Awkward holiday moments.

When T and RF initially decided that they wanted to holiday together, they had a few simple but concrete requirements: sun, surf and good food.

We tossed around a few ideas, but were left with two high on the list: Greece and Sardinia. Both were sunny, both were defined by their beautiful clear water and both were synonymous with delicious food. If we were to go to Greece, we wanted to sail around the islands and RF (having been to Greece before) wanted to steer clear of the more touristy spots. Eventually, Greek sailing won and RF found a company that sailed around the Dodecanese Islands where we could learn to sail and visit a different island each day. It was exactly what we wanted.

We were very fortunate with our pick - we shared the sailing boat with one other young couple, the skipper and the cook. Everyone was very easy going so we were able to dictate what we wanted to do to a certain extent and, as a result, we were able to swim as much as we wanted in some of the most beautiful bays in the world.

One slight hiccup occurred through the booking and it's probably something that T should have reiterated whilst sending in her details. You see, T's Christian name is androgynous and it is always assumed that she is, in fact, a he. So, instead of facing the initial interesting experience of rooming with a good friend in a tiny yacht's room for a week, they then faced the reality of sharing a room that could be likened to a honeymoon suite with a bed that was more single than double. In the heat of summer. In the heat of the Greek summer. In the stuffy cabin air of a yacht. For a week.

It was 40 degrees in there, people!

Luckily for T, she can sleep pretty much anywhere. She is small and can sleep in noise, in heat and in all modes of transport - even rocking boats. Unfortunately for RF, she does not have this ease of sleeping and she also (gulp) had to put up with T's very ladylike snoring. Needless to say, she spent most of the week sleeping on deck whilst T snored happily away below. Now friendships have been ruined over much less, but T is happy to report that she and RF are still fast friends.

One of T's most favourite memories from the trip was when RF attempted to sleep downstairs during a particularly hot night and T, as an olive branch of sorts, made them both ice-packs to cradle in the desperate pursuit of cooling down. Needless to say the ice melted everywhere and T and RF were almost delirious with heat and spent the best part of an hour giggling about everything around them, including the very noisy young couple who were saying their every thought so loudly that the whole boat was privy to their private {and somewhat, inane} conversation. T remembers haircuts and styles being discussed for at least ten minutes.

So, the good part of the story is that T truly lucked out. She has a travelling friend who enjoys the same things that she does {food, sun, wine and swimming} and with whom she can have a good laugh (and without gushing, she is also lovely, generous and wise beyond her years!).

Also, said travelling partner has kick-ass photography skills which you can see as all the photos today are taken from her camera.

Cheers, RF, for a most memorable trip!

The above photographs are taken from T's favourite islands - Chalki, Symi and Rhodes.

Swimming in the Med.

One of the most wonderful things about sailing around the Greek Islands was the opportunity to swim in many beautiful bays along the way. The landscape was always stunning; sometimes it was stark and barren and at other times it was green and verdant. The water, however, was always reliable with clear colours of turquoise and azure and a perfect temperature. The most breathtaking part was the visibility - at one time we were in a bay where the depth was thirty metres and we could see right to the bottom.

Traveller and RF are still in training; this time training for a 3/4 triathlon which starts with an ocean swim in freezing Cornwall. They used their time in the bays to explore and then to complete some swimming training, goggles and all. The salt levels in the Mediterranean make you unbelievably buoyant; there is no struggle to float and you feel like an Olympic swimmer with each stroke. We swam around 2-4 kilometres each day and barely broke a sweat; it was the most satisfying swimming that T has ever completed and was hands down the most beautiful group of islands T has ever visited.It's going to be hard getting back in chlorine-filled, pool water!

It's the people...

A couple of Traveller's favourite moments in Greece involved meeting the locals. The people in Greece were so friendly. T's not sure whether it's the sheer amount of people in London or just the way culture has developed, but they don't tend to talk to each other or look at each other in public. There are no smiles, no waves and no small conversation so it was surprising to Traveller when people started to talk to her in Greece.

One example of this was when the above gentleman noticed T and her friend looking at a fruit tree. We couldn't work out what fruit was growing on the tree and he came up to us and asked us if we knew what it was. When we responded that we didn't, he proceeded to tell us the Greek name for it. Still noticing that we were confused, he took a piece of fruit off the tree and using his pocket knife, opened it up for us. We immediately saw that it was a pomegranate and he was so pleased to see us recognise it. We then had a chat with him and he told us a little about himself and where to eat in the beautiful town of Chalki. We followed his advice and T had her first delicious Moussaka of the trip.

The second moment was on the island of Kalymnos; Traveller and RF wanted to head out to the local beach. As they both had never driven scooters before, they were reliant on local taxis and buses. They asked a taxi driver how much it would cost to get to the local beach and when he said 10 Euro - we were in! It was a half an hour drive and the taxi driver told us the history of Kalymnos while we were in the car and about the local industry; he also took us to an outlook so we could take a picture and stopped at a fig tree (above - how cool is he!) so that we could try the wild fruit. It was delicious! He was so sweet and really made our day.

Greece.

Needless to say, Greece lived up to its expectations without question.

The islands were picturesque, the food was delicious, the temperatures were reaching 40 degrees Celsius (but mostly manageable!) and the water was extraordinary. Never has Traveller floated so easily (got to love all the salt in the Mediterranean) and seen so far to the bottom. We docked in one bay around the island of Symi and it was thirty metres deep - unbelievably, we could see all the way to the bottom.

T had a lovely travelling partner and couldn't have hoped for a more wonderful trip.

It's a little hard to be in grey, chilly London with only a tan as evidence that somewhere it is summer...

Travel Bug.

Traveller's first overseas trip was when she was 13.

Her dad sent her mum and her to California to visit Disneyland and L.A.

T loved it.

She loved the different accents, the different foods and the way that you could be on a plane for a few hours and end up somewhere so completely new and unusual.

A few years later, Traveller went back to North America and lived in Oregon for a year as an exchange student. It was one of the best years of her life and gave her a deep-seeded, irrevocable need to travel. Since then, she has visited many continents and countries and the need has grown rather than diminished.

There has been one country that has been on her 'list' for years. In fact, it has been on the top of her list. Traveller can't remember when or why it was added but she knows that since her late teens she has always imagined her visit there as being perfection and well, it's going to happen tomorrow!

Traveller is flying to Greece tomorrow to sail around the Docadenese Islands for a week with a dear friend and she can.not.wait! Learning to sail, eating seafood, swimming in the sea and taking in the beautiful landscape are all things that are high on her to-do-list and T does not know how she is going to sleep tonight!

The only worrying thing is being able to survive the high temperatures; Traveller is, of course, a weather-hardened Aussie, but London has weakened her ability to handle the sun and with temperatures in Britain never really rising above the early twenties, T is a little overwhelmed at the thought of being in the high 30s without air-conditioning! Oh well, at least she'll be on a boat and clear azure water will be around her for days and days.

Sounds tough, doesn't it?

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