Yamas!

Yamas!! That is "Cheers" in Greece. The second most important word we have learned in every country visited thus far after thank you.

Speaking of different languages....we just realized yesterday that we have spoken more Spanish to one another in the last week than ever before. Everyone in Copenhagen and Amsterdam knew English sooo it made it very difficult to say everything we "needed" to say! In Greece a lot of people try to speak English, so when we weren't feeling like talking to people, we would just speak in Spanish- they didn't even try to go there. Althouuuugh, a lot of people here think the language of love is universal and realllllyyyyy tried to speak that language with us- that didn't work out on us so well - some of them were creeps. 

Ok, so we are leaving Greece today, and we are really sad. We could be heading home today and it still would have been the greatest vacation. The number of times we have claimed since we have been gone that something was THE best thing we've ever tried or THE best thing we've ever done- says it's the best vacation ever.

I don't think it was until we landed in Greece that we really felt like woooowww- this is vacation!!! We arrived on Monday night really late, but just like every other time we've caught the bus-we sprinted with our backpacks and ended up on the next bus to Piraeus, Greece which is about 45 minutes from the airport. This is Greece's largest port where people leave for the Greek Islands. We arrived in Piraeus and after a very speedy cab ride, we made it to our destination. We proceeded inside to the tiniest and  slowest elevator I've ever been on in my life with our big backpacks to the sixth floor as Jenny said to me "I really hope we don't get stuck here". We had to ask the neighbor to let us in because apparently our host was out at a beach party. We got in the house, threw our stuff down and headed straight for the balcony, where we saw this...

                         

Needless to say, we spent a lot of time up here when we were home. But, that's also because it was about 1000 degrees in our bedroom. A whole other story. After a hot night's rest we woke up around noon and headed out to the streets to experience the Greek culture, and especially what we were more excited about....the food!! 

There were tons of cute restaurants along the port but we kept walking thinking somehow the next one would be better than the one before. We got to the top of the hill and next to a park we saw some tables out with views of the Mediterranean and the city. We sat down and hoped they would have an English menu because everything in the streets were signs with Greek letters. Our waiter spoke in English as soon as he saw us. We are a very interesting duo when we are together and people don't know where we are from- Jenny definitely looks American and I look ummmmm....I look like I could be from anywhere. Anyways, he recommended that we have the Greek salad and the seafood platter for two, so each of us got one of those ...kidding...but it actually wouldn't be surprising. Greek salad is so simple and so good! It really is only onions, olives, tomatoes, feta and peppers. I usually don't even like onions and I was fighting Jenny to get the last one! Then he came with a huge plate full of fried calamari and other fish. 

                           

Just the great food and the view was worth the long trip from DC to Piraeus. The waiter came by frequently to talk and because he wanted to make sure we were having "kefi" which means feeling good and happy. And if you know us after that great lunch we were more kefi than ever! He taught us some Greek words- enough to get by and told us the rules in Greece, which were pretty much do what you want! Annd, just when we thought we couldn't fit anything else, the waiter came back with desert on the house. He was enjoying our company as much as we were enjoying the food. 

                          

After lunch we wanted to lay out in the sun on the beach close to our house- so we went back home to get our towels and headed to the beach! Everyone on the beach was very intrigued by us. Everyone was staring at us and didn't care that we could see them. At first it was annoying, but then it got funny! The water was a little chilly at first but after being in the sun it was just PERFECT!! When we got in the water a man followed us in and start speaking to us in broken English asking about plans in Greece. When we told him we were going to Hydra he mentioned that his friend had a business and could get us a good deal on the ferry but we were like, "no thank you, we will figure out." He said "Girls, girlllss, for you, I will fly you to the island" and we were like yeah you will probably fly us over the island on our way to Albania or somewhere far away from our destination. We finally got away from dude, but he found us again and asked us if we wanted to party because he had a club called "Parachute". We took his number so that he would leave us alone and finally he did. There was so much going on at the beach and we wanted to get involved so we joined a volleyball game and nobody spoke English! We didn't know if they were cursing us out or saying good job, next time do better. They were so intense yelling at each other even to us but two seconds later they were all cracking up even we were cracking up, we actually were laughing the whole time- maybe that's why we missed so many balls, oh well! We enjoyed the sunset while playing volleyball on the beach. Our first day had been so good already, we didn't know how good it was about to get the rest of the week!!

