Prologue
It’d been a while since the folks had seen Monki and she had seen them outside of a video screen. Sure, we facetime’d regularly, but nothing beats actual face time. Since we didn’t know what Rasa’s vacation schedule was going to be like this summer, it seemed better all-around for them to come this way. So they made plans to head out over the summer to celebrate Monki’s birthday with her.
At the same time, they had been here 5 years ago so doing Kaunas, or Lithuania, again probably wasn’t a good option. Thus we figured they could come out, spend the birthday with the girl (who was turning eight and wanted a cool party) and then we could all, as a family, go someplace for vacation. After all, this was likely to be our only bit of holiday, so we wanted to go someplace fun and exciting.
At first, we thought about going to Poland. Going through Warsaw and then to Gdańsk, but after looking at prices, that was a bit out of our range. Then we returned to Rasa’s idea of an all inclusive resort someplace. There are tons of these, in places ranging from Turkey and Egypt to Bulgaria and Greece. In the end, we found what we thought would be a good one on Crete and, after getting the go ahead from the folks, we booked it.
In the meantime, Monki was being a social butterfly. She had gone to the puppet theatre summer camp (she went last year as well) and made some new friends, one of whom was almost exactly the same age as her. Which meant her friend’s birthday party was the same night as Bubby and Pa arriving. She also had a birthday party for her best friend from school the following night, and her own party the day after that, which was the day before her actual birthday. All good.
Monki’s birthday party at Curiocity was a huge success, with 9 of her friends all playing and doing sand painting and having fun. The cake was good, but the best were the homemade donuts we got as part of the package (Rasa ordered from a friend who does this part time out of her kitchen – we’ll be ordering again for sure).
And on her actual birthday, we celebrated but we also had to pack since on the following day, Saturday July 13 (which also happened to be my birthday) we were leaving for Crete in the morning.
July 13
On Saturday, our flight was late enough that we didn’t have to get up super early and we had enough time to eat some breakfast before getting on the road. I think we delayed as long as we could because it was raining and we were hoping it might clear up.
Spoiler alert: It didn’t.
In fact, it got worse.
And we had to stop at Maxima (a local grocery store) to pick up some last minute things. Rasa and I ran in, leaving Monki in the car with Bubby (my mom) and Pa (dad). Rasa was going to get some medicine, just in case, and I was tasked with grabbing a razor and cream for Pa and sunscreen for Bubby. The razor and cream were fine, but the sunscreen wasn’t quite right. Bubby would have preferred a spray, rather than a cream. In the end, it didn’t matter, but I’m getting ahead of myself. With our supplies all in hand, we finally got on the road to Vilnius.
Many years ago, I was working on my second film in Hollywood, a low budget affair called Danger Zone 2: Reaper’s Revenge (for those of you who loved The Danger Zone and demanded a sequel). Anyway, we were filming a scene where the bad guy had been caught and was in the back of the squad car. Our DP, Daniel Yarussi , was in the backseat filming. Thing is, the scene was supposed to take place in the rain and since our production was low budget, we didn’t really have the funds for a rain machine. Instead, we had a guy with a hose. So at one point, they’re filming inside the car and the “rain” is hitting the window and you can hear Yarussi exclaim “it looks like a fucking car wash in here.”
I bring this up at this point in the narrative so when I tell you that, while driving to Vilnius, it looked like a fucking car wash, you’ll have some context for what I’m talking about.
There were points where Rasa couldn’t see to drive (and of course, other cars were passing us at speed, splashing us with literal buckets of water). It was a tense hour and some, especially since Bubby, me, and Monki were all jammed into the backseat of the car.
We finally made it to the airport, where Rasa had prebooked us for long term parking. The bigger issue, though, was they’re doing all sorts of construction at the front of the terminal so we couldn’t get the car close to the departure entrance to drop off people or bags. Therefore we all had to go and park and then walk from there. Of course, the parking structure Rasa booked is a tight squeeze at the best of times and here there was a lot of wet. Also, we hadn’t prebooked a specific spot, just anywhere we could find a place, so up and up we went, hoping we could find a place to leave the car before we got to the roof and had to walk out in the still happening torrential downpour.
