Trip Report Our 19-Day Mediterranean Adventure – Greece, Turkey and the Search for Free Wifi

Finally, right? It seems like I’ve been waiting forever to start this, but really we’ve only been back three weeks! And in that time I’ve lived in a hotel for two weeks and driven across the country from Washington DC to our new home in...wait for it...Las Vegas! For some reason I have chosen now, surrounded by boxes that need to be unpacked, as the time to start my trip report. Stalling maybe? :D So here it goes!

What: A massive 19 day (13 days on the cruise with 6 more including travel time and extra days in Europe) trip extravaganza. A 12 night Mediterranean cruise with a day in London beforehand and a few days in London and Barcelona afterwards. So yes. This is going to be a long stinking trip report. Oh, and I took 5239 pictures. On my camera! That doesn’t even count the Instagram/iphone photos you’ll see scattered throughout the report.

Great day in the morning.

Why: Because cruises are awesome mostly. But also because I was able to do a last-minute 11 night Med cruise back in April of 2010 with my daughter and some other family and friends, so this was a makeup cruise for my son and husband. It worked nicely as a graduation trip/present. :)

When: June 13-July 1, 2013

I booked this cruise the day it came out, back in January of 2012.

As time got closer we realized it was going to get crazy. My daughter was going to have to miss the last day of school, my son was graduating from high school the Saturday before the trip, we had a house full of family that whole weekend and a big graduation party on Sunday, he then left and was coming home one day early from his senior trip to make it on time, and we were moving across the country to Las Vegas so our household goods were all moved the day before we left. Then the kids were traveling with their youth group to Scotland 3 days after the cruise ended, so it really didn’t make sense for us to come all the way back home and we needed to stay in Europe for three more days before we dropped them off in London Heathrow. Got all that? Yes. Like I said, a little crazy.

Totally worth it though. :)

Who: Us! Here we are a few days before we left! This picture is a celebration of the whole Whiting family – but mostly Chase. The high school graduate. Also appearing in this photo are myself-Tammy, hubby-Stephen, and daughter – Ally.



My parents! My parents were on our last Med cruise, and have been in several of my trip reports. They had quite the trip in store for them. Here they are in Monaco:



My in-laws! My in-laws were also on my last Med cruise, as well as a few other cruises with us, so they may look familiar if you've ever read one of my reports. Here they are in Palo:



My brother-in-law! Scott has appeared in a few trip cruise trip reports as well. He’s the oldest of three boys with my hubby falling in the middle. Here he is in Mykonos:

 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I went to my parent's room to check on Mom. Oh my word they had an ordeal that day. I had no idea. Dad was a little stressed.

The infectious disease doctor who had seen Mom that morning wanted her to go to a hospital in Athens just to make sure there were no clots. They did and the x-ray was clear.
The problem was that the hospital didn’t want to let them leave. They wanted Mom to stay for 4-5 days. Days!! :eek: Dad kept explaining that they were only there for the x-ray and were not staying. The hospital workers were quite insistent and even pretended to agree while they took Dad and Mom into a room. As soon as Dad took one step in the room and realized what they were doing, he stopped and refused to go in.

They finally relented and put Dad and Mom in the cab after they'd been there a few hours.

Then when they got back to the ship, they told the original doctor who had seen Mom, that the hospital didn’t want them to leave. That doctor (who we are assuming misunderstood their reason for going there ?) told them they should have stayed.

Oh no!

Mom was sleeping in the clinic and Dad was worried that they were going to put them off after she woke up. I felt horrible. I know the ordeal was even worse because they couldn’t get ahold of me all day.

There was nothing we could do but wait at this point. I took a Wave Phone and turned on my cell phone. I told Dad to call me immediately if anyone tried to put them off this ship!

And that was their day while we were off gallivanting around Greece. :(

My next stop was Port Excursions to make sure Dad and Mom were not charged for the excursion we had planned the next day in Ephesus.

I must have walked by the theater at some point:



I also knew Mickey was coming out soon, so I went to do a little character stalking. Here he is! Look how cute!

 

Crush Dude!

Back from WDW!Counting down to DLP in November!
Man greece looks amazing!!!!

Makes me really wanna book that 9 night cruise out of Venice :D:D:D

The pictures are amazing!!

Feel so bad for your mom and dad, what a horrible day!