On the second day we decided to visit Athens, which technically Pireaus is part of Athens but it's kind of far from downtown. We took a bus to the center and I almost lost Jenny. The bus doors closed with her inside so I had to ran up the hill to the next stop to get in. Thank God there were so many traffic lights- that helped me out- but not as much as Jenny cheering me on/laughing from the inside. Also on the bus nobody paid so we felt like experiencing the culture to the max so we imitated them! We got to the center and we were overwhelmed because we had so much we had to do- we wanted to see it all. The first thing we wanted to do was to visit the Acropolis, which surprisingly was not very well directed- so, we found our way around asking people in the streets. We loved the tiny streets and white houses all over Athens. Could have done without all of them being on a hill...everything was on top of a freaking hill and it was so so so hot. But everything got better when on top of the hill we saw all this......

                         

Words cannot explain how incredible that place is! Jenny got emotional and I turned around and she's crying- and I was going crazy taking pictures of every rock standing and on the ground. We know we are so lucky that we got to see all of this in real life, and know how many people dream to go there one day- because we did too. It was just incredible to see how old the monuments were, and how they built them with no technology like we have now. It just blew our minds standing in front of the Parthenon. 

We were still in shock when we came down the hill from the Acropolis, we could only say woow woow woow that was sooo cool that was just awesome, unbelievable, unreal....more than ever, there are not words to explain. What we could explain is how thirsty we were! We sat down at a bar and no joke we drank 4 big bottles of water! We were dying! But it was so worth it! We just wanted to drink our water and have some really cold wine and chill, but we can't go anywhere and expect that. The waiter was so chatty and wanted us to enjoy Greek music while we had some wine. We just payed it so that he would leave us alone but as soon as the song was over he had a playlist written down in our table to keep the Greek songs coming. 

                         

There were two more places we wanted to visit in Athens- The Olympic stadium and Lykavittos Hill (where we wanted to see the sunset.) We got there with some directions from people in the streets and we found everything easily. We went uuuuup another hill again but this time is was a bigger hill. But it was so worth it because we would have the view of the entire city while the sun was going down. We enjoyed dinner in a restaurant on top of the hill and sat amazed at the view of this endless city. 

                          

Everything sounds juuuust PERFECT on this trip, right? Well before you think so... just know that we stopped by the hospital because Jenny got bitten in the leg by a vicious insect before we left the States, and the infection was spreading-it did not look good, it was different everyday, and it was scaring us. Just being in a hospital in Greece was not the most fun adventure, but we made it fun and she is on another medicine-he assuuurrreddd us this would work!

                          

Day 3 in Greece was probably our favorite! We went to Hydra, which is a small island only 2 hours away from Piraeus by ferry. We bought our tickets, took a nap on the ferry and woke up on a beautiful island - maybe it was all a dream, because this place is dreamy, just like out of a travel magazine. 

                            

First thing we saw as soon as we got off the boat were many donkeys on the port!! There are no motor vehicles allowed on the island, the only transportation is the donkey and they have license plates!!! 

                           

We went up for lunch at a pretty rooftop restaurant where we had a Greek salad with the best olives we have ever tried in our lives and some eggplant feta and beef to get some energy and move on with our day! 

                             

We asked around the island what would be the best beach to go to and they all agreed to send us to a beach bar very popular. We started walking that way being amazed by the views of the blue water and the mountains- it looked like a post card or a background for a computer. 

                             

Before we made it to our destination, Jenny saw a sign from a bar that she had seen on her research about Hydra that rated top 10 bars with a view in Europe! We were surprised it was not very crowded and it was very affordable, maybe it was not crowded because people come out only at night, everything is crowded at night in Greece- they love the night life! We ordered some wine and calamari and guess what... I know we say this a lot on our trip, but its so true - best fresh and fried calamari we both have ever had. If I were a calamari, I would be happier there too and probably happier calamari taste better! 

                           

We layed out on the rocks, and jumped in the water as we chilled there listening to music for a couple of hours and headed back to the port where we would get a donkey ride!!! We bargained to get a good price on the ride, apparently the Greeks like when you do that! We jumped on a donkey and rode it in the streets of Hydra!! Such a funny experience, we were both cracking up the entire ride, it was just funny seeing us on a donkey in another country, cruising in the streets! 