Eventually, we found a place (number 666) on the 10th floor, just below the roof. And luckily, by the time we got the car unloaded and took the elevator down to the bottom, the rain had stopped so we were able to walk to the terminal in relative comfort.
In the terminal, we joined the queue for Heston Airlines (I guess this is some sort of regional charter company since it seemed like everyone on the flight was coming through our tour company), dropped our bags and headed through security to await our flight. And here’s where the irony comes in. Remember that bottle of not-right sun screen I bought? Bubby kept it in her carry-on rather than throwing it into her checked bag and guess what? More than 100ml so they wouldn’t allow it through security. Brand new bottle got tossed (evidently, this rule may soon be scrapped, but it was still in place in Vilnius as of July 13, 2024).
While we were waiting for our departure time, everyone but Pa went off to wander around. Rasa, Monki, and Bubby all got pastries, some for now, some for later, and soon enough, we boarded the bus to take us to the plane. For Monki, who hadn’t been on a plane in a couple of years, the bus to drive across the tarmac was pretty cool. For Bubby and Pa, who travel internationally with alarming regularity, they were not impressed.
Ah well. We got onto the plane, took our seats and prepared for take-off. Now, the last time we flew somewhere as a family was when we went to England two years ago. Back then, as we were hitting our descent back into Kaunas, Monki got a little bit airsick. She’s also gotten motion sick on the bus on school trips. Suffice to say, she’s not the most comfortable traveler and it freaks her out a bit. This time, in order to try and alleviate the problem, we had Bubby bring in some acupressure wrist bands, which Monki (and Rasa) were dutifully wearing.
They helped. There was no vomiting on the flight, even if the feeling was there. The only problem she had was a hard time with the pressure differential in her ears during take-off and landing. It caused a huge headache and left Rasa holding a cold bottle of water to Monki’s forehead at the beginning and end of the three-and-a-half-hour flight.
Landing in Heraklion, Crete, was a huge difference from leaving Vilnius. There was not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was +32c. We grabbed our bags and easily found the bus we needed to take us to our resort, which was a short 45-minute ride away. We did get to see the main street of Hersonissos, the town we would be staying in, as we dropped off other tourists.
Our resort, the Royal & Imperial Belvedere, is located halfway up a small mountain with great views of the ocean a five-minute walk away. We checked in and Monki got a special present of a music box. We also all got wristbands, like the kind you get at a concert. These were our markers that we were part of the “all-inclusive” package. This allowed us access to everything, including all the restaurants, pools, and bars (yes, beer, wine, and spirits were included in the price of admission). We grabbed our bags and headed for our room.
When we booked, we booked as a family of 5 (4 big folks and one little one) but we thought that would mean two adjoining rooms. When we opened the door to our “suite,” that turned out not to be the case. Instead, it was two rooms with four beds – three singles in the first room and a queen in the second. These were in a line, with the single bathroom closer to the front door and the patio door on the other side. This meant that if Rasa, Monki, or (realistically) I needed to use the toilet in the middle of the night, we’d have to walk through where Bubby and Pa were sleeping. Not exactly what we were expecting, but it was okay, we could deal with it. Even if the reading lights on the bed didn’t work and the latch on the door between the two sleeping areas didn’t actually click into place.
It was on the ground floor and had a patio with an amazing view of the ocean. We dropped our bags and went to find the buffet to grab a bite. After dinner, we were all a bit tired, so we ended up back in the room, with Monki and I hanging out on that patio as the sun went down, playing games and reading, and really trying to settle into vacation mode.
July 14
Sunday morning and Monki and I were up before everyone else. We started what would become a bit of a regular thing, going out to the balcony to read before everyone else woke up. When they did wake up, it was off to breakfast at the buffet. At some point, Bubby made friends with the chef and asked for lox. From that day on, she always had a few pieces of lox for breakfast, in addition to whatever else was on offer.
