Boiling in Bodrum

We arrived in Bodrum with open hearts and open minds, full of enthusiasm for a new place but with little idea of what to expect. We came knowing nothing about the place except that our hostel had no air conditioning (which we should have realised would be a huge problem). We eagerly checked in, and met Mehmet, the manager of our hostel. Zo and I immediately headed off for exploring time and traipsed up and down the many weaving lanes and streets that made up Bodrum. We headed back to the rooftop to socialise and get back into the hostel life after 5 days of private rooms and hotels, with no young people to befriend. We met Reece, Veronika and Natasha and soon had a dinner recommendation to a local place around the corner, we were warned they couldn't speak much English which worrie me with the gluten free situation, but we decided to at least check it out. When we arrived we were taken into the kitchen and shown everything they were cooking. Boiled chicken and potato, eggplant with mince meat, rice, roasted tomato and cucumber raita- a perfect gluten free selection so we asked for a taste of everything and were brought a huge tasting platter- each! We cleaned our plates and were given our first introduction to Turkish tea which was lovely, all for the cheap price of $14 Australian dollars. 

Drinks followed dinner and we tested cherry juice with vodka which turned into our staple drink, delicious! We were soon told that a group was heading to a club called catamaran, which I soon realised was so named, because it was on a boat! Zoe and I were in straight away, how often do you go to a club on a boat?! And we soon convinced a few others to join us and we were off! It became clear when we boarded Diamond, this was a prestigious boat and not a backpackers spot. Underdressed and under budget, we were stuck, by the time we ordered our first drink (a vodka orange for $15!) we had already set sail. I instantly opted for a sober night, and hit up the dance floor for a boogie instead. Boy could some of the guys dance on that boat. I like to think of myself as a pretty good dancer but I was blown away and found myself awkwardly bopping in the corner, too embarrassed to do my thing. Soon however my staring at one very extravagant and fantastically gay dancer became way too obvious, so he took my hand and brought me into the middle of the dance circle and for about 10minutes I felt like beyonce, shaking my booty and being queen of the world. Sadly, the music switched to salsa and some sexy Latino girls who didn't stuff up every time we twirled quickly replaced me. After my fall from fame, I stuck with our backpacker buddies and managed to score two free drinks, or at least we thought they were free until the bill was presented to us just as we were leaving the boat.

It was organisation time so after an omelette for an energy boost, Zoe and I set off to buy some bus tickets, and organise the rest of our turkey transportation. We bumped into Reece & Lawrence at the hostel and headed down for another beach session, at a very tiny rock beach, the length of a sun bed to be precise. I had lost my patience with tanning in Greece and with no air con at our hostel, Turkeynhad taken my tolerance of any heat too. Very quickly, I had had enough and had my mind focused on food, just for a change. Reece had heard of a sushi bar, and considering I hadn't had sushi since before I left home I was very excited to break my sushi fast. Finding the restaurant wasn't a simple task though, and 40mins later the elusive 'red dragon restaurant' continued to hide from us. Eventually, hot and flustered we spotted it and rushed into the air conditioned interior- heaven! Prices were extremely high, but it was sushi and we had hunted for so long so we gave in. This was a massive regret when 6 MINUSCULE pieces of sushi were brought out, I'm talking less than one Melbourne hand roll. I wanted to cry, but instead I wolfed them down in about twenty seconds and went to buy some Turkish delight for dessert. A lazy afternoon followed before we tagged along with the girls to the windmills to watch the sunset which was beautiful. On the way home, hungry again, we stopped off st the fish market for an incredible dinner experience. Sit down at a restaurant, order some appetisers, go next door to the fishmonger, order and buy your fish, instruct the restaurant how to cook it, and they will bring it out to you! Oh and don't forget the restaurant also has a live band playing Turkish music- icing on the cake! 2 pieces of salmon, salad, and stuffed peppers all for the small price of 25 lira (10 euro). We returned to a loud roar of Happy Birthday and joined straight into the birthday drinks, before piling into a minibus with what seemed like our whole hostel and rolling into Gumbet, the party spot of Bodrum. Our first stop was Temple Bar which I never left. A podium to dance on, old r and b classics, and free drinks all night from Mehmet's cousin who was the bouncer, how could I say no? After a free ride back on the bus I refilled my stomach AGAIN with a giant plate of doner meat and walked home to bed as the sun started to rise.