                             

Just before we left Hydra we had to get into some trouble, if not we wouldn't be writing a blog about adventures. Let's say that we got kicked out of a bakery......yes, as low as it sounds (and fat), it's true, we did. We did not try to eat things without paying, but, we were sooo excited to buy some baklava and other sweets to take on the ferry with us. The owner of the store was grumpy. He did not speak English, and when we tried to communicate what we wanted he got frustrated. I got an ice cream cone out of the freezer, and he did not like that we messed with the freezer, soooo he shut the freezer in Jenny's face and went off in Greek. Jenny told me "Maria we are leaving" so he looked at me with the ice cream cone and told me to pay for it and Jenny said "no, let's go!" So, I set the ice cream cone on the counter and said to this man "I don't want this anymore, because you are not a nice man!" I was trying to make a simple comment in English, so that he might understand that we were upset about his attitude...which now that I think about it, it wouldn't have matter since he didn't speak any English he probably heard me go off and thought that I said....-excuse my language-" look, you can stick this cone up your a**". I did not mean that at all but that's probably what he thought I said because he yelled so clear in english "Get out, Get out. You girls, Get out." So no sweets for us...not that we needed them anyways. So we got on our ferry called the "flying dolphin," which was almost flying and cracked up about the bakery the entire ride. 

        

       

      

Day 4- we really just wanted to chill. We have not been able to sleep much on the trip or in this house because its sooooo soooo hot- so, we decided to wake up whenever and just go to the beach and enjoy our last day in Greece. We walked around the port in the small streets trying to find a good place for lunch and we did find it, but it was a bakery - we couldn't let it go - but, they had sandwiches and obviously sweets, which was what caught our attention in the first place. We got our food to go and ate it at the port. We got back home to get our towels and back to the beach! We love the beach and every opportunity to get sunlight. We tried to stay out of trouble and drama today so every time someone came up to tell us the best party place for tonight we were like "yes, we will be there" and kept doing our thing. We just enjoyed the beach with some drinks in hand, took a nap, a good nap... we woke up and the people around us were gone and new people came to the beach and were staring, we didn't feel like dealing with all that again so we packed up and went to the supermarket to get stuff to prepare an authentic Greek dinner at home. We loved our house so we wanted to enjoy it and thought it would be the perfect plan for our last night in Greece-and it was!

                           

Our belts are tighter, and our smiles are bigger. We plan on continuing that with dinner in our first night in Rome- Here we come, Rome. Here we come, Pizza!

Amsterdam

Oh heyyyy, Amsterdam!!!

It was so odd to pack up in Copenhagen with our backpacks and say, "on to the next." But, so glad we did. Amsterdam was incredible.

After a short flight Friday night where we took a much needed nap- we landed at Schipol airport. As Maria and I write this blog we literally don't even remember a thing about it! We were exhausted. However, getting into the city was so easy via train and once we got there we were at Central Station. It was so so so big! Public transportation here was so easy and convenient.

                          

We met our host and he took us out for some noodles and a glass of wine and we were DONE. We would need that rest because we did NOT stop the next two days. 

We woke up Saturday morning ready to hit the streets! Our apartment was in the middle of everything-the location couldn't have been better. We walked down to the museum area where we found beautiful canals, beautiful buildings and this...

                           

We had seen this at least 6372946 times online and couldn't wait to see it in real time. Then we stood there and took 6372946 pictures trying to capture the moment. However, believe it or not, we didn't take as many pictures as this guy...

                                         

Afterwards, we ventured over to the Van Gogh museum. Seriously, it was so neat to be in front of all the original paintings we have seen in books all our lives. We were both really struck by "The Sunflower" and the "The Iris." Also, we were both really shocked by how many paintings were in the museum considering that there are so many other ones across the world.

                           

   
After the Van Gogh museum we went to the Heineken Brewery- and as bad as this might sound-it was one of our most favorite parts of the trip! It was so well done and it helped that after the tour we went to the roof to have the best burger either one of us have ever had in our life! We enjoyed a beer on the rooftop and sat on a bean bag overlooking all of Amsterdam. Such a cool experience. Everywhere we went there was Heineken- it really is a huge part of their lifestyle. Considering also you can drink in the streets- it really was everywhere!

