Arrive in Naxos!
We caught a 10:45 am flight today to the island of Naxos. Needless to say, the airport experience went better today than it did back at JFK. Empty lines, breezy airport, etc. The flight was 25 mins in a prop plane over some of the most beautiful colored water I’d ever seen.
Got our car from the Hertz guy waiting for us in the parking lot and drove 20 minutes to our house on the west coast. Nikos, the owner, was waiting for us to show us around.
His place is really beautiful. Designed by his wife, who has very good taste!
In 2019 we took 5 “vacations from our vacation,” usually beach relaxation stays (I’d say those were Bahia (Brazil), Corsica, Mozambique, Manggis (Bali) and Edenhouse (New Zealand). They were all spectacular, but this house has perhaps the best layout for us: A small/manageable house with covered outdoor living room that gives out onto a pool which gives out onto a long stretch of empty beach. No walk, no stairs, just us and the Aegean. Totally silent. It’s amazing.
The kids, obviously, are thrilled.
I took the car and drove to a grocery store, an outing I hate under any other circumstance but love in foreign places.
After that it was beach, pool, reading, making/eating (another) Greek salad and tuna/capers toasts for dinner, and bed.
We have some plans this week — eating out, two boat day trips and some Naxos exploring — there’s a temple to Demeter the cereal god here!! — but there will also just be a lot of just soaking in the heat and quiet. There’s a little bit of a “we flew over a lot of beach houses to get to this one” feeling, but we’re so happy to be here. We’ll make the most of our Greek experience.
Misc:
FYI I finished a manuscript for the book I’m writing about our 2019 travels. It’s an account of the year told chronologically, mostly a bunch of vignettes told in service to a practical tip or travel wisdom picked up along the way. Hoping anyone who reads it can either be vicariously transported by its narrative or helped in actually planning such a trip by using it as a dip in-and-out manual for practical advice (an index will hold things like “homeschooling” to “haircuts”).
It’s the book I wish I’d had before we left — not just because it would’ve told me what to pack, but because it would’ve given me comfort hearing what a trip like this is actually like once you depart.
The day we flew to Athens, I emailed the latest version to an amazing editor I’ve gotten to know, and it’s in her careful/thoughtful/gentle/seasoned/honest hands until the end of the month. So I’m enjoying this vacation very much.
It took me 18 months to get this far (I remember telling Teddy when we first got back that I just needed thirty days – what??). Covid obviously tripped me up, as I was primary caregiver and Zoom school proctor — hardly ideal conditions for uninterrupted “flow” writing time. But I managed to get this far and honestly that alone is something I’m proud of, whether anything comes of it or not.
So stay tuned!
