Israel Tech Trip 2023🇮🇱
Dear Sam, Nathan, Judith, Livia, Raph, and Tima.
I did my best to help Simon and make this trip as great as the last… but it’s just not possible. The first trip you gave me will go down in my history as the best, and it was definitely due to the special energy and happiness you guys all few out of the participants. For me this one was special in a different way, being a bit more of a leader, but more importantly having my father meet my friends and get a glimpse into my life on our favourite place on earth.
Updates coming soon…
Amity St Brooklyn🇺🇸
The newest home in the USA, where I now go to see my dearest Aunt and Uncle, Cora, and the doggies. Updates coming soon…
Israel Tech Trip 2022🇮🇱
One of the best trips of my life… coming soon just as soon as the memories are sifted through
Greece 🇬🇷
I spent 7 months of quarantine in singapore, and from there I went to off to start uni in London, so for nearly 2 years I hadn’t been on a proper holiday. My mom and I had been planning to meet up in the summer if COVID allowed, and Greece is where we decided on. It was an amazing trip, made by the weather, the freedom, the company, the food, and those who hosted and helped us along the way.
I will include mostly pictures here, as well as our best memories from each day of the trip. We spent time in Athens, Hydra, Sifnos, and Milos, so I will also include our best tips and the places we stayed for each. If anyone wants a beautiful, cultural, fairly active, Greek itinerary with more low-key nightlife but still some bars and places to congregate involved, I would recommend these places.
ATHENS
Hotel Attalos
Right near to Monastiraki Square, Pysri neighbourhood, Plaka, and walking distance to nearly everything of note tourist wise in Athens.
We easily walked the shopping streets, saw the monuments and museums near to the Acropolis, and browsed bars and restaurants in what the “hip” area of town is.
Attalos isn’t the fanciest hotel you’ve seen, and is rather unassuming from the outside, but it has a beautiful rooftop that offers 360º views of the city, and most importantly, the Parthenon.
HYDRA
We took at 45min ferry from Athen’s port, Pireaus, to Hydra. Hydra is a beautiful island with no cars allowed, and we were able to occupy ourselves for nearly the whole day. We walked around the tiny port and explored the backstreets, then we ate at Sunset Taverna which is a must if you’re there. There is rocky swimming around the coast, and we spend the afternoon in a nice little cove. Our ferry was quite late, only departing at 21:00 and we probably could’ve done with one a few hours earlier.
SIFNOS
Sifnos is the perfect island for a quiet romantic get away, or to go with family if you really want to relax, enjoy idyllic greek geography, and have amazing food and drinks at an affordable price. Maybe it was the time of year or the COVID situation, but there were hardly any foreign tourists where we were. It was the perfect way to spend a few days.
We stayed in Akrotiraki Apartments in Platy Gialos. The flat was amazing with a private balcony and very modern features. We were on the best beach in Sifnos in my opinion, and our little strip had a mini mart, several good restaurants and bars, and beach umbrellas for rent. What more could you want?
We also went to Vathi for a day which has another beautiful beach, and the capital Apollonia is also great for a more lively night out. Kastro and a few other towns on the island are good to drive to, park, and explore.
MILOS
After being lulled into a peaceful state on Sifnos, getting off the ferry in Milos was a bit of a rude awakening. Milos is more akin to the Mykonos Greek vibe, though not nearly as packed full of people partying. We rented a car again and quickly adjusted though. Milos is beautiful, with 30+ beaches to see all offering something slightly different. You could definitely spend more than 3 nights here, and if you don’t have a car and/or a boat you might as well not come.
We stayed in Pollonia at Apollon Rooms which was quaint and chilled, yet a 5 minute walk put you on a nice little seafront town with great restaurants, shops, and cafés. To make the most of our time we drove to a different beach on a different part of the island every half-day nearly. Our favourites (and ones everyone will tell you not to miss if you visit) were Firiplaka, Loco beach club particularly, and Sarakiniko, force yourself to go early for sunrise before it’s infested with people you won’t regret it.
