We really lucked out with our airbnb host who helped us rent a car for the day to drive from Perissa to the cities of Fira and Oia. It was a pretty easy drive, stopping at the Red Sand Beach and some lookout points that made me even more excited to just get to Oia. 

Fira was the same as I had remembered it, a ton of shopping and restaurants and hills. If you've never been, there are a lot of steps in the little town, but souvenirs here are a bit cheaper! It's so weird visiting a place you were at 5 years prior.
I remember Oia. I remembered that I loved it so much. I loved it even more the second time. Some of the souvenir shops even looked familiar to me while we went through them. Oia is such a picturesque town, every step is seriously breathtaking!
When I first visited, my favorite thing that I got to do was the Kissing Fish! Luckily, my friend Catie agreed to do it with me, so we washed our feet and stuck them in a tank full of fish. They're teethless, and make your skin so smooth!



If you're also in Oia stay for the sunset. It's gorgeous and probably the best one you might see your entire life. I still can't believe that I have been lucky enough to go to this city twice in my lifetime, and I hope that it's not my last time. It's crazy, writing about and seeing these photos more than a month later, because it really doesn't feel real! 

One of my favorite places that I have ever visited in the world is Santorini, Greece. I was there with my family on a cruise in 2012, and five years later who would have thought I would have the chance to go back but this time with my best friends.




Santorini was full of amazing memories, on the first day we hung out at the Black Sand beach less than half a mile from our airbnb. It was a bit windy, but we've been sun-deprived for so long that nothing was going to stop us from soaking it in.



It's hard to describe a place that is so beautiful in words. Not even pictures do it justice. There was the cutest stray dog on the beach who was so happy to hang out with us, my friend Catie and I even took selfies with him. We called him Ralph and he followed us to a restaurant, and unfortunately we never saw Ralph after that. Hope he's doing well living on the beach.

PC: Hannah

Because it was off season, a lot of the shops were closed, which was alright because we found a grill house nearby that served delicious gyros! There were so many shops on the beachfront that I'm sure in the summer are filled with people! If you're going to the black sand beach, it's a bit rockier than we had expected.

There are just some trips that you remember for ages. Whether it be the first time going out of state, the first time going somewhere with just your friends, or the first time you've seen the ocean. 3 years ago I had the lucky chance to go on my first trip overseas. Italy, Greece and Turkey. 

It was the 10th of July 2012. 

My mothers side of the family had been planning this trip for over a year, there were originally 10 people in our group, unfortunately my Grandpa hurt his foot and was unable to join us, making our party a group of 9. 

Our first stop was in Rome Italy. 

I can still remember the dark green stair case we had to take to our apartment-style hotel room. I could tell you the exact place we had our first meal, after a 9 hour flight, we were quite delirious with lack of sleep and that could be why the pizza tasted like bites of heaven. The gelato was incredibly smooth, and tasty and I'm pretty sure I could probably survive on gallons of the stuff.