Mykonos Live! From Hell 2 Happy

Yesterday was quite a day. We awoke at 5 a.m. to catch our 7:15 ferry from Athens to Mykonos. It was to be a two hour high speed boat. Instead, the trip lasted four hours. And ironically (as I complain constantly about cigarette smoke), the concierge booked us in the smoker's economy class on the ferry (as apparently there were no other seats available in business or first). Chris specifically requested non-smoking so I'm not sure how that unfortunate incident occurred. Either way, it made for a long boat ride.

Once we arrived in Mykonons, we departed the boat. Unfortunately, there were no cabs, no hotel buses, nothing. So with luggage in hand, we stomped through the dirt to find a cab. We were hot and quickly becoming quite irritated. Luckily, some random "pop-up" instructed us to get on the bus for town. So, we turned around and stuffed ourselves into a bus full of too many people. My irritation level increased with leaps and bounds as the sweat ran down my back.

The bus dumped us off in town where again there were no cabs. We called the hotel and basically said, "What the fuck?" Their response was they didn't know when we arrived so they were unable to pick us up. And, the hotel driver was busy taking someone to the airport. So they advised us to find a taxi stand. So again, we walked with our luggage to a taxi stand. Once there, we found out people had been waiting for over an hour and it most likely would be an additional hour. I told Chris either the hotel found us quickly or we'd be headed for the airport for a prompt return home. 20 minutes later, the driver came to our rescue.At this point, I was hating Mykonos. It was hot, dry and unpleasant. But my attitude changed once we arrived at the hotel.

The Theoxenia Hotel is a throwback to the 60s - though updated for today. Our room is pleasant and overlooks the sea (or is the ocean?) And after two hours by the pool, I began to let my negative feelings go. The hell was behind us and it only could get better - which it did later that night.

We left the hotel around 8:30 for a drink (yes, we had a cocktail before our unusually late dinner reservations at 10:00 p.m. - which is even early for Mykonos). We sat outside and watched the mixed crowd pass us by. Retail stores were open late. The restaurants and winding streets filled up around 11.

So as Chris and I enjoyed our meal with a glass of wine (two drinks for Dave Lutman if you're counting), we realized Mykonos is quite the opposite as it appears from the outskirts - and would be the perfect place to return with friends to enjoy the charming boutiques, trendy restaurants and gay friendly atmosphere. It didn't take long to go from being in hell to quite happy indeed.