I can’t believe my first international trip was to Greece, a place I have dreamt of visiting since I was in 5th grade. And getting to go for a work trip was even better because my ticket and hotel in Athens was paid for. Of course I asked my fiance if he wanted to go with, but he wasn’t able to swing the PTO. So I just threw the idea out to my best friend, Jacey, to see if she would be interested in joining me. She said yes! It was perfect timing because the trip fell over both of our birthdays.

We met up in Dulles since she was coming from Salt Lake City and then we embarked on our 10 hour flight. My ticket (since work paid for it) was for Premium Economy that had the long flight kit, blanket, pillow, and extra foot room. Right before we boarded I checked the seat map and saw that the seat next to me was open. I told Jacey she should just sit by me until someone comes up and says it’s their seat. And guess what? No one ever did. hehe We ended up getting to sit next to each other on the way there which was amazing. I read and slept most of the time, but it definitely was a long flight.

It was an overnight flight so we landed in Athens at 9am on my birthday. Surprisingly I didn’t have any jet lag. We took the ferry from Athens to Hydra as that was our starting island. We stayed at a cute little bed and breakfast in the center of Hydra. It was so sweet, Jacey told them it was my birthday when she booked the room. They decorated and gave us party hats and sparklers.

Once we checked in we immediately went out exploring. Hydra is nick-named “cat island” and boy were they right. Everywhere you looked there was at least one cat lounging around. They are very well taken care of by locals and super friendly. I’ll have a whole separate blog post just for the cats of Greece (I even got a magnet from Hydra that says that). Hydra is a car-free island so everything is within walk-able distance. It honestly was my favorite island we visited, everything was just so quaint and we didn’t have to worry about loud cars and honking or waiting for a taxi.

The first night Jacey kept getting hit on by a greek waiter named Panos. We Facebook stalked him and he’s in the middle of a divorce. Yikes. The food in Greece was fantastic, the coffee was strong, and the wine was sweet.

Here are some of my favorite photos from Hydra.

Poros, Greece | August 22nd – 24th