Groggily, I forced myself out of bed, into the shower and onto a boat for a day trip with 8 new hostel friends. Feeling worse for wear, I can safely say sitting in the glaring sun on the front of the boat did not help the situation, so I retreated to the shade, much to Zoe's surprise. It was a pretty fun day sitting back watching the world go by, jumping in for swim stops and snorkelling around, but after sail Croatia, no boat trip will ever impress me. The novelty Viking decorations on the boat were certainly something though, and rinsing off under a naked statue holding the shower head was definitely a new experience. I was all sunned out and sapped of energy when we returned to shore, no lunch on the boat didn't help me situation- turkey & gluten free, not a great combo- so Zo and I took the lazy option for dinner, a doner plate. Already Bodrum was coming to a close but I couldn't stomach the thought of partying again, even if it was our last night (our 6.30am departure the following day may also have had something to do with it). Luckily, everyone seemed to be on the same page as us, and we walked up at the perfect time to join in on nargile, Turkish tea and mixed nuts. A traditional and lovely night to cap off Bodrum before Pammuakle the next day!

Little Scandinavia aka Rhodes & Kos

There isn't too much to say about these two little islands, and to be honest the 5 days we spent here could have been put to much better use in turkey, but oh well! Experiences nonetheless. We arrived really late to Kos after a 13 hour ferry and were met with a boiling hot room and broken air con, not a good start. The three of us (we farewelled Mish and brought along our friend Jules from Plakias) remained optimistic and set off to explore the old town. 

Apart from the old town walls, there really wasn't much to see. Shops, touristy places, cafes and restaurants, so after a few hours we switched to default mode and headed beachside. The beach was packed, filled with tourists, expensive umbrellas and felt like every other Greek island only more touristy! The one cool feature that set this beach apart was the diving platform about 25m out in the middle of the water with 4 different levels to jump off. More walking, and more beach time led us to my favourite part of the day- an all you can eat Greek buffet for the small price of 9 euro. I don't think they knew what hit them when the three young girls entered the restaurant, but probably regretted encouraging us in when 5 plate fulls later we crawled out of there. Tzatziki, hummus, dolmades, salad, feta, stuffed peppers, olives, chips, moussaka, pastizio, meatballs, pork chops, broiled chicken, stifado, a lamb dish of some sort, crumbed fish, boiled potatoes, chicken nuggets and peaches to polish it off. What a feast! We collapsed onto the bus weighing about 200kg more than our trip to town that morning, and soon realised we had been on the bus for quite a long time. We sent Zoe the Greek advocate up the front to ask the driver and turns out we had missed our stop, but, ' no worries- stay on the bus until the end and ill drive you back' he said. One hour later we were dropped to the right stop, about 150m from where we asked the bus driver. Greeks are determined girls can't walk anywhere, everywhere requires a taxi, or a donkey or in this case an hour long bus ride, just to avoid the strenuous 4min walk. 

We decided to day trip to Lindos as Rhodes old town had nothing to offer us, and it was a great decision. Lindos town was much nicer, and had its own acropolis which we climbed up and explored, not quite up to the standard as the official one in Athens, but pretty special all the same. It was extremely hot so we hurried back down, got ourselves an icecream and spent another afternoon by the beach. I never thought I would say this but I was getting sick of the beach life, too much sun, too much sweat and the fun side of tanning seemed to have disappeared, so I sat in the shade and finally finished my book. Greece had left me very brown, but hating the heat. After getting home we thought we would walk along Faliraki shops, our local area and find a cute spot for a final dinner before saying farewell to Jules the next morning. However it proved difficult to find a normal Greek restaurant. There was the jack Daniels pub, the flinstone themed restaurant, a castle restaurant with a moat around it, and every other tacky weird idea you could come up with. At the very end of the strip though we found Kosta's taverna, and even though the owner made us take pictures for the restaurants Facebook page before entering, he cooked us up a storm of Greek food that would have even made my Kosta proud.

Goodbyes are the worst so after Jules left Zoe and I didn't feel like doing much so we summoned up our inner master chefs, cooked an incredible BBQ for lunch and lazed in lilos at our resort pool until it was time to head to Kos. It was a huge struggle to find our hotel, and after asking ten people and walking around for an hour with our huge bags, we finally found the Tigaki bus and got going. It was already pitch black so after checking in we ordered some stifado from the hotel (which we managed to score for free!) and then watched tv in our bed for the first time since Melbourne, how could you say no to Glee?!

