#greece

It's so long , if ever , that I've been impressed . . . . in such a way .
When expectations have long died, disappointment lies extinct , and fossilised in decomposed hope .
Pleasant surprise , . I can feel in my recall . . . . 'numb wonder' ~ can anyone imagine such a condition ?
The second-last time I flew , home from Greece . The craft gave a horrific , prolonged creak-snapping groan ran through the cabin/ fuselage on each manoeuvre ~ climbing, levelling out ~ pilot seemed to be throwing it into each change .
It was forgotten on the longish flight to Glasgow (lived near Aberdeen at the time)
Drank lots of small bottles of sparkling wine , using up lots of Drachma (yes it was before Euro-isation, May 1987 to be precise ~ my oldest had celebrated his first birthday in Tolo )
The sun rose brilliantly, high above the cloud level . . . . when we dived recklessly down through the cloud toward Glasgow , again that dreadful cracking noise shot along the structure, we dived into hell , after the brilliant sunshine in was black as night in the Glasgow rain . . . . . the next day that plane fell out of the sky , killing all .

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Next time I flew , it was a tiny Cessna , xmas eve , '95 ~ first access to my 3 , then aged 6, 7, 9 . . . after their ma had bailed out . 9-yr-old piloted quite a time (he who was one yr-old in Greece . [After 5 month passive battle for access]

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I soon got full custody ; after countless rescues from their ma being arrested for drunken insanity & assaults . . . .

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many happy landings , bumpy flights

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I'm easy to please , never surprised

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*a day at the races, 15 yrs ago*

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The Dutch government announced the creation of a special tribunal for Ukraine.
Political Declaration of the Ministerial Conference on Restoring Justice for Ukraine
Political Declaration of the Ministerial Conference on Restoring Justice for Ukraine, by representatives of the Governments of Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.
https://www.government.nl/documents/diplomatic-statements/2024/04/02/political-declaration-of-the-ministerial-restoring-justice-for-ukraine-conference

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For the first time probably ever, Katherine dared to wonder as to what she could have had with Damon. Provoked by his accusations, she dove into her thoughts; Indeed, what if she had been in the tomb? not that she’d ever wish that or regret her escape, but she couldn’t deny that the thought was intriguing. Damon would have saved her, no questions asked, where would they be though? She wondered in silence, entertaining the thought of an actual relationship with the elder Salvatore. Somewhere sunny; Italy? Greece, maybe? She was quickly ripped out of thought though.
Damon wasn’t getting any better despite having drank the cure and she couldn’t help but wonder how much of a role her little stunt had played in that. For the first time since she arrived to the boarding house this evening, Katherine was truly concerned. Worry enveloped her soft features, bringing up Stefan wasn’t the best choice, she admitted, but only to herself as she leaned in closer to damon but only slightly. “forget Stefan.” She brushed off, the words unfamiliar to her own tongue.
“you don’t look any better, how are you feeling?” she asked, afraid she sounded a bit too concerned, she felt the need to add. “how about some fresh blood?” she teased, struggling to hide her concern, Katherine wanted so badly to check for his temperature but she feared touching him right now would break whatever patience he had left for her and he’d snap, something that would hurt him a lot more than her at this point. “should I go check if E-lena’s free for a bite?” Katherine said playfully, not holding back on the distaste as the name of her doppelganger rolled off her tongue.
again she was moving into distraction mode or maybe she just wanted to push it further; curious to see if Damon really cared for Elena or if she was just a distraction from what he truly felt.
These two had a long past, they teased and played around, tried to kill each other’s about a dozen times even but when it came to the truth they both struggled. With Damon’s confession already out, he didn’t have as much to fear as Katherine did, she thought. Then again, she didn’t truly know what she felt, all she knew was, there was this annoying feeling in the pit of her stomach, she dared say it was concern but unlike every other time, this time she wasn’t concerned for herself.

