Take Off to Greece!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was so excited that I woke up early and started finishing my packing and was waiting in anticipation for everyone else to get up and finish their packing.. can you imagine that we each had a HUGE suitcase for a 2 week vacation?  Hey.. I had to pack of every occasion you know!  Who knows if it's hot, cold, formal, semi-casual etc.. 

Came downstairs to find out that someone had jumped the fence and stolen my dad's golf set which was sitting outside the house.. wow.. can't imagine two people on one motorcycle carrying a golf bag wouldn't attract much attention.. oh well.. good excuse for buying a brand new set..

Went for breakfast and then it's off to the airport!  My parents had upgraded to business class.. so I was left lonely in good ol' economy class.. luckily I was seated with the rest of the traveling group that hadn't upgraded to business class.  We had 12 hours layover in Singapore so we went out shopping.. unfortunately, not at Orchard Road but this new shopping mall that just opened.. nothing nice.. much preferred to have gone to Orchard Road.

We then continued to my Grandma's house where I took a nap and then it was off to dinner and off to the airport!  I traded my boarding pass for a window seat with one of the group members.. didn't know aisle seat was so popular.. should have auctioned it off for a fee! hahaha

The flight was uneventful.. no annoying people cos I was seated amongst friends.. and I even managed to get a good night's sleep!  Of course, had to wait until after they served dinner. Yum.. Love airplane food (I'm not being sarcastic!)  In no time, we landed and we had to drive to Hilton hotel to pick up PrincessBling and Hubby!  So excited to see them!

My first view of Athens?  Well, it was disappointing to see so many abandoned shoplots.. and what's worst.. most surfaces were ruined by graffiti!  Shows that the unemployed are definitely bored.  What took me was that the roads were NARROW and I'm so amazed at the skills of the bus driver.

Our tour started straight away after picking up the two of them.. and we visited the Acropolis and Partheneon.. I wish I could show you pictures, but my camera was clumsily left behind (yes.. by me) in Santorini.. but let me just say.. the ruins were beautiful.  This is the part of Greece that you see in Discovery Channels.  It's so historical and being there just made you feel as if you were transported back to the ancient Greek times.. and the ruins were so well preserved that you could imagine the outline of the real thing!

What I noticed that Greeks are very proud of their heritage (and they should be!)  There's a guard always on watch to make sure you don't steal any rocks, deface anything.. and definitely not take derogatory pictures that could ruin the image of the ruins.. like this example.. a couple was taking a picture where the boyfriend carried his girl in his arm.. was told to put the lady down by the guard.. and THEN he asked to see the picture in the camera and made them delete it!  It was shocking.. but I understand that it's a holy place and they didn't want anything to destroy that image.

One thing about traveling to Athens during July.. the HEAT!  OMG.. it was like 40 degrees out there.. by the time we returned to the hotel, I was burnt to a crisp.. I didn't put on any sunblock because it was packed in my suitcase.  To make it worst, I was wearing a long black skirt (for warmth on the airplane) so I was pouring in sweat.. luckily I had a cap.. which totally didn't match with my outfit.. but hell.. I needed that shade!

So now I'm back in Kuching.. I'll blog about my days in Athens, but I'm just giving an overview of my trip now.  It was a GREAT holiday.. my favorite island has to be Mykonos for the clear blue beaches and shopping.. not to mention night life!  The cruise was definitely a new experience for me and Turkey is beautiful, with their old churches and mosques.  The flight home again was uneventful, except for crying babies left right and center.  If you thought Asians were impatient... the Greeks were worst.. they were standing up in the plane and taking out their luggage from the overhead compartment even before the plane has stopped!  But overall.. I enjoyed my trip so much and have fallen in love with Greece.. I will definitely be traveling there again one day.. and Turkey.. but definitely not Istanbul.. hahahaha