Hiking Skaros Rock

Here’s a silly little video I made of us hiking Skaros Rock.

This hike wasn’t too difficult really.  The path was paved 95% of the way, and most of the video is just us walking.  I tried to add some comedy and interesting visuals though.  We could see the rock from outside our room and you can probably see it in many of our pictures that we’ve posted.  

Still, it was a fun little hike.  Give the video a thumbs up if you like it.  I’ll work on posting more videos as we travel.

Thanks for viewing/reading.

Osprey Farpoint 55 Review

Some of you might have read about my wife and I’s journey through Greece and saw her mention that she was thankful that we had our backpacks.  I wanted to take a moment here to give my review of my Osprey Packs Farpoint 55.  

To start with, these bags are amazing.  I had never even heard of Osprey until I started to research travel bags.  These bags have amazing reviews all over the internet, and nothing that I say here will add to how amazing the bag is.  With that out of the way, I can’t imagine taking that trip without one of these bags.  I like it so much that I want to share the love.

So… what makes this bag so great?  In as few a words as I can manage:  Everything.

All Packed Up

The bag is actually two bags in one.  The first main bag where most of your clothes will go is large enough to fit clothes of over a week.  We were lucky enough to I would recommend getting some packing cubes to help with everything.  I didn’t have any packing cubes, but a friend did allow me to borrow his packing system that helps you to fold and keep things covered.  It helped, but I think I would have preferred having packing cubes to help.  

The bottom of the bag is rigid, so I never felt like the bottle of wine we were gifted was going to break from being bounced around.  The bag also has straps on the inside to help tie things down or keep them tight.  I’m not sure what I was expecting when I ordered my bag, but when I got it, I was surprised at how much the bag was just like any other suitcase with this part.  

It took me exactly one time packing my bag to learn some lessons though, which I want to share here.  This part of the bag was so much like a suitcase that I didn’t think much about how to pack my bag.  I put my clothes in first since that was the most important part I thought.  Then I put my shoes in where I could fit them, and then everything else.  Everything fit fine.  It wasn’t until I put the bag on my back that I realized that the weight was off.  I felt like I would topple over.  Every time I packed my bag after that, I put my shoes at the bottom of the bag.  Keep your heavy stuff at the bottom of the bag and you’ll be fine.  If the heavier stuff is at the middle or top, you could struggle to keep your balance. 

Straps Out

One of the other things I love about the bag is that it doesn’t always have to be a backpack.  The side of the bag with the shoulder straps has a flap that can be rolled out and zipped up to hide all the straps.  You can then carry it like a normal duffle bag.

Straps hidden away

The straps themselves are comfortable for the most part, baring a poorly packed bag.  The bag offers enough support and customization that all you have to do is get it set just right.  There are two shoulder straps with a clasp between them to pull the straps towards the middle.  This keeps the weight of the bag off your outer shoulders which could cause you some fatigue or pain.  There are also hip straps that help balance and center the weight as well.  All the straps have easy clasps and are thickly padded.  The back is made of mesh to help ventilation, but I’m not sure that there was enough ventilation to survive the hot Athen’s air in summer.

On the front of the bag are loops and handles in different spots so that you are rarely in a difficult way to carry it.

But my favorite feature was the detachable day bag on the front.  The Osprey Farpoint is actually 2 bags in one.  There is a smaller bag that can hold a laptop, tablet, and whatever else you want in your bag.  I was able to fit a book, over-ear headphones, a European power converter, cables, my GoPro Session with handle, two battery chargers, and souvenirs on the way home.  The only thing I might change about the bag is to add a pen holder.  I’d imagine that most of the people that get these bags do a fair amount of travel, and I’d imagine that there is plenty of immigration paperwork that they might have to do.  As the bag is now, there isn’t a pen or pencil spot.  You’d have to go digging through the contents of your bag to find one.

While the day bag isn’t meant to hold everything, it can hold plenty for your day.  Once you get to your room, you can detach and take the smaller bag with you out on your adventures.  It zips onto the front main bag and has clips to hold the zipper in place.  If you are traveling with both bags, you can use the clasps of the bigger bag and thread them through the loops of the smaller one to give you some peace of mind that no one will just come along behind you and unzip your bag and take it.

If you need to have access to the smaller bag, and you have your bigger bag with you, there are clips on each so you can wear it in a way that I have dubbed turtle style. 

Turtle Style

The smaller bag will hang in front of you on your stomach, while the bigger bag is on your back.  This style was a little bit tougher to achieve since you’re having to fiddle with straps that are already on your shoulders.  I’d suggest attaching one side and putting the bags on before you attempt to do both.

