Why yes indeed, money can buy you happiness.

Unless you paid 95 euros for a sub-par boat tour like we did. At least the sunset was kick ass.

Santorini Sunset-Chasing

To be very honest, Santorini wasn't my favourite Greek island.

The moment we got off the ferry, we were faced with hordes of tourists, drivers and salesmen (of all sorts) - a world of a difference from our quaint, quiet Milos which we'd just bid a tearful farewell to that morning.

Santorini was too loud and too crowded.

After lunching on the best calamari at Roko's, we checked in and got on with the one thing on everyone's to-do list in Santorini - chasing the sunset. We did some intensive googling and then finally headed out after a friend handed over the exact coordinates of "the best place".

With what felt like 7 billion people also jostling for that winning angle of the sunset.

Soon enough we figured out why people pay ridiculous amounts of money to get to Santorini. 

The magic doesn't end when the large, perfectly round sun slowly dips through the horizon, taking it's time as it shows off it's perfectness. In fact it's almost arguable that the magic begins after. The sky darkens, it gets a little grey. But bit by bit, shades of purple start to appear. They begin to blend with the rest of the orange at the horizon, and the most insane ombre sky appears.

And then you lean back a little to take that all in (there's a bit more space to do so by now, 'cos most of the tourists have seen the ball drop and the phase of grey and have moved on for their seafood dinners) and sigh an expensive sigh (because everything in Santorini is expensive).

By the end of the night, we'd spent a good 2 hours at the same spot staring into the bright blue cave pools we were too poor to afford. But that gives you a fair representation of Santorini already - blue, very blue, expensive but complete with mind-blowing beauty all around.

P.S. Still kicking myself for not splurging more on a cave pool 😣

Lest we forget,

Did a full day boat tour going around Kleftiko and the Polyaigos island with Excellent Yachting on our final day in Milos, and I'd happily give them another 85 euros to do this all over again.

Milos, Greece - How to be a klutz and get away with it

Milos was one of the places we looked forward to the most throughout all of our planning. 

"Underrated", "up-and-coming Santorini equivalent", "fresh seafood", "turquoise blue waters", "top 10 must see in Greece" appeared throughout our Google searches so, yes, yes a hundred times over.

So here began a journey that we were hella excited for but was (almost) single handedly ruined by yours truly.

We were somehow convinced that despite having 0 ATV driving experience, we would do fine on it and be able to travel across the island. The guy who drove half an hour down to deliver it let me test it out and then told me that if I continued to drive it I would eventually kill myself on it.

Ok no thanks.

So we decided to rent a car instead. No problem obviously 'cos I've held my license for 3 years now, duh. 

Nah 'cos yo homegirl forgot about the handbrakes and effectively killed the 2 back tyres 5 minutes into driving. So........ no car, no ATV, 1.5h and 120 euros poorer later, we ended up having to walk half an hour in the sun to get to Papafragas. 

Climbing down and swimming in the cool blue water was all fun and games until we realised the next beach was an hour's walk away. But taxis in Milos are as scarce as a clothed human at a beach destination..... so an hour's walk it was. Until we met the sweetest old man who spoke 0 english and offered to give us a lift when all we wanted were directions. 

We sat in silence (language barrier) until we got off and thanked him profusely, even offering to pay him for the ride but he rejected all of that politely, gesturing that he had to keep driving on to his next destination.

For all the hard work it took to get there, Sarakiniko was well worth it. Looking everything like the moon's surface (based on my imagination) and velvety blue waters, Sarakiniko was honestly pure magic.

We bounced up and down the rocks, dipped our feet into the clear waters, watched people jump off the rocky cliffs, tried to psycho each other to jump off (he did in the end), laughed along with a couple on an engagement shoot (with a broccoli for a bouquet) and stuffed our faces with chips.

All in a foreign land, with no means of transport back to our hotel, we let ourselves loose and embraced what it meant to be on holiday.

As we started walking out, Jia (the smarter half) decided to stop a car and ask if we could hitch hike. Thankfully!!! enough, the 2 kind ladies said yes of course! and that they were going to the same town too. 

So there we go, an incredibly lousy day turned 11/10 with 2 new friends to boot. Major plus being a newfound appreciation for Jia. It's not easy putting up with a klutz, generously offering to split the repair fee and still giving in to all that I want. 

Bring on the imperfect days - for these are the ones I'm most thankful for.