Final Post

I have written 2 parts to this post. The first is a summary of the things I’ve seen and done and the second is a write up of the last 3 weeks before my return home.

If you don’t get to the end I want to thank you now for sharing my journey with me, for the comments and all the laughs. Remember, get out and enjoy life! It can pass you by in an instance...
It started as something to give quick updates to everybody about what I was up to but turned into a detailed account of events for me to keep for the rest of my life.
(as usual don’t forget to see the funny videos and photos at the bottom)

Summary

Countries visited:
Greece
England
Scotland
Ireland
France
Netherlands
Germany
Switzerland
Austria
Liechtenstein
Monaco
Spain
Italy
Belgium


Airports:
Eleftherios Venizelos Athens
London Heathrow
London Stanstead
London Gatwick
London City Airport
Charles de Gaul Paris
Dublin
Edinburgh
Milan
Rome
Amsterdam
Australia
Adelaide
Melbourne
Sydney
Perth


Airlines:
Aegean
Qantas
Air France
Athens Airways
Aer Lingus (Irish)
easyJet
Alitalia
Air One


Football Teams seen play:
Arsenal
Olympiakos
Chelsea
Manchester United
Manchester City
Stoke
Middlesbrough
Villarreal
AZ Alkmaar
Hull City
Blackburn
Greece
Some shit team from Crete


Famous Football players watched:
Cesc Fabregas
Robin van Persie
Andrey Arshavin
The rest of the Arsenal team
Christiano Ronaldo
Didier Drogba
John Terry
Frank Lampard
Michael Ballack
Ryan Giggs
Wayne Rooney
Robinho
Robert Pires
Giorgos Karagounis
Kostas Mitroglou
Thierry Henry (at Emirates saluting the crowd on the pitch at Blackburn match)

Football Stadiums watched football in:
Emirates Stadium
Karaiskaki (Olympiakos’ home ground)
Olympic Stadium (Athens)
Old Trafford

Other Football Stadiums seen:
Stamford Bridge
San Siro
Craven Cottage
White Shite Lane (no big deal and hardly worth mentioning – Tottenham’s home ground)


Families visited in Greece:
Approx 22 sets of families. Approx 160 people


Approximate Total Time Spent abroad:
UK (England, Scotland and Ireland) – 18 weeks
Greece – 13 weeks
France – 2 weeks
Italy – 1 week
Netherlands – 1 week
Others – 2 weeks
(rounded)

Total 36 weeks/ 8.5months

Total cash spent:
The deposit for my first investment property lol


Final thoughts:
Amazing. Spiritually Cleansing. Life Experience. Personal Growth. Fkn Wild.

Before I embarked on this incredible adventure I didn’t really know what to expect. I was going through personal turmoil with the loss of my closest friend, a brother – my little cousin Dimi. My philosophy on life had a dramatic change and I took the attitude that life is too short so fuck it, enjoy it while you can. The trip had been on my mind a few months before he passed away but I had no plans. I took the cash I had saved for a deposit on an investment property and off I went. I admit now that I had my eyes a little bit closed before I took off but I took everything in my stride and let life take course.

Amazing
I’ve made some fantastic, lifelong friends. Reinforced and strengthened existing friendships. Really connected with a lot of family in Greece (saying goodbye at the airport was fkn heart wrenching) and truly connected with the country that my grandparents left in search for a better life 50 years ago.

I’ve seen some truly remarkable sights and done things that some people only dream of (not trying to be hubris but merely stating a fact here). I’ve lived in both sets of grandparents’ village (cutting trees down, fishing, celebrating Easter, picking grapes and making wine etc); watched 9 Arsenal games; lived in a hostel before finding a house to live in London; drove past the Parthenon almost every day in Athens; cruised the Greek Islands; climbed the Eifel Tower; drank Guinness in Ireland; drank Heineken in the Heineken museum; drank beer in the Hoffbrauhaus; cable carted through the Swiss Alps; and many more things.


Life Experience
When I caught up with my sister in Paris I was telling her about the adventures I had in Burgundy (France) just prior to meeting up with her and she was amazed. She remarked that before this I hated going shopping by myself yet here I was travelling the French countryside not knowing the language, eating at restaurants, flying and taking trains around, driving with a right hand drive vehicle, staying in a French Chateau all by myself.

I moved to a new country, rented a room (albeit a rather flawed yet hysterical episode), got a job, made a lot of friends all by myself. Things I can draw back on for the rest of my life.

Personal Growth
I was fairly confident in life previously but after everything I did I can take on the world without any fear. It’s hard to explain but I felt like such a different person when I got back. Ready to take on the world.

Spiritually Cleansing
Having your heart ripped out of you, stripping you down to your bare soul is a testing experience so after doing what I did I felt I’m better for it. My faith in my religion grew and let me tackle my adventure with a heart, although in pain, full of love. This trip has refreshed me.

