July 2 – Day 5
One of the other places we wanted to visit was Balos Beach. This is the location of the pale green, almost crystal waters you’ve seen in all the adverts. It was also someplace Rasa’s friend had been to last year when she visited Crete. The only problem seemed to be it was down another long slope from a high mountain parking area. Since we’d just done this, we wondered if maybe there was another way.
Continue reading “Seasick Mermaids – Crete 2025 – Part 3”June 30 – Day Three
We were to meet the car rental representative in the hotel lobby at 9:00 a.m., so we arrived bright and early at 8:55. He showed up promptly, and there was no problem signing all the paperwork. Honestly, one of the easiest car rentals I’ve ever done. The only issue came when we had to pay for it, and he couldn’t take cards. Of course, they never told us this. If they had, we could have gotten the money while we were out the day before (or even brought it with us). Instead, I took the car into town, following our rep to an ATM. I got the cash, paid for the car and headed back to the resort. The fun here was that I don’t usually drive. Rasa is the driver in our family. It had probably been a couple of years since I’d been behind a wheel, so driving a manual transmission up the narrow, windy 2km back to our place was a little nerve-wracking (not as nerve-wracking as driving in the UK a few years ago, but still…). I made it back safely and met the girls in the restaurant for breakfast.
Continue reading “Caves and Hearts – Crete 2025 – Part 2”June 28 – Day 1
There were a number of options for our annual summer break this year. So many, in fact, that it took us a while to finally settle on going back to Crete for a second year in a row. Remember, we also went last year, with my folks, right after Monki’s birthday. This year, we’d booked another all-inclusive for the week before her birthday, at a different resort in a different part of the island (Crete is the 88th largest island in the world). We also decided to rent a car this time, to get out and explore a bit more.
Continue reading “Back Again – Crete 2025 – Part 1”Tuesday January 14
Today was the day I’d been waiting for! Today was Pompeii. Weirdly, today was also a late day. We wouldn’t be docking until around 13:00 (1pm) so when I went down for breakfast it turned out, they were actually serving brunch. Wild. Although it wasn’t really since the more traditionally afternoon tidbits weren’t actually going to be served until after 11:00. Anyway, before eating, I made a stop at the excursions desk. See, the way I figured it, after Genoa, I decided I’d rather have a guided tour than strike off on my own. In a city where I was staying and not under a time deadline, it would be fine, but knowing I had to get back to the boat by a certain time, just filled me with a particular panic. Thus it seemed best to get it sorted. I booked myself on a city tour for Palermo, which included seeing the opera house. But more on that in the next day’s entry, when it actually took place.
Continue reading “Cruising the Med – January 2025 – Part Two”Pre-Trip
My January trips are something I look forward to every year. The past few years I’ve headed off to London to see theatre and hang out with friends, which is amazing. Then last year, at the very last moment, I had to cancel my trip because the girls had Covid and while I felt fine and was testing negative, I couldn’t in good conscience leave them.* So no trip for me in 2024.
Then, with January of 2025 rapidly approaching, I knew I should start planning my trip. At first I thought about returning to London, but some things there had changed and while there were still shows and friends to see, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. So I kept hemming and hawing and dragging my feet about the whole thing.
Continue reading “Cruising the Med – January 2025 – Part One”July 18
Thursday was the day we had booked for our big excursion. But when we woke up, Monki was still feeling the effects of her exciting night, so she decided she wasn’t up for a long bus ride and Rasa was going to stay with her. Fair enough.
We all went to breakfast together and got our pre-packed box lunch from the resort to take with us (yup, all-inclusive means if you let them know you’re going to be away for lunch, they’ll send you along with a pre-packed meal). Then we said good-bye, asked for a ride down to the bottom of the hill and away we went.
Continue reading “Crete Trip July 2024 – Part 3”July 16
We had such a good time the night before that most of us slept late on Tuesday morning. I say most, but not me. I was up early as always so I went out and read on the patio. By the time we all finally made it down for breakfast, they were closing the place up. We were the last ones there and there wasn’t much food left.
Continue reading “Crete Trip July 2024 – Part 2”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.
Continue reading “Crete Trip July 2024 – Part 1”Wednesday – July 19
We slept late (well, later than we usually slept) and made our way down to the included breakfast buffet, which was only available from 9-11am. It was typical fare, except they had bacon, which Monki has recently discovered, so she was rather excited to pile it high on her plate. They also had smoked bacon, which I was sure was raw, but Rasa insisted it wasn’t. It still took me two days to try it.
Continue reading “Šventoji – Summer 2023 – Part 2”
We needed a vacation, this much was certain. So far, we’d been having a summer of uncertainties. We had been looking for a place to buy, but prices were soaring, way above what they should have been, so we were stuck in a holding pattern there. Rasa was working on finishing the details for her defense of her dissertation and Monki had graduated from first grade, but now we were looking at different summer camps and things for her to keep her occupied for the summer.
Continue reading “Šventoji – Summer 2023 – Part 1”
We’ve been having a bit of a time here at Chez Greenspon. We’re all fine, or at least we will be, but there are a number of factors inducing stress for all of us. Nothing beyond the normal stress of living, but things which could be easily dealt with singly tend to get exponentially harder when compounded.
January 24 – New and Old things, New and Old Friends…
We got up late on Tuesday morning, but that was okay, we were already sorted for theatre for the evening – but more on that in a minute. Needing sustenance, Lin suggested a place called “Today Bread” for our morning’s brunch (yes, we’d gotten up that late!). To be fair, this wasn’t generally my kind of place. This is the kind of place where everything is produced on the premises and it felt a bit “hipsterish” for me upon entering, but hey, I’ll give anything a shot (remember my “capacity to enjoy absolutely everything”).
January 21 – Once more unto the Breach
Weirdly, in past times, this is where my trip would start. I would arrive in London for a week of theatre and museums and being able to understand what I overhear on public transport and in coffee shops. This time, I had two weeks of travel behind me so I felt like I was at a slight disadvantage energy-wise.
Lin, however, was not to be deterred!
January 16 – Magic!
To be perfectly honest, today was one of the big highlights of the trip, something I had been looking forward to with much anticipation. Today was the day Troy was coming to get me and we were going to Disneyland!
We’d discussed this over the past few months, me explaining I really wanted to see Star Wars and Avengers stuff and anything else would be a bonus. He agreed. We decided on getting a 1-day, park hopper pass (the two things were in different parks) and then we figured that the 17th of January, the day after the MLK holiday, would be ideal (and also, the least expensive) day to go.
Of course, once we knew the dates, I contacted a few friends to see if there was anything else we could do. For example, Troy had never been to the Magic Castle, so I called my friend Michael, who’s a member, and asked if he was free to join us. He was. So we made plans.
And now the day was finally here!
Continue reading “January 2023 Part Three (Jan 16-Jan 18)”
January 10 – It all disappears… like Vegas in the rain…
Tuesday morning I woke up early and started making myself breakfast before I ventured outside. Good thing, too, since the alarm was on and even though the folks had left me a note with the code on it, I didn’t see it (and even if I had, I had no idea how to use the alarm system. So, thankfully, mom got up, helped me find the various things I needed to finish making my eggs and coffee and then showed me how to turn off the alarm so I could venture out back to get started with what was my main purpose for this trip.
Getting the Hang of Thursdays 