These bags have lifetime warranties as well.  If something happens to your bag, they will fix it or replace it.  I have a feeling that nothing is going to happen to his bag for a while (I hope I didn’t just jinx myself), but it’s nice to have the peace of mind that this will get fixed. 

The bag can be pretty pricey, but so far I think it has paid for itself.  I watched more than a few times as people tried to drag their rolling suitcase through the streets of Greece or Athens and struggled.  My wife and I were able to pretty smoothly just coast on through the streets since our bags were on our backs.

If you are about to take a trip where you will be on the move frequently,  you should seriously consider getting one of these bags.

If you are interested in ordering one, please consider using the links on this page to help fund our blog and travel needs

Purchase from amazon here

Jarrva Got Married

We got married! We are taking our dream honeymoon in Greece and I really want to document everything so I can remember it forever and I also wanna share it with you guys. So here it goes….

Honeymoon in Greece

June 5, Tuesday- Travel day. Our first flight out of Houston was at 3:50pm. We woke up early so we could pack since the days leading up to the trip, were packed with last minute family time. As we walked downstairs to meet our Uber, my Peruvian family started singing the wedding song whilst throwing flower petals. It was an emotional goodbye. Especially saying goodbye to my cousin Marisol. She’ll be leaving back to Spain in a few days so we won’t see her when we get back. As the tears ran, we got into our Uber and I cried almost the whole way to the airport. Even Jarrett got emotional. He’s become a softy since we got married lol. Even though it’s been a wild and hectic past few weeks, we’re really gonna miss having 8 people in the house.

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time hoping to upgrade our seats. But apparently it wasn’t allowed with our particular tickets. I dunno, but Jarrett managed to switch our seats to a front row so we got LOTS of leg room. It was clutch for a 10 hour plane ride. We sat next to a young attractive couple which we immediately bonded with and had lots in common with we soon found out. Their names were Chris and Lyla. They were married and have 2 small children that they left at home and were on their way to Naples for Lyla’s sisters wedding. They currently live in Oklahoma. Chris, a high school swim coach, was from the Lake Jackson area. They met at St. Mary’s University. They loved floating the Comal, but never had heard of the Gristmill. So we quickly gave them a lesson and recommendation. Lyla was in the medical profession as well. We soon exchanged Instagram handles and now we follow each other and will hopefully keep in touch. They went to Costa Rica on their honeymoon and said they’re treating this like their second honeymoon. We even had matching backpacks.

Chris and Lyla were determined to adjust to the upcoming time change and went straight to sleep. Jarrett and I watched Game Night and ate some dinner and we had some South African white wine and whisky and coke . He had the chicken teriyaki and I had the pasta. Lufthansa air bus was the smoothest airplane ride I’d ever been on. I hardly noticed we landed. It had a 2nd level (first class). I was very pleased with the friendly staff but the boarding was a little chaotic.

The 10 hours flew by, no pun intended. We both took a nap after our movie and then watched Black Panther. We took another nap and woke up to breakfast. They announced the eggs were without refrigeration for 2 hours so they did not serve it to be safe, so we ate a very light breakfast of fruit and bread.

We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany. The airport was quite large and a little disorganized. As soon as we started walking through terminal C, we saw countless rows of cots. We had a 5 hour layover here so we were excited we could get some sleep on something other than a chair. Well, as we took our train trying to get to terminal A, where our connection was, we saw our dreams of sleeping on those cots were fading. Terminal A was just filled with shops, restaurants and chairs. After walking up and down the terminal we decided to lie down on a row of empty chairs and take a nap, setting an alarm of course. Didn’t want what happened to me in South Korea again.

We slept a couple hours and with about 1.5 hours until our boarding time, we struggled to wake up and forced ourselves to start moving again. It was rough. It was about noon. We went to grab some lunch. We both ate a salami baguette and some water. It was ok. Jarrett forgot to put his glasses and contact solution in his smaller backpack, so it was in the checked backpack. His eyes were struggling a little bit so we searched a few shops and no one had any. I bought a large Capri sun that said it had some vitamins and waited to board our next flight to Athens. It was a smaller plane this time but only a 2 hour and 40 minute flight. I slept the entire time, no question. I slightly woke up to the lunch, but didn’t have it in me to stay awake. I later found out that I didn’t miss out on anything. Jarrett said it was some kind of weird chicken. I’m glad I didn’t sacrifice sleep for it. Jarrett slept some.