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Christine lagarde is not particularly popular, she is a technocrat. But she is also an incredibly bryant woman, the least of her achievements is to have been an national medallist of synchronised swimming at 15 years old. She comes from a modest family. She has headed one of the largest American law firms and served as French minister three times. She has some skeleton in her closet, such as the credit Lyon and Orange, but it is the case for all French politician in office in the 90s.
It seems to me that no one has found any serious reason to disagree with her leadership of the IMF. She seems to be the perfect candidate for this position. That latter is actually her main weakness, in some areas she will not act where she should have acted. I reckon that’s a relieve to some, compared with her predecessor. Personally I don’t think it has anything to do with the fact that she is a woman that she received the position, no they like her, because they like her. It’s a strength, but every strength can also be a weakness.
I think she is very intelligent and a capable woman and as the managing director for the IMF she was surely very competent and made an impression that she was really in charge and that is not an easy task for a former very male dominated institution as the IMF really was.
I have a very high opinion of Christine Lagarde: A lawyer of international experience, she manages to be assisted by people who are always more competent than her in their specific area, she listens carefully, and then she decides quickly. Once, she decided too quickly but it won’t happen again, see the Bernard Tapie case in France. At the IMF she gained exactly the kind of experience to manage the European Central Bank.
Christine Lagarde is a highly intelligent person and I’m sure she was a great lawyer. The only criticism I would have about her and most likely anyone else who is appointed to this role, are all from the same school of thought. I thought her role in the dealing with the crisis in Greece showed that she didn’t have any independent thoughts about the way forward, and followed the German vision of a solution. But as she is there to do the bidding of her masters, she will be fine.
Ms. Lagarde is extremely talented, street smart with serious political savvy and usually very objective and goal oriented.
She is often able to relate and connect to wide range of political and corporate honchos, always while navigating a treacherously thin rocky trail. She has come to earn a lot of support and political capital with her collaboration and active involvement during the days of 2008 Financial Crisis. She kept an open mind while asserting IMF’s role effectively in what ensued. It was not pretty and it was critical that the big economies continue to collaborate in face of imminent collapse, while making sure the global economy doesn’t get cooked up in the process.

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🇺🇸 United States (particularly Alaska, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco and Texas) 🌨️ 🦅 🌵 🌭 🏖️
🇨🇦 Canada 🦫 🌨️ 🍁
🇦🇺 Australia (particularly Sydney) 🦘 🐨
🇳🇿 New Zealand 🥝
🇧🇷 Brazil (particularly Rio de Janeiro) 🏖️
🇳🇱 Netherlands (particularly Amsterdam) 🌷 🍻
🇮🇹 Italy (particularly the Italian Riviera, Milan, Naples and Rome) 🍕 🍝
🇷🇺 Russia (particularly Moscow, Saint Petersburg (formerly known as Leningrad), Siberia, Sochi and Volgograd (formerly known as Stalingrad)) 🌨️ 🏖️
🇵🇱 Poland (particularly Auschwitz and Warsaw) 🥟
🇲🇽 Mexico 🌵
🇩🇪 Germany (particularly Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg, Munich and Potsdam) 🍻 🥨
🇰🇪 Kenya 🐘
🇫🇷 France (particularly Cannes, Dunkirk and Paris) 🥖 🏰 🥐
🇦🇹 Austria (particularly Vienna) 🥐
🇪🇬 Egypt (particularly Alexandria, Cairo and Sharm el-Sheikh) 🏖️
🇸🇬 Singapore 🇸🇬
🇨🇭 Switzerland 🏂 ⛷️
🇹🇳 Tunisia 🏖️
🇪🇸 Spain (particularly the Canary Islands) 🥘 🥟
🇭🇺 Hungary (particularly Budapest) 🇭🇺
🇨🇺 Cuba 🏖️
🇮🇩 Indonesia ☪️
🇬🇷 Greece (particularly Athens, Crete and Rhodes) 🏖️
🇮🇶 Iraq ☪️
🇨🇳 China (particularly the Great Wall of China, Hong Kong and Shanghai) 🐼 🥟
🇲🇬 Madagascar 🐸
🇺🇦 Ukraine (particularly Yalta) 🏖️
🇯🇴 Jordan ☪️
🇮🇷 Iran (particularly Tehran) ☪️
🇲🇹 Malta 🏖️
🇨🇿 Czech Republic (particularly Prague) 🇨🇿
🇧🇬 Bulgaria 🏖️
🇲🇾 Malaysia (particularly Kuala Lumpur) ☪️
🇯🇵 Japan (particularly Tokyo) 🗻 🎎 🥟 👹 🗼
🇬🇪 Georgia 🇬🇪
🇦🇲 Armenia 🇦🇲

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I would pack up and get the hell out of here.