After breakfast, we did what we intended to do when we booked this type of holiday – headed out for the pool. For Monki, this is all she wanted to do. So, since Rasa doesn’t know how to swim, it was me and the kiddo in the water. There are four pools in the resort, and while we did end up swimming in all of them, our favorite was the 2-meter pool. It was the closest to us, on the same level as the restaurant and just one floor down from our room (yes, our room is on the first floor, and there is a floor above us, but everything else was lower down the hill – it was a little confusing). It also had a nice little sitting area, which often had bubbles, but it wasn’t heated or anything. Neither was the pool for that matter.
In fact, the night before, when we first got there and walked around to look at the pools, Monki had wanted to put her hand in to feel the water. At the end of the day, the water was nice and warm. Not so early in the morning. Also, while there were quite a few lounge chairs all around the perimeter of the pool, and while there was a posted “no saving chairs” policy, it seemed this was more a suggestion than a hard and fast rule. By the time we got down there, every single lounger had a towel on it, even though there were only a handful of people in the area. Rasa went and tried to find seats, someplace, for us while Monki and I got used to the cold water.
At some point, I noticed someone leaving a chair poolside, so I grabbed it, and also the one next to it when it was vacated, so when Rasa returned, we had seats. We kept them all day. What we didn’t have, though, were towels. Yes, we could have taken the bath towels from the room, but we didn’t want to. We could also rent some for the day. But in the end, we figured it would be best to just buy some cheap tourist ones. This would serve double duty as a practical souvenir. And there was a shop right there in the hotel offering a good price. We’d pick some up later that afternoon.
As the morning wore on, we finished our swim and headed up for an excursion meeting. Because we booked this trip through a Lithuanian broker, there was a distinct Lithuanian flavor to it. This meant the guide on our bus from the airport was Lithuanian and she was going to meet us at the hotel at 11am to tell us all about the excursions they had on offer.
So we went. Well…everyone but Bubby went. Instead of hanging with us for the excursion talk, Bubby was meeting with the hotel manager to talk about travel. Now that Bubby is a travel agent (Cruise Planners in Vegas), she’s always looking for places to recommend and book for her clients. An island in Greece is not necessarily a huge American draw, but you never know – so she was meeting with him while we were meeting with our Lithuanian tour guide/consultant.
The issue, as I’m sure you can see already, is that any tours she offered, would be in Lithuanian. Now for me, I can manage if I have to, but Bubby and Pa couldn’t. Also, there was a bit of high pressure, you have to book right this minute, salesmanship which turned me off. And later, when we looked into it, they were also slightly more expensive than booking elsewhere.
And there was plenty elsewhere to book. Hersonissos is absolutely a tourist town and every other shop was a souvenir stand, restaurant, vehicle rental, or excursion retailer. You couldn’t avoid it, even if you wanted to. Hell, even in the hotel there were several car rental desks, always staffed.
Our big takeaway from the excursion seminar was we wanted to see The Palace of Knossos and the Cave of Zeus. Not a problem. Remember, Bubby is now a travel agent, so later that night, we were able to book through her.
Since we were already out of the pool, we decided now would be a good time to get our towels…except the power was selectively out all through the building. Lights seemed to be working, but outlets weren’t. What this meant was that when we went to pay, there was no credit card machine. The guy who ran the shop told us “No problem. Take the towels. Come back and pay later.” Not a bad offer, but not one we wanted to take him up on. So Rasa went to the ATM just outside the front door of the hotel. You guessed it – no power to that one, either. She was going to have to go into town.
Thankfully, she ran into a hotel employee who wasn’t busy and offered to drive her to an ATM. She accepted and as they got close, he said “There’s the machine, you jump out and I’ll turn around.” So she did. He turned around, she jumped back in, and they were back before anyone knew they were gone.
