and it started getting darker...so no more pictures I'm afraid... Anyways, after about 2 hours of driving, we stopped at a service station where we were harassed by stray dogs and made to pay if we wanted to go to the toilet... I didn't have any change on me, so sadly I had to cross my legs and hope I could keep everything in...and laughing didn't help at all, not that I didn't love the laughs and giggles we shared! Anyways basically I was kinda really tired before, but then one of my awesome friends started talking about Hetalia and turning our own female Hetalia characters we made into male versions, and lol we were then talking about the pros and cons of being a man...and lol the fun times!!! On the subject of fun times, my friend also bought some mini salty fish-shaped crackers, a bit like Oddities, from the service station, which for a short time we actually thought were cat biscuits... But anyways we 'manned up' (lol) and decided to try them. And it tasted like cardboard!!! It was literally flavourless crackers, which was supposed to be salty... And, when we looked at the salt content, we found there was only 2.2g of salt per 100g...which is even much less than the amount of salt in bread (which is about 6g)!!!!!

After hours of nearly peeing my pants on the coach, we finally, at 11pm (Turkish time, 9pm English time) got onto the ferry and started crossing the bay, or whatever it is. It was one of those ferries which you drive the coach straight on, one of those (no offence) ugly ones. And I still had to keep my pee in, because apparently, the ferry toilet was rank...my poor bladder... But we were on the coach for 5 OR 6 HOURS, so it was good to finally get some fresh air. Also, even in pitch darkness, it was still pretty, the water was really dark but the lights of the city and towns in the distance looked amazing. This picture really does not do the view any justice, but it was the best I could get...the black areas are basically windows, and the lights going across are the lights of a town or something - underneath is the water and on top is the sky. 

Still...we're going to reach the hotel at about 12 midnight (Turkish time of course) and we haven't had dinner, and to be honest, no one is going to be there to cook us anything. So I don't think we're going to have dinner...I'm sad :(

So it's later on, and it turns out that yes, we did get to the hotel at around 12, but no, thank god we did have dinner...and a mighty nice one I must say!!! It was a kinda buffet, and quite nice!! I'm shattered now though, so bye!!! Xxx