Also recommend a half day boat tour if you aren’t renting your own, that way you can get a taste of the the entire Western portion of Milos that is inaccessible by car. Some of the most beautiful volcanic rock formations I have seen are there, and the most popular beach of Kleftikos is worth the amount of tourists boating and swimming around just to experience navigating yourself in and around the caves in the water.
ATHENS
Herodion Hotel
For the end of our trip we wanted to treat ourselves to a bit more luxury so we booked a fancier hotel. Still located in middle of Athens, just with a higher rating and a few fancier facilities. The ferry from Milos to Athens takes up a decent amount of the day so we just relaxed a bit that evening.
On our last day we got COVID tests at our hotel – I suggest using , they are decently affordable and come to you if you don’t want to travel around Athens looking for a testing centre. Then we enjoyed a nice complimentary breakfast and went to the Municipal Market which was everything you would expect from a shouk in a city. Soaking up some last rays of sun on the nice rooftop with jacuzzi and dining at the rooftop bar on our last night.
Lots more photos are on my instagram, and if you want any logistical information about where we went / stayed / what we did, message me!
27 June
unexpected Covid test (my first)
Rooftop (coffee, bailey’s, old man hit on me with google translate)
DSLR notes at night
28 June
mom arrived early
Amazing Greek salad
Hot and limping
Shopping and saw the police
Picked up in luxurious van for private tour
Olympic stadium
Museum
Acropolis
Dropped us off in plaka and ate random fancy dishes
Bougie lady got something stolen
Walked home
Rooftop for wine and chocolate milk
29 June
went to port
Wandered for coffee
Hydra
Wandered around looking for pharmacy and got into argument lol
Sunset taverna meal (treated like royalty and only ones there at first)
Sprayed white shit on my leg
Went swimming on the rocks and drenched by waves
Walked to fishing village
Found shade and swam around everyone topless
First photo shoot
Went back to port sat for a good cappuccino
Talked about friends and gossip
Made our way back up and people watched to the sunset
Ferry back
Leg p swollen
Mila went out and mom got mad
Pollalis gave me grand tour
Late night only a few hours of sleep
30 June
early ferry
Good cappuccino on ferry
Rental car
Mom handling shift
Windshield wipers / anxious trip to platy Gialos
Flat amazing but not ready yet so we went to the beach
Umbrella at beach and late lunch at beautiful Greek place
Watched 5 episodes of GOT
1 july
Woke up late
Went to capital and wandered around a bit stressed
Got ripped off at pharmacy
Got ripped off at gas station
Supermarket but couldn’t find much and didn’t get red wine
Back to our beach for much needed relax
Dinner at Greek place
Finished game of thrones
2 July
vathi for something new
Brief argument and then stayed and it was nice
Stalled on hill at kastro and said no to further exploration
Went home
Finished GOT
Small tiff
Photo shoot
Late dinner / drinks & daiquiri and wonderful deep chats about boys and friends and life
Home to pack and sleep
3 July
returned car
Boarded wrong ferry and got kicked off
More cappuccinos
Couldn’t find rental car at first
Drove to pollinia
Checked in and started beach hopping
Did northwest region
Went to strange beach with unhappy rich people and had YELLOW pita
Had private area but sun ruined it for mom
Checked out another hip beach in a little fishing place with a hill that freaked mom out
Came back walked here for dinner
Nice sunset and bottle of wine
Started queens gambit
4 July
woke up early for breakfast
Mila locked in
Went south and found the most amazing beach
Loco (treated ourselves to a beach chair, had an amazing 12-4 beach day, got a strawberry daiquiri)
Went home and chilled
Jordan meat ing for dinner
Read outside on balcony for a bit and watched queen’s gambit
5 July
woke up at 5am to watch sunrise at rocky beach
Came back for breakfast / coffee
Departed for tsrigado to catch the boat tour at 11am
Older crowd, arrived early and say sweltering on the patio so mila stripped
Boarded boat and stopped for a swim 30min in (mom braved her fears and came in with a noodle)
Cruised again until kleftikos
Crazy lady on board, beautiful caves and swam through together
Fishies and rocks and goats chilling on the shore
Back to Pollonia
Had a nice coffee at apollon and spoke to our hosts, one of which studied maths at imperial and the other which ended uo working ar Yialos, our fav restaurant in the town
Read and sunned at private little beach
Arm workout, organized, etc in the room until 7ish
Walked out to Yialos for our last dinner and enjoyed another bottle of wine while making this note
