Cor-fun In The Sun

corfu from the plane Corfu Day 1 - July 4

Happy Independence Day! In other pointless exclamations, Corfu. is. beautiful. I had a window seat on the plane, and I just stared out the window the entire time because I couldn't believe I was actually going there (side note: the coast of Albania is amazing, highly recommend checking that out on a future trip).

I touched down to sun and beautiful scenery, and am so glad I picked this over Romania! I was thinking of continuing east because that's the easiest way for me to get to Istanbul, but I just realized, this is my trip, I can do whatever I want, and I want to go to places that I'm excited about, not just going for the sake of going.

The hostel I booked offers free pick ups from the airport, which I gladly accepted -- even though I had to wait an hour for her to show up. I'm glad I waited though, as taxis to the hostel are about 50 Euros. Welcome back to "Western Europe", Katy.

The hostel is family owned and run, like the last one, but it's pretty remote, so it operates almost more like a resort--breakfast and dinner are included, and there's a bar in there too. It's kind of weird though, because this is also where the family lives, so you'll be at the bar and then turn around and one of her kids is watching tv in the living room.

The room is very small, although coming from our last hostel (18 foot ceilings) I guess I'm kind of spoiled. Reality check. It's also kind of sketchy security-wise...there's an old key to my room, that I share with one other person, and that's it. No locker or anything. So I've been carrying all my valuables around with me because I don't trust it in the room.

The location is definitely why people go here. The views are just breathtaking, and there's a patio that you can sit in with unobstructed views of the Ionian Sea in every direction. It's so beautiful it's surreal.

I quickly changed and headed down to the beach where all these lounge chairs were scattered. I found an empty one and laid out, basking in the Greek sun and feeling like a million bucks until I hear a voice. "You pay?" I'm thinking what is this? "You pay," he repeated. Ummmm no? "Then you leave." Apparently the chairs cost money, something my hostel neglected to mention! Screw that, I packed up and took it as a sign that I shouldn't be baking myself any longer.

Tonight, I just hung out at the bar and chatted with the staff a bit--there's not too many people staying here, so tables were eventually pulled together and I met a couple from England and 2 people traveling together from Perth, Australia. They were really great, but they left the next morning :(

At about 3 am, we decided to run down to the beach and go for a late night dip in the Sea. It was one of the best moments of my trip. All you can see is the water, and this massive canopy of stars everywhere you look, because there was no moon. I just remember opening my arms, looking up, and thinking, 'Life is amazing.' I really hope everyone experiences a moment like that at some point..it's hard to describe but you'll know when it happens.

After about 10 seconds we realized how cold we were and ran up to the hotel on the beach and crashed their pool so we could warm up...sorry if you were staying there. But you're not using the pool at 3 am anyway.

Tomorrow I'm going to take the bus into town (about 30 min) and explore a bit--I want to go horseback riding, parasailing, and rent a quad to see the rest of the island at some point, so today is my time for relaxation.