Glad to hear stephen got his arm back also ;)
 

Tidbit

Active Member
oh my word I would have been ticked off if they would have tried that stunt with my mom & dad! It really sucks that they didn't get to enjoy their cruise! Another curios question that I'm sure others are also wondering.....was your mom & dad able to get "any" of their money back from the cruise via the insurance claim? Other that what the med bills were? I mean to pay all that money then get that sick were you can't do anything!

Love love love love your pics of Greece! Unfortunately this is NOT one of my ports, but I would love to see it just once! I have a friend who has a "home" there. Her husband grew up in Greece, and when he was alive I loved to hear him talk!!!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Man greece looks amazing!!!!

Makes me really wanna book that 9 night cruise out of Venice :D:D:D

The pictures are amazing!!

Feel so bad for your mom and dad, what a horrible day!

Glad to hear stephen got his arm back also ;)

It is amazing! And Mykonos is coming up! It's wonderful too!

So glad he got his arm back. :)

oh my word I would have been ticked off if they would have tried that stunt with my mom & dad! It really sucks that they didn't get to enjoy their cruise! Another curios question that I'm sure others are also wondering.....was your mom & dad able to get "any" of their money back from the cruise via the insurance claim? Other that what the med bills were? I mean to pay all that money then get that sick were you can't do anything!

Love love love love your pics of Greece! Unfortunately this is NOT one of my ports, but I would love to see it just once! I have a friend who has a "home" there. Her husband grew up in Greece, and when he was alive I loved to hear him talk!!!

Yes, it was not good!

I haven't followed up with Dad. They're coming next week to take Ally to school while I'm girl cruising, so I will get all the details. But yes, he should have been reimbursed for the days they missed too!

I would like to have a home there! :)
 

PartOfYourWorld

Well-Known Member
Greeece looks awesome!!!!!!!!

That was super awful for your mom :( I wonder how she came down with it??? I wish she could have enjoyed her trip more! Poor thing :(

OMG THAT FOOD AT PALO BRUNCH. Is that seriously where we're going to be in 10 days???? I WANT ALL THAT FOOD.
 

WDW_Princess24

Active Member
Oh no, I feel just awful about your Mom, what a way to spend your vacation :(.

Rome and Athens look just beautiful, can't wait to see what else you have in store for us!!
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
Oh Athens! My father grew up there. Beautiful pictures!

Believe it or not, when I was a young chubby kid, my Mom would force me to wear that very same outfit that Mickey had on. Then I had to Greek dance in it and recite Greek poems. Yes, trying to put on white pantyhose and a skirt was part of my pre-teen years. :eek:

So sorry about your Mother. I think escaping the Greek hospital would have been my choice. I hope there is some good news coming up.
 

erstwo

Well-Known Member
It's okay, Erin. It's good to come clean. Lol!!
He is going to Lipscomb University in Nashville. He's loving it so far!
Do not stay up all night! It will still be here. :)

Well, I didn't stay up all night, but I did stay up til 1!:bookworm: Yikes!o_O My in laws flew in from Chicago today. I told them that if they didn't have clean sheets they'd need to blame you and your TR. :) Kidding. :D

It was worth it though. Love the photography as always. I love how you take the time to put yourself in some of the photos too. One of those things most moms don't do, even though we should. You look amazing as always.

As others said, I love your party throwing style!

Nashville! What a great choice! (Maybe not as great as a certain lovely village on the plains, but at least there's no SEC conflict. :D:D:D) But seriously, Nashville is just such a great place to be a young adult and not too bad for parents and sisters to visit either! :)

So sorry about your mom. I'm hoping it doesn't get worse for her.

Loving all of your off the boat times. I like seeing how often you use the public transit. Do you email your magic notes to others going on this cruise? :D That would be so awesome!
 

Tidbit

Active Member
It is amazing! And Mykonos is coming up! It's wonderful too!

So glad he got his arm back. :)



Yes, it was not good!

I haven't followed up with Dad. They're coming next week to take Ally to school while I'm girl cruising, so I will get all the details. But yes, he should have been reimbursed for the days they missed too!

I would like to have a home there! :)

ok that's good to hear! I was wondering! I figured as much since they got the insurance! I can't wait to hear all about the "girls cruise!" I was gonna go , but the family decided they wanted to do Italy at the same time! :grumpy:
 

Tidbit

Active Member
Oh Athens! My father grew up there. Beautiful pictures!

