It has been a minute since Dave and I went on an ADP President's Club trip. When the destination was announced last year as a Mediterranean cruise, we knew this was the one we wanted to make a reappearance with.
We flew out a couple of days early to spend some time in Athens, make sure we didn't have any travel hiccups or delays that would cause us to miss our boat, and because I do not adjust to long distance travel well. It was a perfect place to get acclimated.
Athens was phenomenal. We dined overlooking the Acropolis, spent some time there as well. We went to the Acropolis museum (and by that I mean I explored it and Dave sat on the benches inside til I was ready to leave). But he did love journeying up to the Parthenon and looking around. The history of that city is incredible. We loved walking around with the exception of the blistering heat.
We pretty much felt like we were going to melt into a bubbling puddle and decided walking was not our best option, so the electric bike tour alleviated the heat just a tad with a little breeze.
It seriously was so fun.
We zipped along the small streets, up and around the palace place with the changing of the guard all the views and historical sites we could fit in.
Plus we got to chill with our guide Alex, who took us to eat some of his favorite local snacks. One of the highlights of travel is getting to meet and connect with fabulous people and see their lives, perspectives and culture. We love Alex!
We do wish we had grabbed more street food and gyros in Athens, but we had a couple good meals.
Dave wasn't sure the Mediterranean diet would be up his alley, but he ended up loving the cuisine. Not necessarily the Greek salad that I kept ordering, but much of the other local fare.
We said goodbye to our little Athens experience so we could board the ADP boat and meet up with his colleagues for the cruise adventure.
There was a welcome party and meet and greet where Dave connected with the ADP peeps and we were off! Our first port was in Santorini.
We strolled the streets, took in the scenery, overlooked the beautiful water with the white buildings against the cliffs,
had a surreal lunch overlooking the sea, and took respite in shade whenever we could. Santorini was beautiful.
Our next port was in Kusadasi Turkey. We chose to take the tour of Ephesus and it was amazing! We didn't do the longest tour because, again, we were in fear of the earth/sun scorching us out of existence. There was in fact a spontaneous fire that ignited off the side of the road as other tour groups were leaving after us, they had to evacuate. But, anyway...
It is unbelievable what is preserved still from this ancient city-with so much left to uncover. We loved every bit of it. We walked little around the port and then our friends asked us if we wanted to sign up for a Turkish bath. We did indeed.
We traveled a short distance from the port to a little hotel that had a mini spa in the basement. We had to start our couples Turkish bath in the sauna for an exceedingly long amount of time where I was sure I was going to perish. I got up and told Dave I didn't think I would make it and had to open the door to stick my mouth out and get fresh air. Finally our service ladies came to retrieve us and escorted us to a room where there were giant marble slabs for us each to lay on. They had me roll down my swim top and those gals scrubbed us good. They drenched us with water, had these long towel things they would squeeze out immense suds and foam us up. They lathered and scrubbed, rinsed and massaged a bit. We are big fans of Turkish baths.
After feeling refreshed and revived, we made it back to the boat for a day at sea and to prep for Dave's award ceremonies.
One of the reasons we wanted to go on this President's Club was because Dave hit his 15th Club- which is a huge accomplishment. He was recognized on stage and the crowd went wild ;). He works so hard and we are so proud and lucky to have his ethic and drive as an example to our family. ADP has been challenging, but good to us for sure.
Our final destination on the cruise was Mykonos, Greece. We were going to take this boat tour we hopped on as an extra excursion, but when the loaded all the passengers on this ship, the winds were whipping so fiercely, we had to get off the boat and cancel plans, which turned out to the best ever. We walked to the Hertz car rental and the two of us spent the day exploring the little island at our own leisure.
We stopped at multiple bakeries/eateries and beaches. Did we happen upon a nudie beach, yes we did. Did we stay and get in the water? Yes we did. When it Greece, right?
Final night party was gold themed and lots of music and celebration.
It was a really great trip. Next time head that way, we will do it when we are not in danger of heat related maladies, but we sure would love to see it again. How lucky were we!
The kiddos did great at home. Katelee mostly just ran the house (as Grant was away in Minnesota for sales) and did a wonderful job being momma. I am sure she liked the freedom and opportunity to run the fam as she saw fit. We had hidden tons of these little animals around the house, I labeled them on the bottom with their number so throughout the trip, they would happen upon a little dino or chicken or what not. They found most of them, but there are a few missing so the fun will continue for months to come I guess!
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