Today was another standard beach day but a momentous thing occurred. After a lazy morning Zo and I wandered to Tigaki town for some lunch. I ordered a Gyros plate and finally committed to a challenge. Hot chips are a favourite food of mine even at home in Melbounre,, but in Greece while everyone has been having their gyros wraps, I've been having meat and chips, when everyone's been having bread and dips, I'd have chips and tzatziki, after attempting to limit my consumption I decided enough was enough and made the declaration that these were the last chips I was to eat for the trip (still going strong 1 week later!!) another book finished and I was sick of the beach and walked home to get ready. Our clubbing detox had lasted almost 2 weeks (alcohol and bar detoxes do not exist) so we were ready to break it and have a big night for the last time on Greek soil. We did not know what Kos had in store for us however. The night got off to a promising start with Greek music being blared and us being ushered into a nearby restaurant where we could watch the show. A few hours later, with empty plates and drained glasses we headed to the club strip which suddenly seemed a lot less Greek and a lot more Scandinavian. I was asked 4 times if I was Norwegian, and 9 times out of 10 no questions were asked and people would just approach speaking to me in a variety of Nordic languages, none of which I understood. We walked away thinking that was just a bad area but it seemed as though we had unfortunately stumbled across Scandinavian schoolers week, and Kos was their version of Byrom Bay. We played along and pretended to be Norwegian for a while, but soon the 17 year old drunken boys and skanky girls (good girls go to heaven, bad girls go to Kos singlets!) weren't our ideal party companions and we were boring oldies and piled in a cab home. 

Our final day in Greece had to spent like all the others, in the sun and eating Greek delicacies so a pool morning and some Moussaka seemed like the perfect end to an amazing 3 weeks in Greece. We hopped on the final ferry for a long time heaving with anticipation for a new country and a new lifestyle. Bye bye beach and hello turkey!

Reflections on life. Crete.

'If you want to relax then this is the place for you.' After weeks and weeks of incessant partying, we were instantly sold after this review on hostelworld. Our journey to the small town of Plakias did take 14 hours, but we were rewarded on arrival. A big green garden, 4 yellow blocks with little verandas, a communal outside area and the best thing of all, hammocks strung from every tree. 

Plakias was a lovely beachside town, with one main strip of shops lining the beach, scrubland behind this, with a mountainous backdrop. This town seemed like the perfect fit for me, a blend of all the things I love most. Beach of course, but more serene and empty coves, in stark contrast to the umbrella packed, tourist filled sand of every other Greek Island. Cheap and local restaurants, where I had some of my best Greek meals, cooked by a local, continuing to create the dishes I'm sure his or her yiayia would have taught them at a young age. A new mix of people, from all countries, walks of life, varying in ages from 18-50 was so refreshing after weeks of constant Australian accents, all young travellers like me, doing the token uni break 5 week Europe party trip. No one with an interesting story or something special to offer, but Plakias brought this change. I met Hans, an extremely kind Dutch man, a teacher who taught me a lot about generosity, and gave some fantastic book recommendations. Marta, a 30 year old Brazilian whose list for life was so infectious, and made you feel like you simply had to make the most out of every day. Already at her young age she had been a police officer, studied film and photography, and is now in law school still doing freelance film work with the hope of becoming a human rights lawyer. Daz, the dopey English boy, who was an absolute goofball, but had travelled around Asia for 10 months with incredible stories of what can happen when you go with the flow. Yiannis, a Greek man, who had been coming to Plakias for his month holiday for the last 22 years, who could speak 4 languages and still opted to teach in his home village in Greece so that his village was well educated, despite having the potential to go much further. A trio of American boys who quickly invited me into their 'munch crew' which held the principle, 'Munch it all and munch it now'- we hit it off as you can imagine. Three boys that looked to be your typical American jocks,  but played chess in the afternoons and chatted with me about Of Mice and Men, as well as many other classics. So many other incredible people, which made my 4 days quickly turn to 7, and even then my goodbye was only temporary, I will definitely return.

