Random Last Thoughts

There are a few things I forgot to mention:

About the food:

• A Greek salad does not contain lettuce, olives, beets or the dressing we know here in the states. A Greek Greek salad is cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, green peppers and feta, with oil & vinegar. (I do see an olive in this photo but I pulled it off the internet...did not have a photo of our salads!)
• The national side dish is french fries, fried in olive oil - without ketchup (WTH?).
• Like many European countries, they don't use ice in their drinks. We asked for ice in one restaurant and they brought us a bucket with tongs (yeah!)
• According to Kostas, Greeks have coffee and a cigarette for breakfast. The hotels must cater to tourists, because we saw traditional European meats and cheeses and pastries, but also sausage, a kind of bacon and eggs. They make their scrambled eggs like Gordon Ramsey: runny and inedible. They probably think Americans like them that way....
• Gyros in Greece are made with chicken or pork, not lamb (Olga's must have started that). A Gyros in a pita is often for "take-away", and fries are IN the sandwich. A Gyros at a restaurant is served on a plate:

About the culture:

• The Greeks do not understand why wash cloths are necessary; only one of our hotels had wash cloths (that's why there was so much make-up on our larger towels....)
• We were warned about the bathrooms; some might be pay toilets, many do not have seats or paper. I only encountered one such bathroom. Most were very nice and did include paper - hence my return with 10 packages of Wet Wipes still in the suitcase.....
• Most everyone we encountered spoke English. America must be the only country that doesn't feel the need to speak other's languages!

About the group:

Kostas said that each group has it's own personality. Some are very quiet but most are couples traveling that don't know anyone else on the tour, and they gravitate toward others and become good traveling companions and often friends aferward. Ours already included some groups, so our tour was very unusual. For those playing the home game, here's how we shook out:

• Bob & Debbie, Dave & Nancy met at their time shares in Mexico and now travel together often. 
• Lou Anne and Judy (Dave's sister) are recently retired and sometimes visit Dave & Nancy in Mexico.
• Troy & Kevin are married 4 years; Stacey and Troy met at work and Stacey travels with Troy & Kevin often; Betty is Troy's Mom
• Brenda & Cathy are the Canadians and I think had been on previous EF Tours
• Vicki and "the other Betty" travel often and have been on previous EF Tours
• Kyle is an EF Tours employee; they get to choose a tour each year and this was his choice. Each group adopted Kyle at one time or another.

There are 6 degrees of separation between the Goddesses as well (excuse the third person language here):

• Michelle, Sheila and Barb met in a Woman President's Organization group. We no longer own those companies but stay in touch with the 9 from that group (our Posse).
• Pat was Michelle's French teacher in high school, was a big influence on and mentor to Michelle; Nadine was her chemistry teacher. Pat and Nadine have been friends for many years. Pat has taken a tour with or without students with EF Tours every year since 1980-something.
• Laura #1 is Michelle's mother-in-law
• Laura #2 is Michelle's friend and wife of her interior designer
• Jen is Michelle's former neighbor; their kids are friends and their families have traveled together 
• Cindy is Barb's college roommate
• Debbie and Barb when to high school together
• Lori and Debbie became friends when their husbands worked together for 40+ years

Bob said when he heard that a group of 11 women were on the tour, he was a little worried about how that would go. Some of our own friends wondered also - everyone knew someone, but no one knew everyone. Apparently Bob warmed up to us....

When Pat and Michelle first talked about this trip, they decided to see if they could get a group together. Michelle emailed a bunch of friends; when we still had a few spots left, I asked Michelle if I could reach out to a few friends who might be interested - my assignment was to only invite friends who were "fun and easy to travel with". (Why would I have any friends who weren't fun?...After you reach a certain age, you've weeded out most of the people in your life who aren't fun!) At any rate - mission accomplished!

Here are some additional photos that may or may not have been included elsewhere:

 

 

 

We all had a great time (perfect weather didn't hurt!) Everyone has a story, and every story is interesting. Amazing the discussions you can have if you let another person know what you might be dealing with. Chances are that someone else has experience to share - and we had plenty of quality time on buses in which to share it!

Kalee spera! 

(We've got each other's emails, so if I've gotten any of these details wrong, email me or comment here and I'll fix it!)