travel – Grace Holler

Adios, Chicago! Hola, Cozumel!

I got stung my too many jelly fish while snorkeling, so I just spent my time on our last day in the sun on the boat drinking cervezas!

Submarine tour. Went 100 feet below the surface.

Went golfing on Christmas with my dad. Took this at the golf course.

Ordered a strawberry daiquiri, but my drink of choice on this trip was a mojito!

Tour guide went under the glass bottom boat on our snorkel trip.

Ordered the drink “sex on the beach” in the morning.

Rare photo of myself, not behind the camera.

Soaking up as much sun as I could, as my family finished packing.

A little video I put together on TikTok of some of the things we did on our trip!

This was an unusual Christmas for my family. We wanted to do something different, so my mom looked at trips and decided we should all go to Cozumel, Mexico. I was so excited to get out of the cold and snowy Wisconsin and Chicago weather for a week. I was hyped for the drinks, and as soon as I got to the resort, I ordered a mango mojito. It hit the spot, after a stressful semester. The next day, we spent at the beach and pool. My brother’s girlfriend and I spent our day laying in lounge chairs sipping on mojitos from our favorite bartender, Antonio. The rest of the family went scuba diving, which I failed my test and had no desire to die under water. I’m more into land sports, such as golf and basketball. We enjoyed the sun and drinks all day and I was very much in my happy place.

On Christmas, my dad and I went golfing at the local golf club. It was my first time swinging a club in about a year, so I was a little rusty. Still was a fun time. We saw lots of wildlife on the course.

On the last day, I went snorkeling. I was hesitant to do so, because I had seen jellyfish in the water that week and had no desire to get stung. I went anyway, because I thought that it’d be a fun experience. For the time that I was in the water, I saw a little sea turtle. Then I started getting stung by jellyfish, and I decided to get out because I couldn’t take the pain anymore. I just enjoyed myself on the boat instead, soaked up the sun and drank cervezas.

These photos were all taken on my phone. It is a pain in the ass to lug around my heavy camera, especially when there is a chance it could get water and sand in it, or even get damaged.

If you liked last weeks blog, then check out Becca’s page! http://blogs.uww.edu/weddingsmadeeasy/

I took all of these photos when I was over in Greece this past summer. I was there with about thirty other students for three weeks on a study abroad trip. It was a once in a lifetime trip. We went to the mainland and to some of the islands. We first flew into Athens, Greece. We then drove through the mainland to Dimitsana, which was a small town.

It was our first full day. We were in Dimitsana. We were told that we are going on a four hour hike. It turned out that that four hour hike would end up to be an 11 hour hike and ten miles. One person had to get a cab a couple hours in and go back to the hotel because they were going to pass out. It was so hot and humid and hard to breathe up in the mountains.

My favorite cities that we visited was Crete and Santorini, which are islands of Greece. We stayed on each island for about four days each. The only issue was getting from island to island. From Crete to Santorini, we had to take an over night ferry. My experiences with ferries have been awful. So, to calm my nerves, I drank three bottles of wine and I felt much better and calm. I stayed up really late, because I was very anxious, and when I decided to go to bed, I laid down and felt the ship rocking and heard a loud noise. I will never go on a ferry ride again in my life if I don’t have to.

Favorite parts– One day we got to choose to go one a hike or to go lay on a beach and go swimming– I chose to lay on the beach and have a cocktail.

The food was amazing. And there was so much of it. Literally every sit down lunch or dinner had multiple courses. There was an appetizer, which included bread and tzatziki sauce (cucumber spread) to put on top of the bread. There was also Greek salad, which included no actual lettuce. There were tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, feta cheese, olive oil, onion, salt, and oregano. The typical lunch entre included a lasagna dish. Then there was a desert, which included some pastry or fruit. Dinner was about a four course meal.

Overall–This trip was amazing. The views were unbelievable and it was a once in a lifetime trip.