Mykonos, The Famous Summer Destination!

Goodbye Winter & Hello Spring! This is the season where many people start to plan the summer vacation. Greece is one of the most trendy destinations people choose for their vacation. It combines beautiful weather, good cuisine, touristic places, beach and partying! Nothing can be better than this mixture.

I had the chance to visit Mykonos only although Greece is much richer. I haven't been everywhere in Greece but it is on my list! Athens, Rhodes, Santorini, Naxos, Crete, Hydra... There are many non touristic islands as well that are beautiful but should be recommended by locals. I would be really glad to have recommendations.

It is known that Mykonos has a large gay community. But it is a destination for everyone. You will find mainly young people coming to party but you will find as well many families coming to enjoy the sun and the beach with their kids and allowing the parents to go to few parties during the vacation.

Flight & Hotels

Aegean airlines usually have reasonable prices for flights. You can also choose to come by ferry from another Greek region.

For the Lebanese readers, you have charter flights that most agencies offer. Although I love to plan it myself, charter packages can have good prices with average hotels. It can be time saving to check them if you are not into planning. But you cannot choose the flight without the hotel in the charter package.

The hotel we stayed in was Kamari Hotel, a lovely 4 star with a Greek style (white with blue and red windows). It is not a fancy 4 star hotel. It is more oriented beach destination. It is 2 minutes walking from Platis Gialos Beach and 13 minutes from Psarou Beach. It is next to a bus station and is 12 min far by bus from Mykonos old town. Rooms have balcony; it has a swimming pool. Towels can be provided from the reception to be used next to the pool only. They can help you reserving some tours. Their staff is really friendly. I would have preferred to reserve through Airbnb as well because you can have an amazing experience with the beautiful Greek white houses on the beach. But we couldn't make it unfortunately.

Transportation

Mykonos is like a village with lots of narrow ups and downs. It is hot during the day. So it is not really comfortable walking there. Here are your options for transportation:

• Quad or Scooter: It is the most recommended. Do not forget your international driving license.
• Car: If you are more than two and have a higher budget, you can rent a car. Do not forget your international driving license.
• Bus: You can always take the bus. Mykonos Town is the central station to reach any region in Mykonos including Platis Gialos, Paradise Beach, Paraga, Ornos...
• Sea Bus: What's really cool in most beach destinations is the boat taxi to go from a beach to another. Try them! It is pretty nice and not expensive! It is practical as well to transfer from the new port (for cruises) to the old port (Town).

Things to do in Mykonos

1. Mykonos Town (or Center) - Chora: it is a real example of a life labyrinth. Matoyianni Street is famous for shopping.
   
   
2. Little Venice: I just loved this area which is full of small restaurant and bars. Recommended on Sunset!
   
3. Wind Mills: The icon of Mykonos! You cannot go to Mykonos and miss taking photos of these famous windmills. You should go there on sunset and take photos of the little venice from outside. I let you check their history. 
4. Small churches in the old town including Paraportiani Church
   
   
   

   
   
5. Petros the Pelican: it is the mascot of Mykonos. You will find it wandering slowly in the small streets of Mykonos town. It is friendly and everyone is happy to see it. It prefers the harbor area in general. Do not be afraid when you see it while walking in the town! :)
6. Henna Tattoo
7. Visit as many beaches as possible! Details in the next section.
8. Party!

Beaches

Mykonos is well known for its beaches. All are beautiful and clean with amazing colors. There is a lot of wind so be aware that the water is cold. There is no entrance to most beaches. You can put your towel and just sit unless you want to be more comfortable and rent chairs and umbrellas. It is still cheap! You can do many water activities but it all depends on the wind. I am sure that the people who love wind surfing will find their heaven. You can always consider snorkeling and scuba diving as the water is very transparent and enjoyable!

Mykonos is well known for its party mood day and night. But you can find all kind of beaches that fits your mood.

• Quiet Beaches
  • Agrari Beach (our favorite)
  • Platis Gialos (Family)
  • Kalafati (recommended for wind surfing)
  • Ftelia (recommended for wind surfing)
  • Kalo Livadi
• Touristic & Party Beaches
  • Paradise
  • Super Paradise
• Celebrity Beach
  • Psarou (Although we did not see anyone famous)

Tours

• Walking Tour in Mykonos Old Town
• Tinos (Orthodox History Tour)
  
  

  
  
• Delos & Rhenia ()
• Wine Trip
• Sunset Cruise

Greek Cuisine

• Tzatziki
• Greek Salad
• Pitas
• Souvlaki
• Gyros
• Sea Food: Grilled Octopus, Saganaki Shrimp, mussels, etc...
• Greek Yogurt

Restaurants we tried:

In most restaurants, we were trying the Greek Cuisine along with Sea Food platters which were really good.