                             

After a long day of touring we went home to nap before Sensation. All this time we had waited for this massive party and BOOM- it was here!! It was the coolest experience ever! Everyone in the entire Amsterdam Arena was decked out in white from head to toe. The lights were everywhere and the music was electric! Sooo, as we are fist pumping the night away with the bands on our arms that lit up- we met someone we will never forget. We made friends with these guys....

          

     
Sure enough- these guys are the founders and owners of the product that all 50,000 people in the arena were wearing on their arms. I know, we didnt believe it at first either, buuuut then they showed us their product on their phones! We are now VIP guests of theirs to Sensation New York. How we needed up next to them- who knows. Buttt, this is how we feel about it....can't stop smiling!!!

         

Other notable photos from Sensation..

                

                               

We walked into Sensation in the daylight and walked out of Sensation in the daylight. We saw the sunrise over the canals as we crawled into our beds at 630 am. After a long "nap" we decided it was time to get on the move! As you can see- there is a theme here... NAPS! (One of the many reasons we are great travel buddies). We went down to the canal tours and chilled along the water where we saw the Opera, a three story bike shed with bikes on top of one another, diplomat homes, and some of the most beautiful and interesting houses I had ever seen in my life.

                               

It doesn't take much to be entertained in this city. The scenery and people make for the most culture atmosphere that is impossible to get enough of!

Still recovering from Sensation we took one more nap before heading out to the Red Light District and our hosts concert. The Red Light District was really a blur. To be honest I couldn't even process what was happening and it was pretty brutal to watch. The women were all so beautiful and not knowing their stories really broke our hearts. It was hard to walk away without being pretty shocked but we did acknowledge the fact that at least this enables some type of control on prostitution- whereas its so undercover everywhere else, it creates more danger and risks for these women.

It was nice to leave here and head towards our next destination which relieved the heaviness of the situation! We are staying with a musician and he had been in Asia the last 6 weeks with his band traveling. He and his band had a show at the Sugar Factory which for those of you in DC it's pretty much the 9:30 club. He is in a modern jazz band and plays the keys- and they coupled with a DJ and a R&B/pop singer who reminded me of Jill Scott and they improvised off each other all night! It was AMAZING! The best dance party I have ever been to. The BEST. We kept saying, " One more song, one more song and we will leave. Then 2 hours later, we left. Literally did not stop moving until 4am.

                           

I wish so badly I could explain how crazy the streets were! I have never seen anything like it. Everyone in Amsterdam has a bike or motorcycle. Children of every age sit in wagons on the back or front of the bike- friends ride on a seat on the back and infants ride on the handle bars in a little seats. Seriously, nuts! Everyone also has their own sets of rules- even the walkers! In a small street the size you would see in a small town there are bikes,scooters, motorcycles, tram, cars, and busses. It's absolute mayhem. I am not even sure there is a right side of the street. We saw so many close calls- but nothing happened- guess they've found a way to make it work!

                                          

   
Waking up this morning and packing was really tough! We are kind of sad to leave butttt heading to Greece does make it a lot easier! Amsterdam was beautiful, the people were friendly, and it was the perfect mix of chill and fun! I definitely would want to visit here again!

                                                                   Peace. Love. Amsterdam.

Day 1: Copenhagen

We made it!! Backpacks and all!

We woke up Wednesday morning and Wednesday night we were waking up in Copenhagen, Denmark. We had no idea what to expect - but we certainly didn't expect to love it this much in just one day!

We flew with SAS Airlines and they know how to do it. We got great food, free wine, and a smooth flight. We give them a thumbs up :)

Arriving to the airport was an experience itself! The Copenhagen airport is HUGE, and soooo modern. The metro ticket machine was in all Danish with no option for English....we think we bought a 24 hour pass- but maybe it charged us $24. We made our way to the metro which puts DC's metro to shame. But, it could be because it´s not used that much. Everyone here is on their bike or they walk. There are traffic lights for the bikers and serious bike traffic. When we came up the stairs out of the metro at our destination we couldn't believe how much it looked like the pictures!!

The apartment was 5 minutes from the metro walking and super easy to find. After we met our hosts (SO SWEET) and settled into our cute little apartment- we decided to get out and about!