She was now able to pay for our towels and we were all able to go for lunch.
With food in our tummies, we were back at the pool. We’d left something on our two chairs to mark them as occupied so at least we didn’t have to scramble to find a place to sit. Monki decided it was time to really learn to swim so the floaties were left off and she committed to keeping herself afloat. It was great! She was swimming and I was next to her to make sure it all went okay.
Bubby and Pa came down and joined us (the also found a couple of empty chairs) and we all just spent the afternoon playing in the water. At one point, Monki decided to mimic another father/daughter duo we had seen, and she climbed on my shoulders and jumped off. There was much laughter and splashing. There was also a bar nearby, so yes, I did take advantage of the included adult beverages to have myself a gin and tonic. It was nice and refreshing in that heat.
By the time we got out of the water, it was time to dry off and get ready for dinner. Back in the room, the power outage which had been happening turned out to be affecting us in the room as well. We couldn’t plug in to charge any of our electronic devices.
I went looking for a working outlet and eventually found one in the lobby. Sure, another family had the same idea, but since I was only charging Monki’s Minnie Games (her iPad) I was able to sneak a plug in.
After dinner we decided to forgo the evening entertainment (had we known what it was, we wouldn’t have missed it) and instead, Rasa, Monki and I went for a walk down to the beach. Bubby and Pa headed back to the room to rest a little bit.
The beach was beautiful. We found a nice rocky outcropping where the waves were crashing and spraying while the sun glowed red as it sank into the water. It really was magical. Monki took the opportunity to throw rocks into the waves and we just enjoyed the evening of our first full day of vacation.
July 15
Monday morning saw us going for our usual breakfast and then trying to decide what to do for the day. After much discussion, we decided to take a train tour of the area. Not a “real” train, mind you, but one of those mall trains the kids love to ride. This one was street legal and had larger, more comfortable cars, but the general idea was the same.
We walked down the hill to the main street to see what we could see. We had seen the pick up spot for the train so we knew where that was, but we didn’t know anything else. There was an excursion counter1 across the street so we went over there to ask. We could also ask about various other day trips we’d been thinking about. For instance, there was a 1 or 2 day trip to Santorini (you know, the famous blue and white houses you see in all the travel brochures) or various day cruises. There was also the one trip we were already looking at, so we were able to ask questions about what that might entail. And we were able to buy tickets for the train tour, which we did.
Turns out there were two different tours, one which just went around the basic city area and one which expanded on that and took you further into the surrounding countryside. We opted for the basic, bought our vouchers (not tickets, still had to trade them in on the train itself for the actual tickets) and headed across the street to wait for our pick-up.
When the train finally showed up, it seemed that while there were a number of stops, there were two specific ones designated as hop-on/hop-off: The port and the old town. Cool. Sounds like fun.
Away we went. The audio narration was in English, I think, but it was so low, or the speakers were so bad, I couldn’t really hear anything. But that was okay. We were there for the scenery, right?
By the time we got to the port, about three or four stops in, Rasa and I had decided we were going to get off the train and have a look around, while Bubby and Pa were going to just stay on the train and take in the sights. There were unexpected complications, however, but we’ll get to them in a minute.
Anyway, the three of us get off and wave goodbye to Bubby and Pa as they head off to wherever the train was going next, then we wander about. The port/harbor was not very large and seemed to be used primarily as a launch point for the various boat tours the city offered. Sure enough, there was the glass-bottomed boat we’d been considering, and the pirate boat we’d read about. We even saw the speed boats which did donuts in the middle of the ocean. We grabbed flyers for each and got the various sales pitches and quickly realized we weren’t going to be taking advantage of any of them. Not with two girls who had the propensity to get motion sick. We sat there on the shore, watching the gentle waves, in this protected inlet, rock the boats up and down and I could tell Rasa was getting a bit queasy just looking at them so we had a brief conference and then and there made the decision there would be no boats this trip.