Believe it or not, when I was a young chubby kid, my Mom would force me to wear that very same outfit that Mickey had on. Then I had to Greek dance in it and recite Greek poems. Yes, trying to put on white pantyhose and a skirt was part of my pre-teen years. :eek:

So sorry about your Mother. I think escaping the Greek hospital would have been my choice. I hope there is some good news coming up.

Fractal!! You must post a picture........I'm sure you have one somewhere that your mother took! That would be cool to see!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Greeece looks awesome!!!!!!!!

That was super awful for your mom :( I wonder how she came down with it??? I wish she could have enjoyed her trip more! Poor thing :(

OMG THAT FOOD AT PALO BRUNCH. Is that seriously where we're going to be in 10 days???? I WANT ALL THAT FOOD.

I have no idea how she got it!! She was fine before it came on!

Yes. You will be there. And you will love all that food. :)

Oh no, I feel just awful about your Mom, what a way to spend your vacation :(.

Rome and Athens look just beautiful, can't wait to see what else you have in store for us!!

I know, we were so sad. But she was able to get out more at the end of the cruise and still have fun!

More is coming! :)

Oh Athens! My father grew up there. Beautiful pictures!

Believe it or not, when I was a young chubby kid, my Mom would force me to wear that very same outfit that Mickey had on. Then I had to Greek dance in it and recite Greek poems. Yes, trying to put on white pantyhose and a skirt was part of my pre-teen years. :eek:

So sorry about your Mother. I think escaping the Greek hospital would have been my choice. I hope there is some good news coming up.

Thank you, Fractal!

Um. I wholeheartedly agree with Tidbit's comment. We need to see a picture of that. I have a mental picture already and it is awesome.

The Greek hospital was not ideal. No air conditioning and the bed was similar to a cot according to my Dad. :eek:
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Well, I didn't stay up all night, but I did stay up til 1!:bookworm: Yikes!o_O My in laws flew in from Chicago today. I told them that if they didn't have clean sheets they'd need to blame you and your TR. :) Kidding. :D

It was worth it though. Love the photography as always. I love how you take the time to put yourself in some of the photos too. One of those things most moms don't do, even though we should. You look amazing as always.

As others said, I love your party throwing style!

Nashville! What a great choice! (Maybe not as great as a certain lovely village on the plains, but at least there's no SEC conflict. :D:D:D) But seriously, Nashville is just such a great place to be a young adult and not too bad for parents and sisters to visit either! :)

So sorry about your mom. I'm hoping it doesn't get worse for her.

Loving all of your off the boat times. I like seeing how often you use the public transit. Do you email your magic notes to others going on this cruise? :D That would be so awesome!

1! Lol! It's okay, I'll take the heat from your in-laws. :)

I try to put myself in photos more. I agree, our kids will want that one day. :)

Thank you! It was a great party!

It may not be as lovely as some options according to Stephen's family either. Hah! But there will be no sports conflicts!! :)

It really didn't get worse! Athens was the low point for her.

I would totally email my notes to anyone! :)

ok that's good to hear! I was wondering! I figured as much since they got the insurance! I can't wait to hear all about the "girls cruise!" I was gonna go , but the family decided they wanted to do Italy at the same time! :grumpy:

There are going to be so many trip reports after the girls cruise!! I'm sorry you'll miss it, although Italy is a good substitute!

Fractal!! You must post a picture........I'm sure you have one somewhere that your mother took! That would be cool to see!

Yes. This.
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
All caught up! This is one awesome trip! I love all your detailed planning, I'm like that too.

Thank you akayw0718! I have gotten bad lately about neglecting the planning for my own trips since I do it so much. But I was good on this one! Other than the whole printing it out thing. :)

That would require a bribe of at least 7 figures!
7 VINYLMATION figures? that can be done!

Perhaps young Sterg would be helpful in this quest - can you communicate with someone via Vine? LETS MAKE A VIDEO!!!
;)

All jokes aside...seriously we want to see that picture. haha.
ok Christo...aka Fractal we MUST see this picture, and here are my 7 figures: :D:eek::p:cool::cat::devilish::facepalm:

There go you!
 

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