Travel

New York City...Where do I even start? To say it is unlike any other city in the world is a cliché, yes, but it couldn’t be truer. Literally all the words and phrases that come to mind (magical, surreal, beautiful, rich in history and culture) are so cliché that it makes me want to cringe. I’m not going to lie, being a Percy Jackson fan made it even more unbelievable. My parents finally gave in to my begging to see all the iconic locations from the books—on my birthday! (Thanks, Mom and Dad, for suffering from overexposure to nerdiness for a whole day!) 

“Get on with it, Olivia! Nobody cares about that; we want to hear about your trip!” Not me secretly smirking at the mention of “nobody” (If you’ve read PJO or the Odyssey, you know what I’m talking about). 

“Ok, ok!”

Our flight arrived late in the afternoon, so we didn’t do much except a few things: we checked into our hotel in Chelsea, grabbed a slice of pizza (of course!), got overwhelmed by the city on our walk to Times Square (too many people, no thanks!), and ate dinner. Times Square is basically your go-to if you want a sensory overload. 

The next day, we went to the 9/11 memorial and museum. The memorial is beautiful, in a painful sort of way. But the museum, that was earth-shattering. I’ve been to a lot of museums, but not one that made me feel anything quite like that. There was an audio recording from a first responder that was saying that who said he knew he had to help people—and that he wasn't coming home. Not to mention that the museum is built underground, in the foundation of the Twin Towers. Absolutely haunting, but I still recommend it, because it’s something that everyone needs to experience.

That night, we stopped at the Chelsea Market on our way to Broadway to see Hamilton. Prior to this trip, I’ve only seen the original once on Disney+ (I know, only once is unheard of!), and I didn’t expect it to be quite as good. But I was wrong; everything from the stage to the actors to the singing was amazing. It was almost exactly the same as with the original cast. After the play wrapped up at 10:00pm, we took the subway back—which was totally fine if you ignore a few of the...umm, let’s go with characters. 

On my birthday, we went to the Empire State Building (AKA the entrance to Mount Olympus). The views were insane, but I felt that I could barely stand and walk because my legs were trembling. I’m not good with heights, if you haven’t already guessed. We didn’t go to the highest floor you could go to because it cost extra, but I don’t think that would make a huge difference. Next, we tried to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but it was closed, so we went the next day. FYI: Levain Bakery is really good; it’s in the Upper East Side, so it’s close to the Met. If you have the time, splitting the Met into two days would definitely be worth it, because, like NYC, it’s overwhelming. They have art from Ancient Greece and Rome, an exhibit on Ancient Egypt, the Renaissance, and more that I can’t even remember. The painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River (”Here comes the General! The pride of Mount Vernon!” Whoops, sorry, I had Hamilton stuck in my head.) is also somewhere in that museum. On our LONG walk back to the hotel, we walked down Central Park to the Plaza Hotel, a required stop on my grand Percy Jackson tour. 

Enough of that, let's talk about the food. Oh, YES! I can always talk about food. Like any time of day. Morning, afternoon, night, when I’m eating, when I’m not eating. Whenever! The most unique thing about NYC compared to other cities is how diverse the food is. Like, on one block, you can get Asian dumplings (Dim Sum Palace is phenomenal!), and only a walk away, you can get the best Middle Eastern food ever at Lava Shawarma (my personal favorite). We also had the MOST authentic Indian food at Cloves Indian Cuisine. If you want to try something a little different, Cafe Mogador has great Moroccan food. 

To wrap it up, New York City is awesome and unlike anywhere else. From the heartwrenching museums to the massive ones, all are worth spending time in. Seeing a play on Broadway was absolutely unmatched. I’d even rate fear-of-height central five stars. And the unending options of types of food in a singular city will make your taste buds thank you!

Now, if you’ve read my other blog posts, you’re probably like “Oh my god! If you mention Greece one more time...” I hear you, but considering that we would be in a dark age if it weren't for the country that is smaller than Arkansas, my trip to Greece might be interesting. We spent 18 days exploring Greece, hitting cities and villages all over—and trying not to trip over ancient artifacts. There should be a Greek god of tripping. Actually, there probably is; I’d be that god’s #1 follower!

