Comments | ayrdaomei: Six Days in Athens & Istanbul 2012

ayrdaomei

Six Days in Athens & Istanbul 2012 - Post 1

Oct 01, 2012 17:14

So I don't think I mentioned it much here, if at all, but many months ago, Bri and I ponyed up for a short international vacation. Having watched way too many hours of Rick Steves on PBS (before the unfortunate switch over from WETA-Create to WETA-UK), we really struggled with where we most wanted to go. In the end, we worked backwards from where ( Read more... )

oh canada, rl: athens istanbul 2012, rl: travel, ways to spend money i don't have, postcards, picspam

Comments 9

scornedsaint October 1 2012, 22:12:44 UTC

!! Pictures! This looks like it was a lot of fun (and budget-conscious!) I can't wait to see the Istanbul pictures!

ayrdaomei October 2 2012, 03:54:23 UTC

This looks like it was a lot of fun

It was! We were most worried about the Athens leg of our trip because we didn't have much time there, but I think it ended up being our favorite part! It was much more laid back than Istanbul. Our two days there felt like longer, and I remember when we were headed to the airport, I had this feeling like I was perfectly rested and ready to head back to the US already! ;)

(and budget-conscious!)We could have done a little better on this front - notice we ate twice at sitdown restaurants on our first day :P I think that lunch cost us 28 Euros (approx $36.00), and dinner cost us 22 Euros (approx $28.00) plus 5 Euros for the musicians. We got a slight discount on dinner because the owner of the cafe was a Syrian-Jordanian who appreciated my awful grasp of arabic ;) But outside of spending $$, the trip cost us $1283 a piece for airfare and hotel with breakfast. Considering that we absolutely could not travel for more than a week (I didn't have the personal time) and we included a stop in Athens, I ( ... )

sdwolfpup October 1 2012, 23:46:58 UTC

That sounds awesome! I look forward to Istanbul. :)

ayrdaomei October 2 2012, 04:00:05 UTC

Athens was a bit expensive, but otherwise really great! It may just be that our expectations were successfully lowered by all the bad hotel reviews we read through (so many complaints of Athens being dirty and full of junkies!) but we had a swell time and were glad we factored in the stop.

I'm hoping that by getting a much earlier start on this trip report, the posting will go much more quickly than that of other international trips ;) We had one more day in Athens after this, so the Istanbul pics will start in travel post #3.

johnnybvo October 2 2012, 09:19:01 UTC

That yellow shirt will now be deemed VACATION SHIRT!

http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/rickenbacker/1077668/1043396/300.jpg

Twice is totally a pattern.

ayrdaomei October 2 2012, 20:18:01 UTC

It's a super-comfy shirt, so yes, it's a go to for vacations :P

trailer_spot October 2 2012, 10:58:31 UTC

I did not speak the languages at all
And in the case of Athens, even a different alphabet. A thought that always freaks me out when even remotely thinking about travelling to places like China. But I suspect many of the important infos in Athens are also available in the Latin alphabet?

We followed this great internet citizen's directions
Did you have to deal with any accordion players? :D
I love things like that. For the NY trip I had found a YouTube video that described exactly how to get from JFK to Pennsylvania Station.

Certainly no reason to charge people extra for the view. Even if it catered to your ... special interest. ;)

Athens lives and works around and between the historic remnants of bygone eras (like most of the major cities of Europe, I guess).Well, yes, but that looks a little more run-down than I thought it would, even with the ongoing economic crisis since I would've assumed that either you have the infrastructure in place to present your ruins or not. But maybe they have so much of them in and around Athens ( ... )

ayrdaomei October 2 2012, 20:39:28 UTC

But I suspect many of the important infos in Athens are also available in the Latin alphabet?

Yep, and in English, oftentimes. There was hardly anywhere we went where information was not available in both Greek and English. Even the metro token dispensing machines had an english language option.

Did you have to deal with any accordion players? :D

Yes, but just one. We averted our eyes.

I love things like that. For the NY trip I had found a YouTube video that described exactly how to get from JFK to Pennsylvania Station.

It's really brilliant! Travel site forums and webpages like that took a great deal of the stress out of planning for our trip.

Even if it catered to your ... special interest. ;)

:P But more seriously, we spent so little time in the room, it really didn't matter what the view was.

Well, yes, but that looks a little more run-down than I thought it would, even with the ongoing economic crisis since I would've assumed that either you have the infrastructure in place to present your ruins or not. I had the ( ... )

trailer_spot October 3 2012, 20:48:25 UTC

There was hardly anywhere we went where information was not available in both Greek and English.
That's good to know!

we spent so little time in the room, it really didn't matter what the view was.
Exactly. I also don't care about the size of the room. As long as it's quiet, clean and has a good bed.