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Brad and I flew from New York to Minneapolis, where we took uber to my grandparent’s house. We had kept it a surprise as to when we were coming home, so when we walked in to the house my mom was shocked! Her and a few of my cousins were the only ones there, so when my dad and siblings came home from shopping, we got to do the surprise all over again!

We then spent the weekend having fun riding rides at the mall of America with my little cousins, and then on Saturday we had our annual Christmas party. It was a blast as usual, but by the time Sunday rolled around, we were ready to get back to the real world. We loaded up in the car with my parents and rode from Minneapolis to Rapid City, and after those long 10 hours, we were finally home!

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Fast-forward about five days, and now it’s the weekend again. Since we love traveling so much, we decided to go on another trip to see all of our friends! So on Friday we drove up to Fargo to surprise a few of Brad’s good high school friends. We spent the weekend up there going out and having fun, and then on Monday we drove down to Vermillion to see some of my friends. We went out to dinner with them, and here’s the picture from there!

We stayed there that night, and then on Tuesday we were off to Lincoln to see Brad’s grandparents. Brad’s parents were down in Lincoln as well, so we got to surprise them all! His mom definitely had the best reaction of everyone with her scream of surprise!

We got Brad’s parents tickets to the Oakland vs Kansas City football game as a Christmas present, and then when we realized that we would be home before the game, we thought it would be fun to go to the game too! So after meeting up with them in Lincoln, we headed down to Kansas City.

After hanging out in KC for a day in a half, it was finally time for the game! We had great seats and it was a great atmosphere, even though it was freezing! It was only about 10 degrees after the sun went down, so even with lots of layers and those heated foot and hand warmers, it was still cold! 

Here’s a picture from the game!

Once the game had ended and the Raiders had unfortunately lost, we exited the stadium and went to get an uber back to the hotel. To our surprise, we found that there were thousands of other people standing in a line also trying to get an uber. We ended up waiting in the line for about two hours, until finally it was our turn. When we finally made it back to the hotel, I hopped under the covers to try and warm up and go to sleep.

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On Friday, we drove back to Rapid City where we decided we better stay for a while. So we’re now living here at my parent’s house until the renters who are in our house move out in February. We’re both looking for jobs, so if you live in Rapid City and are looking to hire someone please let us know!

Lastly, thank you everyone for keeping up with our journey over the past eight months. Your love and support has helped us make all of our dreams come true, and we really can’t wait to see what God has in store for us next!

New York City

We flew from Athens to Ukraine, and then after spending the night there, we were finally ready to get on our way to America.

Since we had slept in the airport in Athens the night before, we decided to get a hotel for the night in Ukraine. Then in the morning, when we got back to the airport, we found out that our flight was delayed about four hours. So we grabbed some breakfast and sat there and waited until finally we were called to board.

We flew for about twelve hours from Ukraine all the way to New York, and when we finally landed, we cleared customs, grabbed our bags, and headed towards our hotel. It was around 8:00 that night when we finally got to the hotel, and so since it was that late, we just went out and got chipotle and then came back and went to bed.

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We woke up early and went out for breakfast before going on a tour of the upper west side. During this tour we got to stop and see the Cathedral of St John the Divine. Below are a few pictures from there.

Then after looking around in the cathedral, we loaded back on the bus. We then drove over to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade balloons being inflated. It was cool to see the balloons up close, and here are a few pictures from that.

After we had walked around the block, where the balloons were being blown up, and when the tour was finished, we headed to Time Square. There are some pictures from there below.

From Time Square, we went to the Empire State building, and after standing in line for over an hour, we finally got to go up in the elevator. The elevator first stopped on a floor that had a museum on it. We quickly looked around on there, and then got back in line to ride the elevator up to the lookout deck.

After half an hour of waiting for that second elevator, it was finally our turn to ride up to the lookout deck. We crowded in the elevator with 15 other people and then when the doors opened we were finally there! Looking out across the lights of NYC was seriously amazing! Brad and I had gone up in a tower in Vietnam and looked out across Ho Chi Minh, but it was such a different sight, mainly because one we did in the daytime and one we did at night.

We took some pictures on the deck, but they definitely don’t do the sight justice. But anyways, here they are.

After looking around, we got in line to ride the elevator down. By the time we reached the ground level, we were starving. We went to a burger place in Time Square, and enjoyed some very expensive food. Seriously like $20 for a burger that didn’t even come with fries. Then if you wanted fries, it was another $6. The prices in New York City are crazy, but we tried not to sweat it and just enjoy the delicious burgers.

Then since we have to be up really early to get a spot for the parade, we decided to call it a night. So after dinner, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.

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Our alarm went off at 4:00 in the morning, and we quickly put on about ten layers of clothes. We walked down to Columbus Circle and found a spot right in the front to stand and watch the parade. After standing there for about an hour, the police came by and said that nobody could stand on this block because it was the ‘frozen zone’ (whatever that meant). We were pretty upset because it wasn’t marked that people couldn't stand there, so once we found this out, us and about 300 other people now had to scramble to find new spots.

We quickly walked down a few blocks and then realized that all of the fences already had people standing front row, so we had to settle on standing second row. But that was okay, because we ended up standing next to a few really nice families. We chitchatted with them for about three hours, until finally the parade started.

At 9:00 am when the parade started, we still had to wait about twenty minutes for it to get to us. But even during that wait, it was magical! You could see the balloons getting larger as they were getting closer to us. Then you could hear the marching bands, and finally when they arrived at where we were standing, we could take it all in. Over the next two and a half hours, I don’t think I stopped smiling, as I waved, cheered, and yelled Happy Thanksgiving to the people in the parade!

