This blog should be retitled…James is definitely no longer a baby and we are also not sure that a month in Greece really counts as travelling. But we do what we can with what we have and this time our trip will be all in one country. As a country Greece is one of our go to favourites and we plan to explore as much as ever.

We managed a cheeky half term break in October but otherwise we (like most others in the U.K.) have been completely grounded since March 2020. I make it 18 months and 12 days since our big 6 months adventure came crashing down only 10 weeks in. I rarely reread blog posts but I have read ‘Game Over’ time and time again. Reflecting on the timing of the pandemic and what it meant for our family and our dreams.

We remain grateful that our friends and family made it through in good health. There were some tricky moments for a couple but we are all still strong. I know that is not the case for so many people and I also know that many countries have more challenges than the U.K. who at least seemed able to get a vaccine rollout delivered double quick.

Since I’m not Dominic Cummings and this isn’t a political blog 🤣 I’ll crack on with talking about our travels. We’ve got the month of August on Crete, with the option to island hop along the way.

We’re on day 2, maybe 3. Frankly I’ve already lost count! We’re in Chania right now and plan to potter around the island at least for 2 weeks. This morning we’re on a typical Greek beach…a little sandy cove, blue clear water, sheltering from fierce heat under olive trees or similar. The noise from the cicadas is incredible and totally welcome. Chania is full of Greeks – I can’t figure out whether it is just because all the English are in the all inclusive resorts down the coast or if Covid really is having an impact. I guess a bit of both.

Some things haven’t changed. Greek salads rock and John’s love of feta cheese continues. You can survive on €5 bottles of white wine indefinitely. The seafood is great. The Greek people are lovely. And James given the choice will also always choose chips for dinner!

Time will tell whether we see / do anything really blog worthy on this trip. But we’ll keep you posted and for now focus on a little bit of rest and relaxation.