With that decided, we took advantage of the beautiful scenery and walked around, looking at the water and the little lighthouse at the end of the breakwater. And that was about it for the harbor. As I said, there wasn’t much to it so we saw what we wanted to see pretty quickly. I thought about doing some souvenir shopping but figured I could that later. Then we waited for the next train to come.
As we were waiting, guess who we spot walking down to the train stop? If you guessed Bubby and Pa, give yourself a No-Prize! It seems that there was a bit of gastro-intestinal distress and a bathroom was needed without delay. They got off the train, took care of what ailed them, and then were going to get on the next train which swung by.
Now, remember I mentioned the unexpected complications? This is where they come in. When we bought the tickets/vouchers, we bought them as one unit, with one receipt. We didn’t get individual tickets. Seems that’s just not a thing. I guess the organizers of these tours expect the entire party to stay together, either on the train or off it. What they weren’t prepared for, and what we hadn’t thought about, was half the group getting off, and taking the tickets with them. Yeah…we (Rasa and I and Monki) had the tickets so while Bubby and Pa could easily get off the train, getting back onwould be a problem. Turns out, we could have taken a picture of the receipt and used that in lieu of the physical ticket, but we didn’t know that. Suffice to say, good thing they came back and met up with us again. This way, when the train finally showed up, we were all able to climb aboard and resume our journey.
It was as if they had never left. And we were able to continue our trip together.
The rest of the ride showed some amazing beaches and fancy resorts (there was one resort where the rooms had individual pools – Monki would have loved to stay there!). We also saw what looked like a water park but could just as easily have been the pool of another resort. At one point, another trained met us and we all had to jump ship to consolidate with them, but aside from that, it was smooth sailing.
We decided not to get off at the “old town” stop, which turned out to be a good decision since the old town was really just three restaurants and an old church. But the stop for it was before you saw that, so it was a gamble and as far as I’m concerned, we won.
Making a full circle, we ended up back where we started, at the bottom of the hill below our own resort (which did have nice, if not individualized, pools). Pa and Bubby decided they just weren’t up for the walk so they grabbed one of the ever-present cabs at the base to take them to the hotel2, while we walked.
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Walking took us past the “Dolphin Pool,” so named because it had a mosaic of dolphins along one wall. Monki decided she wanted to go swimming there after lunch. Of course, by the time we got back, our buffet lunch was closed so instead, we grabbed gyro from one of the other food stands, ate quickly, then headed for water.
After dinner, we decided the time was right to check out the entertainment. How fun it was! It started at 8:30 with a “Mi-nii Diiisco” (and I wish I could type it as well as Gaia, the young woman who hosted the event, said it). The Mini Disco was exactly what it sounds like. The group of young, attractive (mostly Italian) hosts – these are the folks who lead the daily exercises, sports competitions, teen clubs, whatever – would invite any kids in the audience to come up on stage and dance. It was all family friendly fare, and the choreographed dance moves were fairly easy to learn, but the kids just loved it. Monki didn’t get up on stage that first night, but she had a good time watching from her seat.
After the disco, there was a small break and then the same group of kids performed a show. This first night it was Mamma Mia! The one we’d missed the night before was Lion King. Now, this isn’t a broadway show. It’s not even a complete show. No…instead it’s these kids lip-synching to just the songs with some very basic choreography. The reason for this, I found out a few days later, is that almost none of these kids have any background in performing at all. Gaia, the leader and choreographer, is a trained dancer, but the rest are riding on nothing but adrenaline and enthusiasm.
And it’s great! These kids worked their asses off. It was just so much fun to see them take these on. And when you add in that the start working at 9:30 in the morning, that’s a long day to be that consistently up with that much energy and positivity. Truly a great way to end the day.
- Literally, a counter on the side of the road, set-up to sell various excursions. ↩︎
- turns out, they could have just asked for a ride from the guardhouse, but we didn’t learn that until a few days later ↩︎
Getting the Hang of Thursdays 
Looks like fun so far