We left London this morning for Tel Aviv, Israel. I realize that it might seem as though Easy Jet is sponsoring our vacation, since their logo’d wing keeps appearing in my flight photos! This sadly is not the case. Easy Jet is a British discount carrier that flies to many destinations within many parts of Europe, Turkey, and since 2009, Israel. They have made it very easy for us to reach multiple destinations on our vacations, thanks to their low fares. I have numerous complaints about Easy Jet (none of which have to do with safety), but their positives at this point outweigh the negatives.

The picture above shows the Greek island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea, which I took en route to Tel Aviv today. Santorini is easy to identify, thanks to its crescent shape, caused by a devastating volcanic eruption that occurred over 3 000 years ago. This is called the “caldera”.

In 2 000, D and I visited Greece, covering Athens as well as the islands of Paros, and Santorini. We took the ferry from the port of Piraeus to Paros, and I recall the scene at the port in Paros as one of utter chaos. It was dark, people were pouring out of the ferry, I was ill, and there seemed to be only a handful of taxis that people snapped up before we had a chance to even approach. Finally, an American couple noticed that we were speaking English to one another, and offered to share a taxi with us. By chance, we were both staying at the same hotel.

Long story very short, we quickly became friends with this lovely, friendly couple who were seasoned travellers and eager, enthusiastic travel partners. Every day brought new adventures, which we all welcomed with laughter and an open mind. I don’t recall ever hearing a single complaint or harsh word from either of them.

We all moved on to Santorini after a few days on Paros, and together explored that beautiful island filled with history (colonized by the Minoans over 3 000 years ago), ancient ruins, bougainvillea in neon shades of pink and purple, white-washed buildings with blue roofs, and the breath-taking caldera.

D and I actually celebrated our first wedding anniversary on Santorini, and our new friends shared in our joy and even bought us a bottle of wine that night at dinner. That may not sound like a big deal, but because D and I were so young at the time, had very little money (we budgeted everything down to the last cup of coffee), and had relatively little life experience, that bottle of anniversary wine from two very well-meaning new friends meant the world to us. It still does.

I thought of that couple today while I snapped this picture. We were lucky to have met them, and hope one day to travel with them again!