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I would probably find a small place in Greece. The colourful brick homes on hills that overlook the sea. (Thanks to the sisterhood of the travelling pants I have been obsessed for over a decade now)

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Once bored by the scenery I would backpack across Europe. I want to try pizza again on a sunny Italian evening. I want to dine overlooking the Eiffel Tower with a hot French monsieur explaining the menu. I want to feel the snow and build a snowman with carrots and all. I want to bask in the suns of Spain. I want to get mugged in sketchy London cuisines. I want to make rookie mistakes and learn from them.

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But most importantly I want to get immersed in a culture to the point of learning its language and moving to live there.

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I would probably start a small business to let my work hours fit around my life. Everyday would be a new non repetitive experience.

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I get that I’m still young, ‘still have a life ahead of me’ and there’s nothing to rush but life is too short. I could pass on tomorrow and I could in 90 years. But one thing is for sure, today is irreplaceable and I have a lot to do.

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Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Egypt, Morocco and many more wait for me.

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In a world where the ugly dominates beauty, the bad conceals the good; it’s about time we appreciate the gift of life.

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Everyone has the chance to live another life, all you just have to do is start it and the universe will align the opportunities for you.

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I normally visit England (have family there), The Netherlands (lived their for a half year a couple of years back) and Italy (have family there) at least every second year. I visit Norway and Germany (lots of Germans went to the same bachelor’s degree as me) multiple times a year. Living in the center of Denmark (Odense) makes it very easy to go to either central Europe or the rest of Scandinavia without it being too expensive or that much effort. But I do have friends who seldomly visits other European countries, but most of my friends and family at least visits some in a year, especially Germany, Norway or Sweden. As an Irish person I've been to.. UK (England & Scotland) numerous times France Spain 4/5 times Monaco Switzerland Italy twice Vatican City Czech Republic Denmark Sweden (day trip by train from Copenhagen) Greece And brief stop over in Belgium. Obviously I've had to fly to all except when I got to l the ferry to Liverpool once. Thank god for Ryanair! I wouldn't really considered myself 'well travelled' but with cheap flights from Ryanair we've been able to get to a see a lot of Europe cheaper and quicker than it takes to get to Dublin. I live in Helsinki so there's a very easy access to both Tallinn and Stockholm via ferries. Generally I visit both fairly regularly, maybe on average around three times a year between the two. The last time we booked a cruise to Tallinn was a bit over a month ago as a friend had some sort of membership points about to expire and we paid like 10€ each for the trip. Sadly most of us missed the stop in Tallinn the next morning, though, that tends to happen sometimes on those cruises... As for other "proper" trips to abroad, usually we go around once or twice a year. In recent years we've been to our favorite Italy a bunch of times and have made several long weekend trips to many interesting cities around Europe. Finland is quite similar to the UK as we're so cut off from everything we might as well be an island. Unless you're traveling to Russia you'll have to cross a sea to get anywhere, as going by land through the north is ridiculously cumbersome and useless for most, people in all the three countries generally live in the southern parts. I live on a small island which means that the amount of cities (Well, in this case they're towns) I can just regularly visit is low. Couple that with nothing really interesting to do for someone who's lived here for their entire life as well as no money to go anywhere else in the country, I can't justify going pretty much anywhere.
Although all that travel was when I lived at my parents and followed on their vacations. Since I left the nest I have not been to another country at all and do not really plan on it either since I hate traveling.
So "lets pop into austria for a snack" doesn't happen for me. But for someone living in Como, for example, it's pretty much expected that he will hop on the other side of the Swiss border to refuel because gas costs less.