Crete taught me a lot about myself. How much I love adventure and activities, reading stories and learning about people's lives, and how nice it is to sit in the quiet and just be, especially after 3 months of high paced travelling. I got rid of a lot of inhibitions, following Isabella a German girl at the hostel who on arrival at the nudist beach, looked around for 5 seconds, shrugged and stripped to join the crowd. I stared at her in envy, how confident and sure of yourself you must be to just get naked no inhibitions and continue chatting merrily like nothing had changed. I was angry at myself, why can't I just be brave and blend in, take the plunge, I mean its only another body, there are plenty of others, but there was something stopping me. Fear of being judged, looking different, it being awkward, I can't pinpoint it exactly, but I couldn't do it, even though I desperately wanted to be free and liberated. 

My adventurous streak was in paradise here, as the reception walls were filled with maps and instructions of hiking trails, walks, waterfalls, and secluded beaches. To get anywhere I walked. An hour to a hidden beach, three hours trekking through scrub and a river to reach a series of amazing waterfalls and the 'magic bridge',  45mins up to the village on the mountain Mythios, to taste a Cretan delicacy from a local taverna, snail stew. The feeling of excitement, adventure, blood pumping through my veins, leg muscles working, heavy breathing, I had missed it so much after weeks of inactivity, beach and clubs. I forgot how much I love to explore and do activities and felt my mood and energy levels lift drastically during this week. We got back to basics here. We climbed, we walked, we read books in hammocks, did yoga in the garden in absolute silence except for the birds, we bought food and cooked healthy meals on the campfire, we went out for dinners as a group and had conversations about the world, learning someone's life story each night, and realising how different people's lives are. 

Each morning around 10 we would all roll out and eat breakfast together, get supplies out from the fridge, or have Greek yoghurt and fresh Cretan honey from the hostel. By the time plates were cleared and washed up, we would have grouped off for activites. A hike, a beach day, relaxing day in the hammocks, a car adventure to another part of the island, you name it. And by 6pm everyone slowly regrouped back around the table, stories of their day shared over summer wine (red wine & fanta), fresh grown tomatoes from the garden, feta from the shops, maybe some peanuts from Yiannis' village, each night someone brought something different to share. It felt like a family, and was the most normal I have felt and most homely environment, despite being a world away from my normal home life, that I have had so far this trip. There were no attractions or sights to see, no huge party life, but such a blend of fun that the relaxed nature of it was perfect, and never got boring. 

On my last day in Crete, I walked across the rocks and clambered down to the beach and with a rush of adrenalin peeled off my clothes and calmly marched into the water. I did it. And in an effort to push myself to the absolute limit and feel that satisfaction, I climbed up the rock to the 9m summit, took a breath and leapt off, into the cold water beneath me. And as my bare bum hit the water, I felt free.

Donkeys & Motorbikes- Santorini

For once the boys appeared to have got a one up on us when .... was waiting to pick them up, and we were stranded. A mini van saved the day and dropped us off to our cute little apartment, a two minute walk from the heart of Fira town. We set off to explore our new turf and arranged to meet the boys later on. When we met next to the Caldera, it seems we definitely did luck out on accommodation and they were staying in the middle of nowhere- another point to the girls! Very high on my bucket list was a donkey ride up the caldera steps, so the boys, too chicken to board went and got a drink (boring!) while i set  out to achieve  my dream of being Lena from sisterhood of the travelling pants . Donkeys are definitely not the smoothest ride, and there were a number of times i thought I'd had it, as my grey haired old donkey scrambled its way down the hill. I had even planned out a mental escape route, which i immediately forgot as the donkey leader untied them and set them free to climb back up the hill. My video of the experience sounds remarkably similar to when i watch a horror movie, filled with gasping and screaming as the donkeys raced up the hill, eager to beat the one in front, or ram their heavy loads into the cliff walls (the bruises will vouch for their success). Shaken but enthralled i hopped down, rounded up the boys, and caught a bus to Oia to tick off another Santorini essential, the famous sunset! 

The sunset was beautiful, but as for the best in the world, I'd have to honestly say the hordes of tourists definitely took away the..... The pink sky symbolised dinner time but making our way through the crowds and into a restaurant seemed difficult, even harder was finding somewhere with a table for 5. The wind had picked up and the night had become quite cold but the rumblings of our stomachs overpowered our goosebumps when the only table available was on the roof. We were certainly unprepared for the wind which I could hardly bear and even snuggling Ethan and wrapping my legs in the tablecloth my teeth began to chatter. Everyone was starving and didn't want to risk the possibility of losing the only available table in Oia so we sat in silence, miserable and shivering. The final straw was when our glass bottled soft drinks and our cutlery were captured by a gust of wind and aimply blew off the table. We packed up ready for home until we realises there was a vacant table downstairs, even though we had asked to move about 10 times and were assured there was simply no free tables. Stuffed chicken breasts all around which were delicious, but the delay and frostbite quietened everyone's praise of the meal. 

