Carli Knits In Public: To Crete With Love

I don't even know where to begin with our holiday on Crete. (I know I'm still behind on London, but London can wait)

I don't think there was a day that wasn't beautiful. I don't mean conventionally beautiful, I'm talking just gorgeous to behold. Yes, we did have several amazing sunny days which accounts for my tan lines (you're jealous, I know ;-) ). But we had a pretty amazing thunderstorm that was breathtaking....Even the cloudy days didn't take away from the gorgeous views.

Okay, so here's a brief play by play of the week......

We left Larne on Monday October 6 around 5:30pm and headed for Belfast Interantional Airport. No traffic meant we arrived quickly and got checked into Easyjet very quickly. Fly with Easyjet on a Monday. Cheap. No lines on Monday nights. We wandered around Belfast International Airport for the 2 hours prior to boarding, had dinner, got Mommy meds (I had the sniffles). Flew to London Gatwick. No drama. Well, no drama save the fact that I couldn't get my ears to pop on the plane b/c I was sick, so they had to break out some smelling stuff for me to sniff to clear my sinuses. Brett said it stunk, I couldn't really smell it. It didn't clear my sinuses so much, but it helped releave the pain in my Right ear. I honestly thought it was going to burst my eardrum with how bad it hurt. Anyway, I lived through it and we landed, got our luggage, found our hotel shuttle and headed for what we hoped to be a good night's sleep before our travels the next day.

Hazel fell asleep within moments of boarding the shuttle, and remained asleep all the way to the hotel, throughout check-in, getting to the room, and putting her to bed in her pack n play. She didn't actually stir unti 2:50 that morning. Agony, right? Not so much. We were seriously staying in the crappiest Hotel in Gatwick. Bates hotel has nothing on the Europa Hotel in Gatwick. Don't stay there. Brett and I slept in seperate twin beds (pushed just barely close enough together that if we extended our arms across the gap we could hold hands) that looked like the previous residents had just left and the maid service felt they didn't dirty the beds enough to warrent new sheets and properly made beds. So we slept on top of the bedspreads. And the room was freezing. Hazel was bundled and warm, but Brett and I froze and the beds weren't wide enough to be truly considered twins, so we couldn't snuggle to keep warm....we tried. Long story short, bad hotel. Sleeping in a box outside the airport my prove warmer and more sanitary (and cheaper) than staying at the Europa.

So Brett and I started our trip with 2 hours of sleep. And a well rested toddler. :) The flight to Crete was fine. It was chartered on Monarch airlines, which I was less than impressed with as the staff was boardlined rude, but it wasn't bad. The most amazing part of the flight, though, was flying over the Alps.....

Aren't they gorgeous? They just went on and on and on. I know this in naive of me, but my only experiences with mountains have absolutely nothing on the Alps. Massive, Beautiful. Wow.

Then after a bit more slying we saw the Mediterranean....I'm not sure which islands these were. But they're neat!

We landed in Crete, which I have to tell you, be prepared to be the only American's on the island if you go. And don't be surprised when all the signs that are posted are ONLY posted in Greek. Even though it is an island that relies on tourism as a major source of income, they would prefer if you spoke their language. It took a week to be able to say "Thank you" and "Hello". And even then I really sounded like an American butchering their language.

Also, as you land on the island, don't be surprised to lose bits of your luggage (aka our stroller) and not be able to find anyone who can speak English well enough to help you find it. Ours turned up in the Oversized Luggage (not surprising) which was a little shack outside the main building and tucked in a little side street (slightly infuriating). Anyway, we gathered up our belongings, hunted down our charter to the hotel and climbed aboard.

Okay, so in the interest of needing pictures to show people who may be interested....here's a quick replay of our trip!

This is our patio overlooking the sea...The view off our patio towards Agios Nichalos..