Here are a few (okay a lot) of my favorite pictures from the parade.

Once Santa passed, the parade was over and it was time for us to head back to the hotel to try and warm up. Seriously, trying to get my legs to move at first was a struggle. I’m pretty sure they were frozen, but once they started cooperating, we were on our way. Then when we got back to the hotel, we went to the hotel bar to have some lunch and watch the football game.

About the time that the game was getting over, it was time for us to go to dinner. We had made reservations at a restaurant that was having a Thanksgiving buffet. So even though we weren’t having a traditional Thanksgiving with friends or family, we were having turkey! The food was a little different than what I have at my grandmas every year, for example they had roasted potatoes instead of mashed, but regardless of that, it was still pretty good.

Once we were so full that we couldn’t fit even one more bite of pumpkin pie in our stomachs, we headed over to Radio City music hall. Here we enjoyed the Rockettes Christmas spectacular, which was truly an amazing show!

Here are a few pictures and a video from there.

It was pretty late after the show got over, and we have an early morning flight, so once it was finished, we headed back to the hotel to pack our things and get some sleep. 

Santorini

After spending all night lying on the cold floor in the airport, it was finally morning and time to get up and check in for our flight. We went through security and then were off on our half an hour flight from Athens to Santorini. We landed and gathered our things, and then we were met outside of the airport by Stathis (the man who’s place we are staying through airbnb). We chitchatted as he drove us and then when we got to the place, we found that it was the most beautiful home in the side of the cliff.

Here’s some picture of the outside and inside of our home for a few days.

We collapsed into the big, comfy bed and took a quick nap before going out to explore. The place we are staying at is about a ten-minute walk from the town of Oía. So after getting some shut eye (since we hadn’t gotten much in the airport the night before) we walked down there. On our walk to Oía, we crossed paths with some donkeys that were busy hauling different materials.

Here is a picture of the donkeys hard at work!

Once we got to the town, we found it full of little shops and restaurants. Many of the restaurants have patios that are right on the side of the cliff overlooking the ocean. These were great places to just sit and enjoy the views, which is exactly what we did for a lot of our time in Santorini. But at this moment, we decided to enjoy the views of the other side of the island.

We grabbed a pizza from one of the restaurants and took it back to eat at the table on the roof of the place we were staying. Here we could look out over the vineyards, which unfortunately were in the wrong season for us to see the vines covered in grapes. But regardless of that, the views anywhere on the island are still fantastic.

We sat up on the roof and enjoyed some local wine with our pizza, and before we knew it, the sun had set. Now just like in Rhodes, there isn’t a lot to do here after the sunsets since it is the off-season, so we went in and got ready for bed.

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We woke up early on our second day in Santorini, and got dressed and ready for a hike. There are two big towns on the island, Oía and Fíra. We went to Oía yesterday, so today we decided to go to Fíra. There is a path you can hike right along the cliffs edge and it connects the two towns. We found the start of the path and were on our way.

We got lost a few times on the way because it is not marked very well, but while we were out climbing around on the edge of the cliff, we were able to capture some nice pictures of the towns. Check them out below.

After walking for way longer than we thought it would take (about four hours when we thought it would only take two), we finally made it to Fíra. We were starving from all of the walking and climbing on the cliffs when we got there, so we ate at the first place we saw. It was an Italian restaurant, so to switch it up from the pizza I had last night, I decided on a calzone. Okay, okay, I know they’re basically the same, but I just love that kind of food so much that I could eat it everyday!

After refueling our bodies with some food, we walked around the town for a bit and realized it was all the same kind of shops that were over in Oía. We didn’t want to buy anything over here and carry it back if we could buy it over there, so we left and started our walk back.

Now this time, since we knew where we were going, we didn’t get lost and it didn’t take as long. But it still took about three hours, and by the time we finally got back to where we were staying, the sun was setting. We went in to Oía quick and grabbed some groceries, and then just had sandwiches for dinner. Then, we watched a movie on Netflix and both fell asleep early. All of that walking really wore us out!

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Our last full day in Santorini was spent enjoying the good food, wine, and the views.

We woke up late and made ourselves some pasta for lunch before we went in to Oía to do a little shopping. I pick up a magnet everywhere I go, so after looking at a few different places, I found one I loved! We also ended up getting a Christmas ornament, so we can put it on our tree every year and remember the great times we have had in Greece.

We also needed to get new books for our next flight, so we found a bookstore and went in and picked out two new ones. I got another John Green book and Brad got some popular sci-fi book that the girl working there recommended. Once we were done with our shopping, we walked around on the little paths that led down the side of the cliff, and stopped to take a bunch of pictures. 

Here are those pictures from in Oía.

We were just killing time until the sun would set, so we could experience a famous Santorini sunset. There is a popular spot for viewing it, so when it was close to that time, we went over there. We sat there and enjoyed each other’s company as we got to watch the sun set over the water.

Here are a few pictures we took while watching the sunset.

After the sun had set, we went back to the place we were staying and made ourselves sandwiches for dinner and then cuddled up and watched a movie before bed.

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Today we fly from Santorini back to Athens, but before we had to go to the airport, we had time to go back in to town and sit on one of the patios and enjoy the view one last time. We both got fish for lunch and once we were done eating, it was time to go back and pack up. Then Stathis’s wife drove us back to the airport, and we were on our way back to Athens.