• Sunset Cocktails Cafe
• Taverna Niko's
• Music Cafe
• I Scream
• Fato a mano
• Vabene
• Malibu Crepes
• Fish Tavern Kounelas
• Viva Mare - Hotel Kosmoplaz @ Platis Yialos
• Avli Tou Thodori @ Platis Yialos
• Atlantida @ Platis Yialos

Nightlife & Partying

• Mykonos Town: Either you pay per drink or a minimum charge with one or 2 drinks. I listed the main ones that we tried. But I am pretty sure that Mykonos is full of amazing bars with nice music.
  • Skandinavian Bar (Very good music, One of our favorite)
  • Semeli The Bar: We didn't stop dancing! Amazing memories! :)
  • Little Venice: You can find many pubs. We used to start having drinks there around sunsets awaiting later louder music.
    • Caprice
    • Veranda
    • Galleraki
  • Scarpa
  • Jackie O' Bar
• Outside Old Town
  • Cavo Paradiso: The Famous Nightclub in Mykonos. It hosts international DJs. It is better to reserve and there is an entrance fee.
  • Paradise Club: The Mykonos experience day & night
  • Tropicana Club next to Paradise/Super Paradise: You can't imagine how people party here during the day starting 4pm! We were a bit shocked! :)

What to buy:

• Alcohol Greek drinks: Mastica (we used to order it as a shot), Ouzo, Wine
• Greek Baklava
• Ceramics (We got some nice small souvenirs of Greek houses)

Hope you will enjoy your trip to Mykonos! We had memorable moments! We enjoyed the beautiful beaches, the weather and danced from the bottom of the heart! We met nice people and it is definitely a trip to remember! Cheers to Happy Days!

15 mobile applications that impacted my life...

I don’t think I can be away from my mobile phone for a very long period. Should I be worried? Maybe… However, I do believe that each thing has its advantages and disadvantages if we don’t push it to the extreme… It is not about being addicted and ignore all our surroundings while using our phone. This is wrong and we live it everyday. But we have to admit that technology made a huge evolution and it made our life more practical.

Today, I am not here to list Facebook, Whatsapp, Snapchat or any other social media applications that invaded our life. But I rather wanted to share the list of the applications that had an added value in my life.

Let’s start!

1. Google Maps: This is the application I use the most in my road trips and travels. I loved it mostly when the traffic got activated for our region. I can estimate how much I need time to arrive to the destination with the correct address.
2. Google Photos & Google Drive: I use those two applications a lot especially to share photos and documents with friends. I love the feature that can help you check all the photos per people. It can do some collages and videos as well. I use them to back up part of my documents on the cloud which can help me access them wherever I am without having to carry on my external hard disk everywhere.
3. Uber: This is one of my favorites. Whenever we don’t feel like driving, we order an Uber Taxi. It is on time, accurate and fairly cheap inside the city. Plus you can pay by card or cash. I don’t recommend it outside the city as it can have high rates. I use it locally and during my travels.
4. Zomato: This is the application I use by excellence to try new restaurants and food. Plus I bookmark places I want to try.  I started a while ago writing reviews to make my friends benefit from my experience.
5. Sound Hound or Shazam: I am always up to date in the music world using these applications. Whenever I hear a song that I like, I check it and put it in my favorite list.
6. Calendar/Notes/Keep/Asana: These applications are part of my memory. I am engaged in lots of activities and sometimes,  I forget things to do or new ideas suggested by friends. Calendar is to keep track of my schedule, Notes is to write random thoughts, Keep & Asana are for tasks.
7. Anghami: My favorite music application in summary…  🙂
8. 30 Days Fitness Challenge:  I wanted to boost my fitness level by adding some good habits into my daily life. You choose the challenge that you want (arms, abs, legs, …) and you have to commit between 5 to 7 minutes a day. If you can’t find 5 minutes for yourself, you should reconsider your life priorities. 🙂
9. Duolingo: I always wanted to learn a new language and I had other priorities. Using this application, I got to learn some Italian by dedicating 5 to 20 minutes everyday. I am not saying you will become fluent. But this is for me a fun application full of benefits.
10. Pinterest: You choose your areas of interests and you pin relevant posts. For example: ideas to decorate your home, trips that you love to do, recipes you want to try, high tech you want to buy, tattoos, plants and flowers, fitness exercises at home…
11. Photogrid: This is very good to resize pictures and do lovely collages to share on social media. There are plenty of applications that do the same.
12. Visited: My dream is to visit every corner in the world. So I listed it all the cities and countries that I already visited and I tagged all the ones that I wish to visit.
13. Flipagram:  Keeping only static photos can be boring. After a beautiful trip or remembering lovely moments throughout the year, it helped me gather lots of photos while adding some music in the background as a nice memory to share with friends.
14. Meetup: You will be surprised how many people in your area have the same interests. You just need to subscribe to subjects of interest (book club, technology, outdoor activities, cross culture, foodies, sports, photography, running, etc…). You will be notified about events organized around you. This is excellent to meet new people (not randomly) and do activities you like.
15. Goodreads: This can be the bookstore. This is where I check new books review and I bookmark the ones I want to read.

