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Oct 2, 2014

6.5h “river walk” on Crete island, Greece. The hostel owner is a German hippie guy who created this “walk” which is supposed to be only 2-3 hours but the instructions were extremely vague, eg. “look slightly over your right shoulder and see this rock, go up it. There is a trail next to the waterfall, but don’t take it, go INTO the water, and climb upstream, on the rocks.”

The water was refreshing, clear, and the magic lagoon was cold af, but Tressa braced through it in pic 1, and it’s so clean you can swim in it and drink it at the same time, according to our hostel owner.

After a strenuous climb over meter-high rocks against the waterfall, then through what we called “satan’s field” full of thorns (which were not a part of the instructions), we made it out of the mountain. Treated ourselves amazing food with an amazing view. Then we got lost trying to go home. LOL. Adventure of a lifetime!

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Oct 1, 2014

There were a million thoughts going through my head last night so I’ll try to recall them here on the beach at Damnoni, in Pakias, Crete, Greece.

To start, a perfect hostel dorm room has a shelf on the top bunk, a light switch, a power plug, and curtains for privacy. Toilet/shower is better if not inside the suite, but close by. Cats and dogs add a bit more to the hostel life. Plants are key.

[I’m watching a small bug wash its antennae and legs on my journal paper, right here (and drew a circle around it).]

The best part about traveling is the people and the moments you share with them, and the worst part about traveling is when you say goodbye.

Emily and Gabriel have been wonderful company in the last days when Santorini became storm central. Some people on the first encounter you just know you’ll have a great time with them.

Traveling test all kinds of limits - your bottom line, bravery, courage, curiosity, patience, and stress management skills.

It’s funny to watch old people argue. It’s the same.

Adonis from Any Studies Santorini is someone I would love to have as the manager when I own my hostel. He is so kind, professional, caring, and genuine. He works in the summer season on the islands then back to Athens during off season. Many young people are doing this, he told me. The guy at The Volcano restaurant does the same.

I’ve been invited to “see Santorini/Fira” by many local men and one of them asked me what life is like in Canada and I said that we work a lot. He then said “While you do 8-9 hours a day, out here we work 13-15 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

If you live with someone for days and then they leave, you have this empty/lonely feeling once you’re on your own again. It’s kind of a cruel way to live life I suppose. Imagine you live for 20 or 40 years at the same place with the same neighbours and suddenly one day one of you leave for years…I guess that’s not the same, never mind.

The world is so mobile now, we’re all so close and yet so far.

I saw a beach bag next these two fat topless middle-aged women that said:

“Quit your job Buy a ticket Get a tan Fall in love.”

I’d like to add: “Life goes on.”

 Because I’ve done exactly that, and then life goes on. it’s as simple as that.

Nap time @ the beach, - Anna @ 3:45pm

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Typed up on July 18th, 2017. I’ve thought many times to myself that I need to get back on this blog. It only took three years. Better than never.

Sometimes I read my travel journey and get inspired by the “Anna on the road” where my mind was so open and free. Full of wisdom and lightness. It’s a life’s high.

There is this melancholy that goes with writing about traveling. It’s like, you watch an amazing movie, and it ends. Telling people about traveling is almost impossible. Experience has no equal.

I hope we as humans start asking better questions than “how was it?” (about a trip) and “what do you do?” (about a life). Traveling elicits an indescribable growth that spurs throughout life in the most unexpected ways. I know that many other things in life have the same effect, I’m just grateful to feel this. 

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Many have asked, “What’s a place you’ve been to that you’ll want to go back to?” This place - Crete, in Greece - is one of them. 

This picture was taken after I woke up from a nap on the beach on Pakias, Crete. I remember writing in my travel journal on this beach after a swim, falling asleep, and waking up to this. 

Right after the nap, I had the best souvlaki sandwich in my life. And the girl I was traveling with - had raw tomatoes for the first time in her (20-some-years-of) life. The journey getting here - for her and I - is story-ful.

Sometimes I look at these photos, then close my eyes, and the rest just plays themselves out like a movie. This is why I backpack.

I’m now exactly one year behind my travel photos.

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A happy little Pikachu.

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There is nothing more beautiful than nature.

Sunset on September 29, 2014 - Oia, Santorini, Greece.

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No filter needed. This is the famous sunset at Oia, Santorini, Greece. A tourist trap but worth it.

September 29, 2014

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Because Santorini is gold. 

September 29, 2014

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Emily and I took a rest here - ate food, drank beers, enjoyed sunset - in Oia, Santorini, Greece on September 28, 2014.

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Messy hair, freckles, being silly, being me. I miss dis. 

September 28, 2014

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It’s been a while and I’m still missing Greece :)

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The measure of your life is the amount of beauty and happiness of which you are aware.

Agnes Martin

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jesus

Aurora over the Mackenzie River near Tulit’a, Northwest Territories, Canada.

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Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.

Cesare Pavese

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Sunset in Santorini, Greece. September 28, 2014.