CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

May 25, 2023 — My morning started with free breakfast, packing, and checking out of the hostel because this evening I was catching a flight to Santorini!! (Can I get a woot, woot!?)

Having checked out, I stayed in the lobby for a while and because I’m a grown up and I get to make my own decisions (LOL) I had the rest of my popcorn that I picked up the previous night. (I was judging myself pretty hard too, so I went outside to finish it off 😂). I headed back to the hostel after some fresh air and got my bag to go and do laundry because it had been a solid week since I’d done any.

I worked on the blog at the laundromat I found, then did more blogging and updated Instagram after I finished my laundry and headed back to the hostel.

Before I headed to the airport, I decided to have lupper (a combination of lunch and supper) at the Italian place close by my hostel. It was really quiet at that time of day and it was also a beautiful little spot with amazing pasta. I even got talked into tiramisu for dessert.

I spent just a bit more time at the hostel and then finally got up to get the train to the airport. Unfortunately, I ended up missing the one I’d hoped to take but I got on the next one and eventually made it to the airport. It was quite a hike to get to security and when I got there I realized I’d forgotten to dump my water 🤦‍♀️. I asked the security guards if there was anywhere I could do that and they let me into the crew bathroom (!!). I got through security and I was ready to go at 9:40pm even though I wasn’t leaving until 11pm.

I flew with Ryanair for the first time on this flight and I have to say that I was not exactly impressed 😒. The lounge area only opened once they started checking boarding passes and they cut it really close to the flight time. Then we all had to wait to board and ended up being late to board. So then they were rushing us all to get in our seats so that we could takeoff. It’s certainly the definition of a budget airline: I was concerned that my big bag wasn’t going to fit in the overhead compartments even though I hadn’t had an issue on any plane so far. The flight was generally alright but I’ve found that touchdowns with Ryanair are not that smooth. Quite honestly, I was glad to get off the plane when we arrived in Santorini.

Since I arrived after midnight, I’d booked a transfer to the hostel with their private company, so when I got out of the airport I looked for the sign with my name. It took me a few minutes but I found it! There was another girl transferring to the same hostel and we had a nice chat on the way. The driver was super nice and it was a lovely 20-minute drive into Fira.

I got into my room, dropped my stuff, found out that someone had taken my assigned bunk and ended up just taking the one above instead. (The hostel actually contacted me the day I left and asked if I’d accidentally left stuff behind/if I’d checked out because of this mix-up but it all turned out alright.) I went back outside the room and talked to Mom and Dad on the phone and, in the process, sprained my ankle.

Good Lord.

I was flat on my back, in pain, crying on the phone and I do believe that was one of the lowest points I’d hit in a while. I’m not even sure what was wrong, exactly, other than I was hurt, but the dam just sort of broke and after I got off the phone, assuring all that it was just a sprain (I was kinda worried for a minute because the snap was really audible when I went down), I limped back to the room and showered and cried and then got into bed and cried myself to sleep.

Not a very glamorous end to the day, but we’re here on this blog to be real 😂. Before anyone worries, though, do know that I felt much better, emotionally-speaking, the next day and my ankle healed as much as it could over the next few days. And I did have a good sleep that night.

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