Some Lebanese applications that got trendy lately but didn’t have time to try:

• Onlivery (Online Delivery)
• Blink My Car (Car Services including Tyre ones)
• Kholsit (Find the right handyman)

There are some general applications that I find very useful but I can’t name them in the list above because they are very specific:

• Movies

I have “Movies in Lebanon” and “Lebanese Movie Guide” that are sometimes not updated unfortunately. I use frequently the cinemas applications directly like Grand Cinemas or Cinema City or Vox. The one of Grand Cinemas is the best. I faced some problems while buying tickets with the others. IMDB is always good to check some international reviews and rating.

• Bank Apps

I  find it really easier to check my account or pay a wedding list online rather than go there and wait without mentioning the traffic and the opening hours.

• Mobile Operator Apps

I find it useful to check quickly my bill and activate a new service.

• Airlines

Some frequent used airlines can be very handy especially in case of business trips. I use them to do especially the online check-in.

• News

I have some local news and few international ones like CNN, BBC, etc… One of my close friends recommended Quartz for international news. I trust her! 🙂

Hope you find it beneficial for you! I would love to know which applications you use especially if it is not on my list. Have a wonderful week and keep curling! 

Resolutions in the air…

We always tend to start new resolutions at the beginning of the year, month or week. How many times did you or your friends promise to start diet on Monday or sports in the beginning of next month? How much do you hear or make resolutions at the beginning of the year?

When I used to be young, I always promised to start studying in the next beginning of the hour and if I missed the first 5 minutes, i would postpone starting another hour. There should be something special relating beginnings & resolutions…

“New Year, New Me”… “Don’t make resolutions, just live in the moment with passion”… Big titles and a lot of humor between friends and then we drop them many times…

Although we might fail in these resolutions, deep down inside, they are really motivating and define our personal objectives. If we really care about them, we do our best to do them but sometimes, either we don’t care at all but couldn’t admit it or life gets us busy and we drop them because of other priorities.

I always loved to read general articles about list of resolutions and things to do and I always counted how many were achieved. The more they are, the more I feel powerful.

16 things to do in your twenties… 27 things to do before you settle down… 33 things to do before you get forty… 50 destinations to visit in your life… Why 16, 27, 33, 50? No idea!

This time, I decided to write my own list on a very random date of the month. I really enjoy such lists. When I write them, I relate to them. It won’t be my one and only list since I’ve got infinite things to do. But I listed the ones that are mostly significant in this stage of my life.

You might relate to many of them and think I am crazy in the other part. Plus you might have achieved many as well. Each one has his own list. What matters is nothing but the happy and healthy moments in our life and the one of our loved ones! Life is too short to see it pass without doing what we really love.

