Coming back from traveling abroad is quite a weird experience. As your everyday life stands before you and you’re forced into ‘business as usual mode’, you play with the prospect that perhaps your holiday was just a fever dream. (I mean, of course, you know that’s not true and you probably have a million photos to prove it, but you know what I mean. It feels like it might as well be!)

I just came back from a lovely trip to the Greek island of Santorini and am going through such a transition. After a questionable Spring in the UK (weather-wise), it was nice to see the sea, walk in the black sand and experience the beating sun on my skin – even if a momentary experience. I personally can’t tolerate very hot weather for long but since it’s June it was only in the early 20s. Plus, because we were based not far from the coast, the sun was complimented by a frequent breeze which made it feel heavenly.

We had some lovely food (we tried to try as many local foods and dishes as we could!) and explored all the touristy sites on our bucket list for the island (well as much as we could fit into the four-ish days we were there anyway.) These include a dormant volcano which you can access via boat and climb, Oia (the lovely place all over social media with the blue domes) – where sunset watching is heavily recommended, and visiting the island’s hot springs. (They’re not that hot at this time of year apparently but do get hot during peak summer.)

Getting the balance between rest and relaxation can be quite tricky when you go abroad – some people are like energizer bunnies wanting to do things in every crevice of time each day allows whilst others like to take a more chilled approach and go with the flow. It’s a personal preference as to what you do so there’s obviously no wrong way to go about it. The only issue is when preferences clash with the people you’re holidaying with! I’m probably in more of the latter camp but, luckily for me, I was on the same page with my travel companions (who also happened to be family 🙂 ) so it made for a smooth and highly enjoyable trip. Some photo highlights are below 📸: