Seeing Greece Together: The News

These photos are from February. While CC was gone, I researched some ideas for Spring Break. I found that our entire family could take the short 4-day Greek cruise that I did with a couple of friends last year for the cost of a hotel/gas to one of our normal spots. We are painfully aware that the clock is ticking now with having the 7 of us all together still for vacations. So, I CC up while he was missing us, far away, 8000 miles away. CC agreed that although he's never wanted to go on a cruise (read here: doesn't like them) and although it seemed like a lot of trouble, if I planned everything, we could go.

Realizing it was a stretch for him and appreciating his heart to be willing, I wanted him to be the one to tell the kids. Here are their reactions to finding out they would get to experience a cruise. 

Fast forward to March. We walked out the door to school at 3PM, drove straight to the airport, parked our van, and boarded a plane. Pegasus Airlines is our budget airline here. We flew to the Turkish Aegean Coast round trip for $50 each. I told you it was cheap. Here are the girls eating their Easter treats from Aunt B.

Our flight was only an hour. Then we waited at the airport for a bus to take us the one hour journey to the docks. We were a little tired, but very excited. 

I booked the cheapest hotel I could find that would enable us to just walk to the cruise ship the next morning. (With 7 people, transport is always hard. We can't fit in a taxi all together. So this seemed the easiest thing.) The hotel was...cheap. It's rare to still find hotel rooms that smell like smoke, but we did. We listened to a band at a bar next door, right up until the 4AM call to prayer. Blessedly, they quit once the call went out! 

We had a simple breakfast the next morning. That's always provided in Turkish hotels. 

And we looked out our windows to see this! 

And soon we watched our ship pull in!!! 

This was just before embarkation!