Exceptional people watching as per usual
Home to finish queens gambit for last night
6 July
up early ish to pack and have last breakfast
Moved out
Payed accommodation tax but got coffees for free in the end
Got gas and of course another small argument
Returned car way too early and sat on the curb for a bit
Moved to ferry lobby where some Spanish girl was crying her eyes out
Boarded ferry which was mostly empty
Peed 20 times and got another one of the good cappucinos of course
Same taxi driver that fetched me from airport almost like a circular ending
Dropped at new hotel which was quite bougie and very covid conscious
Set our stuff down and explored the roof
Walked around area to find a place to eat
Did some good people watching and had a lovely meal
Mom tried moussaka
500ml of red wine + sangria
Walked back full and content to work and read
Made a really good cup of coffee around 21:00 for no good reason but that’s the best thing to do
7 July
09:00 COVID test
09:30 breakfast slot
Tan tan tan on roof time
Late afternoon excursion to the market just for the sake of it and to pick up a few souvenirs per chance
Tan again
Clean up and pack up and get ready for an extremely early morning
Rooftop / sunset drinks and dinner to saw goodbye to Athens forever
Mexico🇲🇽
San Miguel de Allende: December 2018 – Mexico City: January 2019
tiny town with plenty of churros
horseback riding and valley tours
the talking stick at christmas
poolside cocktails at the Rosewood
19+ family member reunion
venturing into the capital with Lisa, Hervé, Sophie, Scott, and a select few cousins
more good food and beautiful greenery
mexico city = greenest city in the country
Hong Kong 🇭🇰
April 2019
the sevens!
shoutout to the Zemans!!! and the Kings and the Olsens
hello pranav (popcorn) and JB (eater of ice cream with his fingers) and Christian and VISHHYYYYY
am club in hk? cannn
dressing up like idiots
maddy’s unfortunate spill of goods across the hotel lobby for all to see
sneaking onto the hill
living like royalty for a few days and celebrating ben ofc <3
France 🇫🇷
Every summer
the fresh foooooddd from markets every morning is to die for
rolling hills covered in sunflowers
a different market for each morning of the week
lunch at 3pm and dinner at 9pm
hot dry sun by the pool alllll day
cows
pain au chocolat et du café chaque matin
occasional ventures into Toulouse for a taste of civilization
NYU in London 🇬🇧
2019-2020 Academic year
the evolution of pret
from Tiger Tiger to Tape (iykyk)
passing The British Museum everyday on your commute to class shouldn’t be taken for granted
coram’s alley and all those memories @amalia
“wait what course are you in? oh! you don’t go to LSE?”
waitrose & the trusty old brunswick
309 forever even though we started out stronger than we ended
202: especially our last week together </3
the London diet: carrots, illy coffee, and oatly
“the academic center”
mila becomes the plug for once in her life?
the bus!
a whole collection of places that elicit memories: the shard, ministry, toy room, the kimpton, the hoxton, whole foods!!!!!!! south ken, kensington gardens, king’s cross at 3am, spitalfields (chapter @), GAIL’s, planet organic, UCL public lectures, the og bankside student bar, and covent garden of course
As it should be, I have way too much to say about my first year of university. Despite anything that wasn’t great in the moment, or our premature termination, NYU London is quite fun to reflect on. There may be more stories to come, but for now I will simply shoutout a few people that may be reading this: Amalia, who got to know me very well very fast, and was probably stuck with me too long for her own liking. Nathiya, the most compatible roommate I could’ve asked for (we ended up with a lot more in common and way more inside jokes than I would’ve thought). Jaden, Dev, and Sam for being a suite mate trio but also sweet and wonderful individual women. Yanna for joining 202 late but being a legend from day one at XOYO. Alice for being so reluctant to come out with us in the beginning and then falling in love and disappearing off everyone’s radar. M for being one of my first real friends and sharing a decent number of good laughs and times in the early days. Kevin for being a lad, always down to go out and drink way too much (in his vans and H&M attire). Caden for being the best dressed and most corruptable. Ethan for being part of our tribe. Jack for being the air freshener in semester one and being really nice with the writing in semester two. Lastly, of course, the rest of 309 (some who probably hate me and were happy that our intrusions dwindled over time) and all the FYA at Byron Court who I got to know over our ~year. NYU London will forever live on.