A girls day was in order once the boys declined our invitation to the beach so our trio headed off to Perissa to check out the black sand. Sand and wind are never a good combination and unfortunately the wind from the previous night had hardly settled. We tried our best to brave the sand whipping on our backs but soon fled to the shelter of a restaurant for an early lunch of freshly caught seafood, cooked to perfection! In case we were still hungry we all had an ice cream and lasted about another hour in the sun and sand storm before calling it quits. A new night meant a new sunset so we hiked along the coastline of the Island, and were treated to an outstanding view the entire way before reaching the sunset viewpoint at Imeroviglia, which was just as good as Oia, minus the crowd. After our big spending at lunch we settled for a gyros dinner which the boys loved and we headed our separate ways to bed with happy tummies.

Today was the day for adventures and that meant QUAD BIKES! The boys were having s slow start so the girls set off without me and we planned to meet up at the Red Beach. Considering I had never driven a quad before, was going to drive on the wrong side of the road, and risk Ethan's life as well as mine, I was expecting a decent driving lesson before we set off. In Greece, that is clearly too high of an expectation. Accelerator, brake, handbrake, stick to the right side, off you go! And within 1 minute Ethan and I are racing down the road amongst actual traffic with Thommo following behind. Our first stop was Petrol station which immediately presented a problem, how did we indicate to turn in to the station, how did we reverse into the right spot, how did we fill up petrol?? I was already stressed and Ethan ended up pushing the bike to the pump and making the assistant help us out while I calmed down. The calm was fleeting however as the first road we headed up seemed awfully narrow and we had a lot of close shaves, Ethan realised what I had been dreading, we were going the wrong way up a one way road with nowhere in sight to turn around or get off the road. By this point I was panicking and wished that I had no license and could be a passenger like Eth, not the driver with all the pressure and responsibility. A rubbish truck racing around the corner was nearly the end of our day as I screamed and prepared to die. Having survived Ethan directed traffic as I did a U turn and set off on a more safe and less stressful course! By the time we reached the Red Beach I was feeling much more confident and excited for a dip, those helmets are boiling hot!

The red beach was unlike anything I had ever seen. The blue normal sea resided at the base of an enormous red cliff face and had a browny red gravel in place of the white sand typically found back home. It was an interesting contrast of colours but I was more interesting in cooling down than observing the landscape after a stinking hot ride and jumped straight in. Next stop was a small beach off the beaten track that our receptionist has recommended that morning, en route however we lost Thommo as he zoomed past the turn off. Mish decided to chase him and fulfil her inner desire to be a drag racer, but returned solo after a 10min chase so one member short, our bikey gang started the descent down a hill on a dirt track. The poor road surface combined with the extreme incline was quite a slippery route and my hand was aching from clenching the brake as tightly as possible to avoid rear ending Zoe, the extra weight of two people on a bike made it much harder to fight gravity. My aching palm was rewarded though when we reached the empty and isolated black pebble beach with a gorgeous little family taverna the only sign of civilisation as far as you could see. I decided on an octopus salad as was told it was freshly caught that morning by the waitors grandfather sitting a few tables away. The food was beautiful as was the view, and after this we decided to become true Greeks and have a siesta while lying on the beach. Absolute heaven! The girls zoomed off for another Oia sunset but Eth and I decided to go for a big drive and then treat ourselves to a nice dinner before another dreaded goodbye. We dined in style, shirted and dressed up, and I even was allowed to order for us! 

The next morning was goodbye time and after hours and hours of tears shed by both Ethan and I (even though he will deny it) , the boys were gone and I was a sniffling mess. To cheer myself up I decided to have a binge day and accompany Zoe to a hidden beach she had been to with her family to take my mind off my sadness. A pandora charm, 2 blocks of chocolate, 2 new books and chips and tzatziki I was feeling a bit better so we walked down to the very bottom of a cliff, clambered over some rocks and made it to the beautiful little cove/beach! After some initial difficulties trying to make my way in, I was suddenly plunged into the icy water but braved it and swam to a church perched on a rock a little way out. We dried off there and chatted to a man from Crete, our next destination and got some advice on places to go, and in exchange we put his fears of deathly poisonous spiders and snakes being an everyday sight in Melbourne & Sydney to rest (that was why he hadn't been to Australia!!) 