We made it to Athens! We didn’t have a shuttle set up so we either had to get a taxi or take a bus. We went to the bus ticket station and asked which bus takes us to Hotel Amalia. Our itinerary said something about a possible hotel shuttle, but it was too difficult to figure out so the guy told us to take bus X95. Jarrett misheard something he told us, and said “que?” Lol. He was still in Peruvian Invasion mode. Bus tickets were €6 each. So we got on the bus and hoped for the best. We contemplated getting off and just taking a taxi. So we said, safe? Or adventure? We agreed on adventure. Luckily Jarrett’s phone has service everywhere we travel for no additional charge, so we looked up the hotel on google maps and made sure we were going to the right place. We met 2 girls on the bus from Atlanta that had just arrived from Dubai. I heard them speaking English and said hello! They said Dubai was amazing and it was like all the greatest cities combined into one. We’ll remember that next time we wanna plan a big trip.

Athens looks a lot like all the places we’ve been. The busy streets, buildings, and restaurants reminded me of streets in Lima and Jarrett said it reminded him of Mexico. I think The States is the only one that looks like The States. I saw an ultrasound machine store, tried taking a picture but a big pole blocked a big portion of it.

About an hour later, we made it to our stop. We hit the 24 hour mark of traveling. We only had to walk about a block and a half to our hotel. It was a little bit of a uphill walk and I admit, it was a bit of a struggle. The hotel was right in the middle of everything so there was plenty of things walking distance. Hotel Amalia was a tall white building, 4 star, and our room number was 111. Nothing spectacular with our room window but we were only going to be here one night. It was about 6:30pm when we arrived so we wanted to get into our room, shower, and get some food. That shower felt so good. I was starting to blend in so this was highly necessary. Deodorant is not very popular in Europe. Lol.

We asked the front desk if she had any recommendation and she told us to go somewhere a few blocks away. But it seemed too far and we didn’t wanna waste any time So we ended up going to a little place right next door. It was perfect. Cheap. And delicious. I had a chicken gyro, jarrett got a pork gyro and for the first time, mine was a better choice lol. We also ordered hummus and pita bread. It was SO GOOD!

I’m so glad everyone speaks English. So far everyone has been really friendly. We walked across the street to a park called Syntagma Square. Lots of people walking around. Some fountains with pretty lights. A girl sitting on a bench sees us walk by and says, “Welcome to Greece”. I said thanks! I guess we stand out.

We decided to take a lap around the park and saw a crowd in front of a building which we found out was the Hellenic Parliament. They were doing a changing of the guards. So we stopped and watched for a few minutes. The 2 guards were wearing tights and some type of skirt jacket thing and their shoes had like a big black Pom Pom on the toes. They did a high kicking routine and touched toes. It reminded me of Serena and her kicking and bendiness. Lol.

We walked around the edge of the National Garden where the Temple of Olympian Zeus is but the gates were closed by this time. We’re coming back to Athens after Mykonos and Santorini so we’ll have time to see the big attractions then.

So we decided to explore a little and saw a charming outdoor wine bar called By The Glass in front of a stunning church. We sat down and had our first glass of Greek Pinot Noir. It was just what we needed to wine down (pun intended this time… I love puns) and soak it all in.

It was about 10:30pm and we decided it was time to go to bed. We had an early start planned the next day. We got to the room and saw there was an envelope on the bed with my name on it. It was our ferry tickets for our trips to Mykonos and Santorini. I’m so glad we had our travel agent friend Rachel plan this trip for us. Definitely helps make things go a little smoother. We set an alarm for 5am and quickly fell asleep.

June 7, Thursday- We slept through the night only waking up once to use the bathroom. Woke up to the alarm and quickly got on the move to get our stuff back into our backpacks and headed to the lobby. I’m so glad we packed only a backpack. I saw people struggling pulling around rolling luggage. Thanks Steven for the recommendation and for letting me borrow yours! Jarrett bought one just like it. His is dark grey and mine is blue. It has a detachable smaller backpack which is super clever. Breakfast at the hotel started at 6:30am so we would just have to eat on the ferry. We needed to be at the ferry about an hour before and it took about 18 minutes to get to the port in taxi from the hotel. The front desk helped us get a taxi and about 10 minutes into our drive, I started to think and make sure we didn’t forget anything and then I remembered and asked Jarrett if he got our things from the safe… he said nope and I tapped our taxi driver, Nikos, on the shoulder and said, “We need to go back to the hotel!”. He asked if we had time, and I told him we forgot our passports and he. Hauled. Ass. Luckily traffic hadn’t started and he even ran a red light. He earned is €6 tip. We made it to the ferry with an hour to spare. We read that we should arrive an hour prior to departure, so we did pretty well even though we had to turn around! There was long line already formed and as soon we we got in it, they started to board everyone. It took just a few minutes to board. The ferry is all indoor which is kinda disappointing but lots of windows. We took a seat and just relaxed and had some lattes and shared a chocolate croissant. It’s a 3 hour ferry ride so Jarrett and I put our headphones in and I started to write and he read his book. Life is good.

Update: Good news, we found an outdoor deck on the ferry. Jarrett almost lost his hat.