South Africa 🇿🇦
February 2018
“what is your name?”
huts to the sun city resort
getting deep in a water park in the sand with alisa
fitz!
petro don’t @ us
girls, tears can solve all of your problems…
craig!
paint jobs and old clothes
the safari
willyyyyy
almost getting trapped in JoBurg because immigrations didn’t like my visa situation
Junior year interim to South Africa, the first time I had been to the continent, and, well, the first time I had done a lot of things: spot the big five on a safari, paint, scrape, build, entertain school children, and simply just drive around on a big greyhound observing the landscapes of AFRICA through the window.
Kenya 🇰🇪
February 2019
coppell, enough said
the dog is featured of course
touching the last white rhino on the planet
bucket showers and no phones for 7 days
shoveling rhino shit
an iconic layover in ethiopia
journaling and bonfire debriefs every night
sandwiches and watermelon
rock climbing
milo or tea every night and milo coffee every morning
rift valley adventures folks
Senior year interim. Nothing about Kenya was glam but everything about it was incredible.
Laos🇱🇦
October 2017
C GUNN!!!!!
convincing Hervé to rent motorbikes and proceeding to crash on the side of a mountain
sofitel’s insistence that I was a mistress not a niece
monks
I came to Laos directly after the completion of a soccer tournament in Bangkok. It was planned last minute, and only my uncle, Hervé, and I went because Lisa was busy with work. Coincidentally, the Gunns also decided to vacation there for a few days. I think I will always look back on this trip with the most laughs out of all my miniature adventures in the region. Not only did our hotel think that I was my uncle’s mistress, but I got food poisoning from a fruit shake, and crashed my motorbike after convincing my Hervé to rent it for me. The neighborhood streets in Luang Prabang were so quiet and picturesque that it felt like strolling across the set of a movie. The Mekong is a beautiful river, and in 2017, when I was able to get myself up before sunrise, you could wake up to watch all of the monks pass by in an alms procession. The architecture, food, scenery, and Laotian people made this trip an 11/10.
Sri Lanka🇱🇰
January 2018
“would you like a room with two beds or one?”
riding in a trunk: vehicle sizing in Asia is not comparable to the USA
didn’t eat any candy in Kandy but we did have lots of hoppers
traveling with a former partner o.O
I completely underestimated the magnitude of different geography, climates, dogs, Chinese construction, colonial buildings, and rudimentary architectural feats that I would encounter in Sri Lanka. From the airport in Colombo we drove along the coast to a beach resort in Hambantota. After a safari and enjoying the beach we piled into a tiny car and wound our way along the roads to higher elevations in the north to the villages and tea plantations near Kandy.
Cambodia 🇰🇭
September 2017
the most amazing sunsets that I still use as screensavers to date
first tuktuk ever
lisa & hervé deciding if they want to keep me or return me
some scarf I wore everyday with a brandy melville dress thinking it was the most amazing outfit ever
Cambodia was a first for me. Less than a month after moving to Singapore we had a long weekend and my aunt and uncle thought it was prudent to expose me to as much of South East Asia as possible while I was here – initially they only thought I would be around for a semester. I had never seen motorbike traffic, rode in a Tuktuk, gone to an wet market, or stayed in such nice boutique hotels and resorts. We did the classic tourist things: visited Angkor Watt and several different temples, and wandered streets at sunset. Cambodia was my first taste of the South East Asia that isn’t Singapore.
Vietnam🇻🇳
November 2017
the Vietnamese CASHEWS
losing my dad on a motorbike at one of the largest and busiest roundabouts I have ever seen
son tra peninsula and getting caught in the rain, luxury hotel workers welcomed us into their shack
soup and tea with the rats in the storm
Hoi An: the most beautiful city of canals and lights
flooded market
more vegan cafés of course
local man refuses my dad’s $1 payment for a bike repair??
