Due to quarantine and school, I have never gotten the wonderful opportunity to travel outside the country. That is, until a few weeks ago! My family went on our first cruise around the Mediterranean and it was absolutely beautiful. When I think about this trip, I think of specific items, things that sum up my favorite memories of traveling, and so I thought I should commemorate these things for safe keeping. I don’t travel very often, and I’d like to have an account to look back on, though I also thought I could provide a bit of warning or advice to anyone making similar trips in the future!
Flags!
I am a massive geography geek when it comes to world flags and one of the things I was looking forward to about my first time out of the country was seeing some of the flags that I had loved to study in person and for them to mean something to the people I would walk past. It’s one thing to learn the flags, to come to know them and be able to spot them, but I was so excited to be in the place where the flag meant something to the people around me and represented a part of these people’s identities. I bought a flag from each place I went and even ended up with some extra regional flags that I found along the way!
Flags are a beautiful way to signify a sense of union and pride, and not only was I able to collect a few national symbols that I could match with the faces I met during my trip, but I was also able to work my way down to even cities and regions and autonomies and movements. It was more than I could have hoped for and I learned so much about each place! I was voracious in my want to learn and it served me well. I recommend knowing at least a few, because you would be surprised by how helpful it can be or how much a person’s day can be made by just pointing out the flag they fly.
Heat Stroke and Dust
My family’s route was flying to New York and then flying to Athens, which meant 24 hours total of traveling. The way our trip was scheduled, as soon as we checked into our hotel, we had 45 minutes to nap and then we would go on a tour of the Acropolis and its temples. I was ecstatic to see such a historical marvel of geometry and architecture, only the problem was the fact that there was a massive heat wave and our tour was at 2:00 pm. I had a lot of fun and our tour was super interesting, it’s just I literally could not stop sweating and inhaling dust. As we got back on the bus to go back to the hotel, I was starting to shiver and feel nauseous. I thought this was fine considering I don’t exercise every day and I just figured it was a me problem, but then I had to ask the bus to pull over and then vomited in a giant dumpster on the streets of Athens.
It turns out I had heat stroke or something, but I didn’t know what to do so I just changed and fell asleep. It turns out that was the wrong thing to do since you’re supposed to cool down with a cold bath or cold compresses and not drink water. Instead, I changed my t-shirt, drank three bottles of water, and promptly fell asleep after dry-heaving for a split second. I’m fine now! Athens is a super cool city anyway, so it didn’t really get me down. At least now I know what to do if I get heat stroke and I can say I’ve thrown up on the streets of another country! Take it easy if there’s a heat wave, though, just for my sake.
Sweat!
The aforementioned heat wave was literally everywhere we went, all of which had near 100% humidity. It doesn’t take much heat to make me sweat despite the fact that I live in a pretty hot climate, but I think I need an IV of fluids to this day after the amount I sweated. It was record-shattering. I think I was close to heat stroke several times during this trip, but I only got it once! I just can’t emphasize how much I sweated during that trip. I guess Europe doesn’t do that thing where you blast AC to the point where left unchecked, you could contract acute hypothermia, but I missed it quite a bit. It probably makes sense since our bodies aren’t used to going from one extreme temperature to the next and it probably helped my immune system or something but all it manifested directly was more sweating at all times. Also, almost no one puts ice in their drinks! All water is chilled, never cold. Again, probably better for our bodies, but I’m an American, goddammit!
Beloved Biker Shorts
Before this trip, I didn’t wear biker shorts. I didn’t own them, I didn’t plan on owning them. And then I bought a few pairs to try out. And I will never not wear them. I am a victim of chafing anytime I wear denim shorts, but God almighty I never experienced anything akin to chafing as long as I was wearing biker shorts. They are the love of my life. Out of the brands I tried, Hollister has the most comfortable and soft shorts that are now my go-to’s with a ton of colors to choose from. Target’s are pretty good and I think Victoria Secret’s/Pink’s are better for working out than walking around. These shorts are everything I ever needed and more. If they go out of style, I’ll be dated. I am their number one fan and I recommend them to anyone and everyone whose thighs touch.
White and Blue
Santorini is a beautiful place! There’s shopping and photo ops and white and blue buildings; however, I believe that you should treat this place like Disneyland and just go crazy on the food. There’s so much good food there it’s not even funny. Lots of hidden restaurants lie beside staircases that lead in every direction, so keep an eye out! Some of the best food I ate throughout the entire trip was within those little secret restaurants. Eat your filling!
Tzatziki!
I have never eaten something so delectable. I am a changed woman. I’d never tried it before but took a stab at it and now it’s my idol, my king, my deity. It’s my favorite thing I ate the whole time and I plan on making it at home, so if you have any good recipes please let me know. I could write a symphony about tzatziki. A jazz ballad. An ode. It is what I dream about, what I sing for. It is my love, my life, in the mirror of your eyes, the subject of every love song. I whisper it even now because I can’t believe it was real. Tzatziki… tzatziki… tzatziki.
Montenegrin Churches
If you’re ever lucky enough to visit the gorgeous country of Montenegro, please try to visit a few of its many churches. I am not a religious person but the history and beauty hidden away behind weathered stone offers a unique and intimate experience that allows for cool moments of silence and solemnity too seldom offered by tourist destinations.
Taormina
Taormina is a small town in Italy that I could rant about for days. As someone that has only known harsh architecture and suburbs and skyscrapers, there’s a weird feeling I get when buildings are not quite as tall as a skyscraper but still loom over you several stories in the air. The cobble streets and the tourist tchotchke stores make for a visit you wish was endless. I could’ve spent a week there being idle. There’s all the classic Italian food and coffee that literally blew my mind, but it’s just such a wonderful place to sit with your thoughts and appreciate where you are.
4 Maritime Nations
One of my favorite parts of Italy was finding the 4 maritime national flags of the Amalfi coast! That meant 4 extra flags that I could add to my little brain database! They were such beautiful flags for beautiful cities. I couldn’t find physical flags, but I bought four little magnets; however my mom didn’t see that I did that and ordered me a five-foot flag of the four nations that I now just have despite not being Italian at all. Oh well! I now have a giant flag that I have no connection to in order to remember those cities, so I will love it forever!
Barthelona
Barcelona is such a beautiful city! It was by far the easiest to navigate out of everywhere we went and knowing a little Spanish can get you a long way. I love learning Spanish and hope to be fluent one day and it was fantastic getting to speak it even just a bit. It’s rich with local culture and pride with the kindest people I met through the whole trip. I watched Spanish TV for a while and there’s a show called “First Dates” that was like the first episode of “Love Island” over and over and I loved it. That’s a gem right there. Catalan is such a beautiful language as well and I loved learning as much as I could about Catalonian history and culture. What an amazing place!
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I feel like the luckiest person in the world for getting to go on this trip even with sea sickness and heat stroke. They only gave me opportunities to learn about what it is to travel and to exit your comfort zone! I am most privileged to be a guest in such beautiful countries and will cherish my memories forever. Traveling is such a privilege in and of itself and I am grateful to have seen countries beyond the one I’ve lived in my whole life. For all of the used travel guides I read when I was younger and the flags I’ve studied and the histories I’ve read, being in those places makes the knowledge that much sweeter.
One reply on “things i learned and loved during my first time out of the country”
This means so much to me! It’s more than I ever hoped you would get out of the experience. I’m glad it sparked my love of travel in you and that I got to experience it all with you. Love you!