30 things to do for my new 30s 

1. Take good care of your body. It’s the place you have to live: Drink more water & eat healthy, slowly and do yearly check-ups
2. Get fit: do push-ups, plank & rope jumping like a boss
3. Be punctual and avoid last minute running
4. Meditate
5. Go somewhere you’ve never been before every month
6. Read one book every 1-2 months.
7. Learn to Cook
8. Visit new countries and discover a new continent
9. Face one of your biggest fears (Skydiving, Diving, Skiing…)
10. Travel Alone
11. Watch your favorite international concerts & plays (Coldplay, Swan Lake Ballet in Russia, Phantom of the opera in Broadway, Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas…)
12. Hike once in a while and enjoy nature
13. Start Biking and rent a bicycle the next trip
14. Volunteer for a good cause (Mission in Ethiopia or Far East or even in your own country)
15. Do the Headstand
16. Join a public speaking group
17. Learn a new hobby by your own
18. Learn a new language
19. Join a dance group class (Tango, Salsa, …)
20. Live alone
21. Personalize your own appartment
22. Live elsewhere
23. Apply for your dream job
24. Know more your favorite things (favorite dish, drink, sport, bar, restaurant, anything…)
25. Do a long cross countries roadtrip with your best people
26. Drive manual and get your driving license ready for the next trip to live it to the most.
27. Hang out full weekends at home watching series
28. Save money for the tough days
29. keep a journal and display photos in a digital frame
30. Find a new passion and start your own thing

Cheers to happy and healthy days and keep curling! Have a wonderful week!

P.S.: Why 30 and not 16, 27, 33 or 50? because 30 is my new lucky number! 

How I learned to make choices…

I always used to be this girl that rarely expressed herself and avoided discussions with different opinions in order to escape confrontations…

Then I reached a stage where I don’t take lots of decisions and I struggle even in the smallest ones…

This reminds me of a film that I used to love when I was a kid which is Runaway Bride. Julia Roberts didn’t know how she liked to eat eggs because she always ate them the way her new boyfriend likes it… I asked myself the same question and I had no idea what was the answer.  Scrambled, Poached, Omelette, Boiled, Sunny?

When doing shopping, someone had to be there to choose which dress to pick else I had to pick them both… #GoodExcuse… LOL Although deep inside, we always know which one we prefer…

When choosing my major, i didn’t think much… I was very good in math and I always believed that computer engineering is a fair accurate major that doesn’t need philosophy… 1+1=2… But when you are a kid, decisions are more natural… 

While growing up, you start reconsidering choices and decisions… you ask yourself if you are happy… You start losing loved ones and the quote “Life  is too short” becomes more and more real…

Why do we postpone choosing what makes us happy? Why do we have to think much even in the smallest decisions? why are we in doubt?

I struggled a lot asking myself why I cannot choose anything without having a doubt. I worked a lot on my self-development and I did some observations and discussions with dear friends. I reached a conclusion that I will summarize in beautiful quotes:

1. A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. – Albert Einstein
   • Being afraid of doing mistakes can stop us from making choices. Even if we choose the wrong option, we should stay aware and remember our preference for the next time. Experience is very important to know better ourselves.
2. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye. – The Little Prince
   • The conflict between the heart and the mind… I had trouble understanding this but trust me this was the main thing that helped me take more decisions. Thinking too much made me always hesitant.
3. It is never too late to be what you might have been. George Eliot
   • Few years back, growing old was a bit stressful but then I met beautiful people much older than me in age but much younger than me in body and spirit. Take care of your body and positive energy and you can do whatever you want. Choices are always possible at any age.
4. Practice makes progress
   • Whenever you have to choose, stay aware, follow your heart and take the decision of always choosing no matter what. Pizza or Pasta? Blue or Green? Cinema or Theater? Going out or staying home? Project A or Project B? Beirut or Paris? Tango or Salsa? Mr X or Mr Y? Buying a car or buying a house?
5. Comparison is the thief of joy
   • You can take the opinion of close people but you better make the choice alone and not compare with anyone because it will make you in doubt again.
6. If it was up to me, I’d choose the hard path with the easy ending, not the easy path with the hard end. – Kim Harrison
   • Train your mind to choose the hard path will make choices easier. This can be a good exercise for big decisions especially. It is not easy to do but practice makes it easier. For example, while being in a group, talk to the person that you are least comfortable with… It was part of an exercise I did in a camp a couple of years back and that helped me a lot.

This said, here I am writing my first blog post and exposing myself to the people… it took me around four years to decide to start it and some friends were encouraging me but still it was a choice that I had to make…

But then I remembered choices and decisions and how much I am more in peace with them…

Finally I decided to start this journey! It will be a diary about anything that makes me happy or I want to express myself about…

Hope you will enjoy the journey with me and my Infinite Curl!

Curling in progress…

P.S.: if you are wondering if I got the answer of how I like to eat eggs the most… well omelette with mushroom is my favorite and yes I am shopping most of the times alone!