Even though I had an inhumane—or should I say herculean—amount of homework (and stress) in 7th grade, that was when I realized I’m a nerd when it comes to ancient history. I had an amazing teacher when we learned about Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. 

Anyway, that summer, (after a ton of planning) my parents and I went to Greece. We flew to Athens and spent two full days walking EVERYWHERE from our hotel. On the first day, we did a 4-hour, mythology-based tour of the Acropolis, the Roman Forum/Agora, and the Ancient Agora. It was a lot, even for me. But it was so cool to actually be standing at the spots I saw in pictures in school. Even my Dad had to admit it was impressive (he hates tours and museums), so that should tell you a lot. 

*PRO TIP: Use the Acropolis for directions. It’s only the big rock mountain with temples on the top in the middle of the city.*

The next day, we visited two museums, the Acropolis Museum and the National Archaeology Museum. Now, unless you have the strength of Heracles, I wouldn’t do two museums in one day. Like EVER AGAIN. The Acropolis Museum is positioned the same way as the Acropolis, so they could use big machinery to move stuff from the Acropolis to the museum. My teacher recommended the National Archeaology Museum, which was incredible and filled with many statues from different time periods. 

For food in Athens, we had: fried feta; spinach and grain salad; seafood; baklava; and a bread and dips sample plate. “A Little Taste of Home” is a great restaurant near the Agora and Monastiraki neighborhood of Athens—once we found it, which took just a lot of wandering around. We walked down this street, and my mom looked up and was like, “Oh, there it is!”

After Athens, we went to the Peloponnese Peninsula on a 3-day tour with a driver. Having the driver for days was really cool because we could ask him any questions about Greece. We crossed over the Corinth Canal on the way, which connects the Ionian and Aegean Seas (you can see both from the bridge). 

We stopped at the Epidaurus, a major healing center in ancient times dedicated to Apollo and Asclepius, and saw its theater, which has some insanely perfect acoustics. I loved it because it was peaceful out in the middle of nowhere, just ancient ruins and the beautiful landscapes. FYI: I still don’t know how to actually pronounce “Asclepius,” and definitely had to look up how to spell it. 

Next on our drive, we saw Mycenae, which has some major ties to the mythological kings Agamemnon and Menelaus in the Trojan War. Who the heck are they? (I totally DON’T know. At all. Totally not.) Seeing this once-powerful city made me nerd out a bit. It was really unique because you could walk in the city, through the paths, and under ancient stone archways. Across the street, we walked into the Tomb of Atreus (father of Agamemnon and Menelaus), which was built into a hill. 

That night, we stayed in Nafplio, a small coastal city. It’s also called Nafplion, not to be confused with Naples, which my parents did multiple times. LIKE, THEY’RE IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES! We ate lunch and dinner on the promenade; we had octopus, Greek salad, seafood pasta, and panna cotta—all unbelievably delicious! I think the restaurant was called “Εδεσματοπωλείο ΔΡΑΧΜΗ” (translated: Delicatessen DRACHMI). We walked up the steps of the Venetian Baroque fortress. Legend says it has 999 steps, but my legs swore it has more. Such a stunning view of the sea and city from there!  

Before we headed out the next day, we took advantage of the hotel’s room service. I mean, who wouldn’t? This is probably a good time for me to mention the typical Greek breakfast. No matter where we went, it was always pastries, yogurt, and orange juice (the best I’ve ever had). I’m super picky about my yogurt, and I’m a breakfast-hater, but GODS (get the pun?), I couldn’t get enough. 

Then we drove all the way on the other side of the Peloponnese to Olympia. As you might have guessed (or maybe not), it is where the Olympic Games started. We saw a ton of temples to what must have been ALL the gods, and a stadium. We went through the museum there, too, which has all sorts of statues and a 3-D model of the whole place.

After a long day, we stayed in the small mountain village of Lagkadia. It sits on the side of a mountain, and it was a very local experience. If we didn’t have our driver, I might have needed to use some of the Greek I learned. For dinner, we had rooster—yes, rooster, which is way better than chicken. Also, there was this beautiful stray dog that was so friendly. 

On our drive back, we stopped by a monastery and a water-power museum—both were built into the mountainside. Driving around the peninsula was long, yes, but well worth it. Even if you’re not into the ancient stuff, the scenery and landscape are more than enough to blow you away. Remember the Corinth Canal? Yeah, so the ancient city of Corinth was pretty powerful. We stopped by the ruins—quickly—because it was like 90000° out (I’m kidding. Maybe. Maybe not). 

