Greek Islands (Ios)

Ios, well what can I say other than it was the most impressive place of our Contiki tour through the Greek Islands. Absolute insane party life and everyone is so laid back. This entry of the blog will be pretty limited given that their were no tourist sights of any significance, however the food was the standout. Sailed on a pirate ship to a non inhabited island on our second day and did some snorkelling which was real good. Got to watch a replay of State of Origin and most were stoked to see the blues finally get a series win. Surprised at how many Aussies are working over here, they're generally down at the beach during the day and work as promoters for the various clubs and pubs during the night, would be an awesome lifestyle. All the nightspots are quite small and they're found all throughout the narrow streets, you find that the crowd will generally move from place to place as opposed to staying at the same spot as we do at home. At this point of the Contiki, we got a lot closer to the other tour members given that the seven of us from Wagga had spent most of out time together. Some really cool people who we got to meet and will definitely keep in touch also seeing a few along our further travels. A highlight of the trip was how one of the boys who shall remain nameless, decided to make it back to our hotel on our second night. Firstly before I begin the story, I should mention our hotel in Ios was roughly a twenty minute walk or a five euro taxi ride up hill into town however the fact that there are only five cabs on the whole island made it pretty tough to get home in the wee hours of the morning so generally made the trek on foot. Roughly halfway upon his long walk back to the hotel after a few beers noticed a scooter that still had it's key in the ignition, decided to kick the old girl over and sat in first gear very steadily down the winding hill of Ios. The traveller made it home safe as did the scooter which was parked a block away from our residence. Currently in a bus on our way to the airport for our flight to Paris, at this point we're all a bit flat after leaving the Contiki after spending twelve days with at first were strangers and became good mates. On reflection, the hardest thing about travelling is getting attached to place and having to move on to your next destination, that's why I can see it's so addictive. Contiki was definitely five star and I'd recommend to anyone wanted to get out there for a good time and meet some interesting people. Next stop is Paris to eat some frog legs, cheers. DS