Fkn Wild
Everything I did was fkn wild lol



Farewell tour of Greece
When I got back to my beloved Ellada I went back to Thio Yianni’s house where had left luggage. He had organised to take me to the Greece vs Luxemburg World Cup qualifying match the next night (Wednesday 14/10). That was pretty cool and good to see how crazy Greeks are when supporting their football team. Greece won so we left happy. The next day (Thursday) I headed off for my tour. I left Athens and went to Kiato. The first stop there took me back to my crazy little cousin (from previous post who dances and pays me out). The next day I went to Korintho and stayed there for the weekend. My cousins Ilia and Sotiria along with other cousins I had just met and friends, took me to a traditional tavern for dinner. They have a live band and once we finished eating a few of the crew started dancing in between the tables. We went to a club after that which was shit. Ilia wanted to take me to a place where they place Greek music (all the modern stuff) and unfortunately it was akin to a Greek night in Adelaide. On the Monday I left for the village. Said my goodbyes to all there and Tuesday I left for Sparta. It was good to see my cousin Panayioti again (the one who had the bike accident in June) and it was good to see that he was steadily improving. I went to the rehab centre with him and his mum and it was sad to see so many young people in there. For all of Greece’s beauty their mindset on the road is disgusting. Wednesday took me from Sparta in the afternoon to Salamina at night – after 5 hours, 2 buses, a taxi, a ferry boat and a pick up from the port! On Friday morning (Friday night in Adelaide) I had organised for my family and grandparents to be on Skype. I took my grandfather’s sister to the computer and it was the first time in years that they saw each other – such a fantastic moment.

On Friday night I went and saw my aunty Dimitra and uncle Niko of the same age (lol I pay them all out being my uncle and aunty and only being 3 months and 2 years older than me respectively). We went out for a drink then dropped off Dimitra home. Niko and I met up with some of his mates and got pissed – the bar tender is their mate as well so was pouring quadruple shots. I had 5 beers and paid for 1, wild! At about 4am they wanted to eat so we went to some place they always go to and ordered soup. This is no ordinary soup, it’s a fkn intestine soup! Cut up intestine in very small pieces in a broth. When it comes to food I’m quite adventurous so I started eating. Half way through I couldn’t stand it anymore and that was it, no more patsa! On Saturday I went back to Thio Yianni’s house and that night we went and saw Olympiakos play. There were drums, flares, singing and people on flames. They are psychos but such a great atmosphere. My favourite Olympiakos player (Kostas Mitroglou) scored right in front of me which was a bonus.

Monday 26/10 marked a significant day on the religious calendar as it was the saint day for Aghios Dimitrios – my name day! In the morning I went to church to get communion, went out for a coffee after and then watched Thio Yianni and Thia Eleni prepare the massive feast for dinner. Thia’s dad is Dimitri as well so heaps of people came over and we do as Greeks do, stuffed our faces! This was only the beginning! The next night we went to Thio Yianni’s brother, Thio Dimitri’s house for another feast so he could celebrate his nameday at his house. For the next 5 days I had a big lunch and a big dinner with different families around Athens and without exaggeration I put on 4-5 kilos – to the point where a button on my jeans flew off when I bent over to tie up my shoe and almost made a hole in the floor! I have now put on 10 kilos since I left Australia and no shit 4-5 kilos were just in that week. Imagine having Christmas lunch and dinner every day for a week, including heaps of beer and bread! I now look pregnant, and let me tell you I gave birth to a few babies in that time ;-) hahaha.

After all that food and those goodbyes the day I was dreading was just a few hours away. My last night in Greece we had a BBQ – I was staying at Thio Yianni’s. We were all mucking around and had a fantastic night. I was in one of my psycho moods which made for good video (see below). My last day there I was feeling quite anxious. We had lunch at Thio Dimitri’s house but I really didn’t feel like eating. But I did anyway :-)... Thios Yianni, Thia Eleni and my cousin Panayioti took me to the airport. It was really tough saying goodbye, we were all in tears. The customs pricks were laughing at my ultra red eyes until I started speaking Greek and they knew I could understand them lol. I also cried while waiting, when I got on the plane, when the plane took off and when we were no longer above Greece :-(. Oh how I love Greece!

The 2 days in London were very hectic, packing and making sure I had everything either in my suitcase or in the 20 tonne box I sent back to Aus. I also saw my last Arsenal match for a long while, so thankfully we won 4-0 against AZ Alkmaar. Final goodbyes to most of the people I had met were done (didn’t have time for everyone unfortunately) and off I went.


Thanks to my generous father, Mr JFN (Johnny Fkn Ninos – don’t tell him I’ve published this either lol) I was on my way back in class. Business Class :-) – again hahaha. On the flight from London to Hong Kong on the worst airline in the world (British Airways) I was sleeping and we went through turbulence so the flight attendants went through and woke everybody up to put their seatbelts on. When I woke up I started speaking Greek to her hahaha. She was staring at me so confused, then it clicked that I was speaking Greek lol. Looking back that’s another example of how much Greece influenced me, I absolutely, categorically love that country!!!

Hong Kong was great. I really loved the food there. One night while in the Temple Street Night Markets I sat and ate a street food restaurant and it was magnificent! I also ate lunch at a restaurant which was mentioned in the Michelin guide which was also great, but the street food was probably a bit better. The guys at the hotel were telling me not to eat at street stalls again because of bad hygiene lol. Whateverrrr. I also did a night cruise to see the light show. Was OK but no big deal. All in all was a nice and relaxing way to finish off what has to be one the biggest highlights in my life.

My last stop was a night in Sydney to catch up with some mates from the Contiki tour. My parents were at the airport waiting for me and when I eventually got out of the plane, I threw my backpack to the ground and had a nice hug with them :-)... They were staying 20 metres from the Harbour Bridge, right on the water so we had a few Oysters and beers to celebrate. Later on I caught up with Adam, Laura, Tania, Sara and a short appearance from Rhys. We were at a German bar near the harbour and Adam and I decided to have a 1 litre stein to reminisce our days in Germany. The fkn thing cost $40 each! Dogs. Was great night though. That day felt so weird though, I had to get used to Australian money, accent, people and being on the left side of the road.

The 10th of November marked my arrival in Adelaide. All my family were there to welcome me and it was great to see them again. Let reality begin...

Once again, thank you!

Videos

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