Day 1 – L’Derry – Mykonos

Having organised and packed for our holidays in only a couple of days, this was perhaps the least prepared adventure of ours thus far. Having met at Anna’s house before leaving to Dublin, I already had to go back to mine and get my student card (for all the discounts of course). Meanwhile, Anna was busy painting her nails but somehow missed her toenails and had painted half of her foot pink. Not a great start to look pretty but at least she had some colour. We also got an impromptu going- away party as some of Amy’s (Anna’s sister) friends popped in to see her – although it was definitely to see us and to get mentioned on our instagram….

Arriving at the bus depot, we both managed to get student tickets to Dublin despite Anna’s student card having expired, and unusual to what we are used to, we managed to get to Dublin Airport, get through security and get our plane to London Gatwick without any sort of problem.

It was only 7.30am but the airport was already populated with tourists from all over the world, eating burgers and downing beers. We opted for a healthy breakfast and some coffee and tea instead. This will make us look skinny tomorrow on the beach.

With our flight to Mykonos not leaving until 2.30pm, we had quite a few hours to spare, and there is only so much of Gatwick airport you can see, and only so many pairs of sunglasses you can try on to amuse yourself. However, we did keep ourselves entertained by playing ‘Guess who’ with our fellow passengers in the waiting area. I had an overwhelming victory as Anna failed to remember the most basic descriptions of her target without looking every 5 seconds.

In a day where technology has taken over our lives, we needed to find an outlet to charge our phones, more so for Louis as his phone had all our boarding passes and accommodation confirmations for that night. There is a severe lack of plugs in London Gatwick but we managed to find a rare space in Starbucks.

This was when the drama started, the one that accompanies us on our travels every time. Randomly, without being punched or hit on the nose, Louis’ nose started bleeding, and then pouring blood. After googling ‘random nose bleed’ one of the explanations for this was a sudden arousal. Maybe that healthy breakfast worked fast and Anna was quickly a 10/10. Im sure that isn’t a shock to you all though.

To quickly sort the nose bleed out we decided to get some lunch. After Anna turning vegan/veggie/haven’t decided what she’ll be this holiday, the choice of meal deals in WHSmith and Boots have reduced. To find the best option we went into Boots, then WHSmith, then Boots, WHSmith, Boots and ended up with Louis enjoying a triple chicken delight and Anna… a pot of fruit.

After Anna finished her mango, she decided that she was still quite peckish (shock) and I was sent back to WHSmith to buy her some smoked corn. Unfortunately, I picked up the wrong favour and was sent back to change them. The girl was very kind and let me do this hassle free. Anna was happy again and that’s all that matters.

The boarding line for the plane to Mykonos was a zoo, the air conditioning had broken, the vending machine was broken, tensions were rising between our fellow passengers. This animalistic mentality unfortunately followed me onto the plane. Sitting in 11C, Anna was away over in 11D across those huge aisles on EasyJet. I was stuck with what only could be described as a love-struck love island couple on drugs. It would have been more efficient if they only booked the one seat and put a screen up in the middle. To distract myself, I read close to 400 pages on my kindle whilst Anna got to sleep like a baby. I had a few naps but I was almost always interrupted by an accidental nudge and a “oh stop hehehehe, stop hehehe” comment to follow.

An hour and a half in, we had still not left the terminal and were stationary in Gatwick for much longer than we would have liked but at the end of the day, we got to Mykonos safe and sound and without any actual hassle with passport control or baggage handlers.

Our hostel for the night was Paraga Beach Hostel, the cheapest place we found and only 5 minutes it would seem from the airport. Accompanied by an English backpacker and an Australian tourist, we were taken to our hostel by a very nice, but very mental driver.

Anna made a good point in stating that there was no lighting in Mykonos. Street lights were non-existent with the only lighting coming from mood lighting on nearby buildings. Very romantic, very unsafe. Luckily, it was only 2 buses and 6 moped drivers that we nearly crashed into on the narrow roads of the island.

People always think that hostels are so dirty and boring and most people don’t even consider them when booking a holiday. Yes, you do get hostels like that but thankfully we didn’t this time. Paraga Beach was a hostel complex with it’s own swimming pool, restaurant, bars, pier and exclusive beaches. There were families, old couples and young travellers all cohabiting, although Anna still felt that she was on a ‘lads holiday’ with me.

Knackered from all our travelling, we headed to the poolside bar to share a pizza and have a few glasses of wine. We almost had the place to ourselves as everyone was on their way to the nightclub ‘Scorpio’. Instead, we relaxed and watched the stars and were even entertained by fireworks just a couple of metres away.

It was such an amazing first night but we thought it was best to head to our room to get an early night and some rest. When we arrived, 3 of our roommates were there. All American, but surprisingly very friendly. They were all traveling alone and gave us some tips for the rest of our journey. 1 girl was heading out to the club and the other 2 had already striped off and were lying on top of their beds. We thought we’d both get changed and do the same. Front row seats to the Anna and Louis show – lucky buggers! Thank goodness for that healthy breakfast – cut the number of tyres in half. Grab your tissues roomies, there is probably a nose bleed coming your way.