That night, we stayed in Piraeus, which is pretty much just the port part of Athens. That took me a while to understand; even the ancient ruins were like, “Come on, can you figure this out before we double our age?” We had dinner right next to the water, which was really nice, but there’s not much else to see there. I should probably mention why we stayed there. Well, we needed to catch a ferry to the islands early the next morning. 

You might ask, “How was Santorini?” Well, we didn’t go there. Like I said, we spent a ton of time and effort to plan this trip—and we really wanted to experience non-touristy Greece. We took a ferry (which was really nice and modern, by the way) to Naxos. There is a connection to mythology, but I’ll spare you; you’re welcome. Taking the ferries is actually fairly smooth and easy, unlike having to sacrifice a goat before heading out to sea. Our hotel was right on the other side of the street from the beach, which was so nice. Instead of having room numbers, there were figures from Greek mythology. I remember checking in, kind of worried that we’d get the room with the one name I didn’t know, but—DON’T WORRY—it was all fine because we got Aeolos, the god of wind. Swimming was so fun; the water temperature was perfect, and the fish were so pretty. We had squid (interesting, but not for me) and a Naxos salad, which is slightly different than a Greek salad because it has these crouton-like things on it. 

After that stop, we took another ferry to Heraklion, Crete. Because that city is really industrial, we stayed at this insanely phenomenal hotel in the village of Archanes. Our room was so big! I’m pretty sure the only type of plants I saw on Crete were olive trees, so we went olive oil tasting, and we learned about the process. I’m pretty sure the guide was Athena in disguise, with all that information. We toured Knossos, which was the ancient palace that was built by the Minoans. Ever heard of the Labyrinth and Minos? Yeah, that all came from this place. I can’t even put into words how impressive it was to see those ~4,000-year-old buildings—and one of the world’s first toilets.  

Next, we drove across the island of Crete to Chania (the “ch” makes a soft “ha” sound). This was definitely more touristy, but still beautiful. We stayed in this apartment that overlooked the beach and water. I’m fairly sure I saw a turtle swimming that was probably as big as a coffee table. I looked it up, and they can get up to 4 feet in size. I could see where the ancient Greeks got the inspiration for some of the monsters. 

We flew back to Athens, spent a night near the airport, and flew home the following day. It was such a great trip. I really don’t know what words to use to describe just how wonderful and unique and fun this trip was. For me, seeing the ancient stuff and getting a very local feel in some of the places we went was some of the best parts. And the food. And the landscape. And swimming in the Aegean Sea. So basically what I’m saying is that everything was great. 

Phew! That was a long one. Thanks for reading my travel blog!

Okay, quick origin story: My parents and I moved from Pennsylvania to Utah when I was two. I grew up in Park City (think mountains, snow,  wind stinging your face, and that painful feeling in your toes after you take off your ski boots) until our family decided to trade our house for a seven-month-long road trip to Asheville.

Yep, you heard that right. Seven months, three humans, and two dogs squeezed into a 30-foot-long fifth wheel. Sounds like chaos, but honestly? It was one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. Before that, our family collected RVs like Pokémon cards, and by age ten, I’d already checked off every Western state from my bucket list. (My bucket list had a ringtone that sounded like check! check! check!) So the next big step was to go East and see the stuff in the middle of the country, and eventually see those big, old cities. 

We took our time crossing the country, stopping at places that are usually tough to reach. Our route went south through Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, and (finally) North Carolina. Along the way, we explored new places, soaked up their history just by being there, and I was homeschooled during the trip.

On some of those nights, especially out in the middle of nowhere, I started learning about the constellations and the stories behind the stars. I'm looking at you, Orion. After reading Percy Jackson, I got interested in real history, and that passion has stuck with me ever since.

That cross-country trip really opened my eyes to a different way of learning: through experience. It made me want to travel even more (Europe, here I come!) and showed me that there’s way more out there than just the usual tourist stuff and things that you’d learn in a classroom. 

So, I encourage everyone—whether in day-to-day life or your own travel plans—to go off the beaten path a bit. Don’t be afraid to be unique and stand out.