Our hosts suggested we do the touristy thing and we took the boat around the channel. We saw the
mermaid, and it was cool, but everyone we talked to from here said it´s overrated and don't understand why tourists are sooo into it. We saw the Queen´s Castle and cruise ships. We were so hungry (cause it´s jumbo slice time in the states at this point) - so we walked around and looked for some lunch and what do you know? We found the most photographed scene in Copenhagen- and wow.

After lunch we took a 3 hour nap and, no joke- most epic nap ever. Ever. So naturally, when we woke up we ready to hit the city again!!!We went out for some Indian food, which I don't even like, but it was amazing! Like, I even like Indian food now! So we were in Copenhagen and eating Indian food-we thought we better put on our Celebrate America shirts to celebrate the 4th.

But then we thought we'd take it a step farther....

This attracted friends.....

Friends attracted a boat...

And- then we went to bed with this in our laps...

BUT- a great nights sleep means a great morning run through the city!!

And some other touristy things which we can't talk about. Apparently it's like the CIA-we couldn't take photos and it was literally another world. That's all we can share. Feel free to google Christinia Copenhagen...if you dare.

Everyone here is ridiculously nice . Everyone speaks English- which has been so helpful. Today we will get a last lunch in Copenhagen-head to the airport and then take a short flight to Amsterdam!!!!Cant wait to share some more fun!!!!

This place was beautiful, fun, and can't imagine a better first day!!!!!

So, the time has finally come and we are 5 days out from our much anticipated trip across the pond! Some of you know about the trip, some of you don't. Some of you could care less and will now exit this blog. Either way, we will carry on! We are pretty dang excited. Our excited faces....

On July 3rd, Maria Gomez and I will be picked up downtown where we will weave through holiday traffic to catch our plane from Dulles International Airport to Copenhagen, Denmark.When I picture this scenario, I imagine Maria saying over and over again, "This is really happening, this is really happening. Dude...this is really happening!!" Then there is me. I will be hysterically crying from overwhelming excitement. Then we will crack up at how ridiculous we are. Exhibit A.

If you know anything about Maria and I, we are both very determined- and when we get something in our heads- we are all in! On January 1, 2013 we decided we were going to get serious about planning our dream trip to Europe.We packed up our computer, went to Good Stuff Eatery (ummm, delicious!)- ordered an aggressively large burger, too many fries, and of course, because that wasn't enough, a toasted marshmallow milkshake. We sat there and ate every bite for the next five hours while we Google imaged just about every town and city in every country in Europe.

Our plan started out in London, then flying over to Amsterdam, taking the train from there down through Luxembourg, Lucerne, La Spezia, and ending up in Rome. Well, GUESS WHAT? We are only going to 2 of those places now. After a little cost analysis and logistics planning, we decided that we would totally revamp the trip. Instead, we decided it would be more fun to have 5 flights, go to 5 countries and to live out our dreams of one day eating Greek yogurt on the steps of the Colosseum and relaxing on the beaches of the Islands. We are going to GREECE!

We will be flying into Copenhagen for a day and a half before flying to Amsterdam for dutch pancakes and the party of the year- Sensation! Preview:

After 3 days in Amsterdam, we will go down to Greece where we will be staying on the Port of Piraeus (http://www.piraeus-greece.org/) right outside of Athens. We will be in Athens for 5 days and will visit the island of Hydra where donkeys are the only mode of transportation. O.M.G.

Then we will close out our trip in Rome as we gorge ourselves one last time with authentic Italian food!

We will be staying with locals all around Europe using the website www.airbnb.com.

We have been planning this trip for the last 6 months and talking about it since the day we met 4 years ago.  I can't wait to experience this with my best friend, travel buddy, roommate, and family- Maria. Both of us are so excited and want to use this blog as an opportunity to share with our friends and family our experiences in Europe.The name of our blog refers to all the times that people stress and get worked up over a little change in plans- we love that! We are about the most unlucky, luckiest people I've ever known- so, you are going to want to stay tuned! We hope that you will see our stories and how much fun we have and make it a priority of your own to get out there travel. Enjoying the beauty of the world and all that it has to offer from the scenery to the people. We will be blogging about packing, more about the trip agenda, and hopefully at least every other day of the trip or so. This blog will be our postcard to you!! Thanks for taking the time to enjoy this journey with us!!!

La Rubia y Morena,
Jenny and Maria