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I became a serious traveler about 6 years ago and came up with a list of all the cities I want to visit outside of the US, primarily based on my preference to sight-see man-made architecture over natural wonders and also based on my favorite cuisines. I started out by knocking out the most "famous" places first. Those being Paris, London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Tokyo, Beijing, Rome, Mexico, Venice, Madrid, Barcelona, Jerusalem, Berlin, Munich and Vienna. This year I'm going to Delhi and Bangkok. Other places on my list are Seoul, Vietnam, Istanbul, Greece, Amsterdam, Morocco, Egypt, Iceland. I always try to group places together that are in somewhat proximity to each other to maximize what I can see in typically a 2 week window of vacation time I take every year.
Prior interest - this is somewhat lower on the list, ironically, because I find I can generally get interested for destinations I'd never previously considered. For longer trips, this becomes more important. For shorter trips, it can actually be a hindrance - I'm currently planning a short trip to Japan and frustrated by how little time I'll have; retrospectively, I wish I'd saved it for a time when I could stay longer and do more, because it's been a bucket-list destination for so long. At this point, I'm already planning my next trip there. Similarly, many places where I've got a higher level of prior interest are ones that I've put on the back burner due to cost/safety/visa hassle/wanting to learn the language or having specific events I want to attend there (my schedule isn't especially flexible right now).
Usually it's based on trying to make sure that my husband and I are both getting to check things off our bucket lists. Last year and the year before, we chose the destination that was the most mutually appealing to us and then added other stops from there. This year, he let me plan the whole trip and choose the destinations, but based on criteria we had established together. Next year will be his dream trip to Japan, the year after that my dream trip to Italy. I wish we could sometimes choose based off of cheap flight deals, but his vacation time is not flexible enough for that.
I would look at the time I have available. If I only have 10 days including travel (a week off of work,) then I wouldn’t try to do anything not non-stop or further than about a 10 hour night flight. That takes out a large amount of places. Then I’d look at the season and remove the locations at the extreme temperate points for that season. Then I’d pick where I want to go from what’s left. I might try to do two spots with that amount of time. I don’t look too much at airfare because we use points for most of our flights.
Well I work with an airline, so most of the time it's hard to find people to go with me on trips. Usually travel by myself, although I prefer going with my dad when he's available. I just have the chance to travel to so many places for so cheap it becomes really hard to pick places.

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I never pass up the opportunity to pack my bags and go find some exciting ways to fulfill my passion for brand new experiences.
I travel to come back home. Sounds weird but after traveling and coming back home you're not really the same person as when you left. You find out new things about yourself and you see normal stuff in your regular life from a new perspective. I used to complain about mundane stuff aka "first world problems" but after seeing how life is for some people, I don't complain as much. (Im a Canadian citizen born in the Philippines). I'm really into photography and I wanna see and photograph as much of the world as I can. My girlfriend also never understood why I loved traveling so much because she just didn't get it. She would question why I would budget and save just to spend it on traveling after our bills and expenses were taken care of. I asked her where her dream vacation was and she said santorini. I took her on a trip through greece for our anniversary last year and I think she gets it now haha. She experienced new things, saw things she only saw in photos before and tried amazing foods, plus the shopping. Now we travel to at least one new country every year. You see a side of yourself you never knew before when you are in a different land. That is when you are fully who you are, dealing with strangers, dealing with circumstances you never face in your normal life. You get a sense of connection to the world and for me, it feels like I am reconnecting with a life I may have lived in the past. It almost feels like I'm traveling to find pieces of myself. It gives you thoughts and feelings that your regular life will never let you see.
I grew up dirt poor and had one family vacation (to the coast of my state). I was then a poor college student who couldn't afford to go anywhere. Going to a couple of nearby cities (~2 hours driving distance one-way) was always a treat. So I knew that as soon as I got a job after college I'd want to go places and see the world (especially since I live in a small town). On that same token, going places also makes me appreciate home more and I don't ever get that grass is greener on the other side feeling. I haven't traveled nearly as much as I have wanted because of the job I had until last year but I am working on that now. I won't be able to travel as long or as often as you all seem to here (3.6 weeks a year is what I have available to me) but I hope to do an international trip every 3-4 years. I've seen most of the US so I want to see the rest of it (need to do New England and the rest of the NE mainly). And I want to go to Canada which wouldn't be that difficult.

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