The only downside about this hidden beach was the climb back up in 35 degree heat. Avoiding donkey poo the whole way we stopped for lots of 'photo opportunities' aka breathers, and headed to the bus nice and sweaty. Sadly, the sweat had to stay because we were running late to a dinner date with Zoe and Mish's high school friend, Katya. I opted to spend my money on wine and settled for the cheapest dinner option, Greek salad (had to prioritise). It was a lovely meal and lovely company, and with an introduction to a new type of Greek chocolate the night was perfect. We had a ferry to Crete at 3.45am and the bus took us down to the port at 2.30. We decided to be brave and stay up so we met up with Katya's brother and cousin and had a sober night of clubbing before donning the backpacks and commencing our journey to Crete

The Ios cough

We headed to Ios with the boys and Rach and Ainslie in tow, and after a little nap and some chats we arrived in iOS and followed the pack of Australians onto the bus to Francescos hostel. It took ages to check everyone in but we chilled at reception and enjoyed the amazing view overlooking the bay. Luckily the boys and us girls were staying in the same building, unluckily we were at the bottom of the hill- nice to cruise down, but literally a hike up! After some pool time, we headed off to Mojito bar to meet Ethan's friends, and conveniently bumped into some of ours, Rach and Ainslie, so despite two separate groups forming, everyone was happy, drunk and cheering as the clock struck 12 for Zoe's birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOE! To kick off the celebrations we headed to the beach do Zoe's favourite activity (and mine), tanning!! I splurged on a birthday slice of watermelon and a block of milka for Zoe, and she looked happier than when she got her 70 x more expensive present for her 21st last year! After a relaxing beach day and a seafood feast for lunch it was cocktail time and we bar hopped from beach bar to beach bar, relaxing in daybeds, hammocks, pegolas and having some sheesha which put us all to sleep practically! A huge night was in order so after beautifying, we headed to our private rooftop for drinks and went out on the Ios town to some amazing clubs, which we continued to go to every single night following this, sad I know. 

First it was the free shot at the hostel bar, then we were sheperded down to the affiliated bar, Blue Note where 7 shots got you a free singlet, and very, very intoxicated. From here we headed to Coo Bar to get a dose of Mish's favourite r n b tunes, then to jäger bar, where sevens classic old tunes were revived and we danced until collapse. Typically, food had to be part of the nightly agenda so Porky's, the local gyros shop became our regular 4am stop before stumbling home to bed. Because tonight was a special occasion, we went all out and actually paid entry to the famous slammer bar, where you pay to do a shot and as soon as you have finished it, you get smacked on the head with any nearby inanimate object, in my case a mallet, in Zoe's, a skateboard. Don't ask me why we decided this would be a valuable investment of our quickly diminishing euros..

I wish I could say we did more in Ios, but realistically every day followed this very similar format. The star girls arrived the following day and immediately hopped on the bandwagon.  Wake up at 12, gyros at 1, pool or beach, free shot at the hostel, then blue note and jäger bar, plus a visit to porkies.  This became our daily routine, and despite the repetitiveness, i was loving life. Sun, food and great tunes every night- what more could a girl need? A few little things were mixed up, for example one day Eth and I ordered hot chips, and feeling too clever to ask, Ethan helped himself to the mayonnaise and proceeded to drizzle it over the entirety of our meal. Taste tests soon confirmed it was in fact white chocolate.  sauce for the crepes..  Instead of a gyros for lunch,  we sometimes visited the local restaurant, Fiesta and without fail managed to overindulge, and crawl back clutching at our bulging food babies. There was a beach party at far out one day, the 'Annual Australia Day Party'. As you can imagine, bogans, beers and bikinis were all out to play, and despite the ridiculously drunk crowd, it was a really fun (and messy) afternoon. 

All the partying, poor nutrition and horrendous sleep patterns led to contracting the highly contagious Ios cough. All day and all night the cough could be heard from any part of the island, and considering Steph was coughing in the tune of songs, it was safe to say the iOS cough got the best of all us. Considerably browner, fatter from the kebabs, and severely ill we all left Ios 5 nights later defeated, but still smiling after a week of non stop fun and wild antics. Ios, i will definitely be back, and this time armed with cough medicine