activities in Ios

One would think there is not much to do on this island beyond drink at night and sleep on the beach during the day. but if you care to delve just a little bit deeper you will see the island has a lot more to offer. apart from the 30 beaches on the island waiting to be discovered there are cultural sites such as Homer's Tomb, activities from kayaking and snorkling, to proper diving and sailing. the thrill seekers amongst you might want to try out the banana or the dougnuts.. but be warned the guys who drive the speed boats dont take no prisioners!! i havent yet tried the speed boat activites but will be on that as soon as i know the guys well enough to get a discount...

ofcourse the nightlife on the island is amazing. it requires a bit of training to really get the hang of it. luckily the years i have spent in tripod/redbox and pod have stood to me. in order to get the best out of the island you have to nap from about 8-10.30 and aim to be leaving the house by 11 to head to dinner (crazy late for ireland i know) so ideally you finish up with dinner at 1.30am when things are just heating up on the island. then its over to somewhere like the blue note that has a distinctly swedish feel, then hit orange bar for some of the most amazing shots i have ever tasted.. mint aero anyone?maltesers?twix.. i kid you not, unfortunately the music attracts the rock wierdos so the place is always quiet. then on to the village to frankies for a frozen lemon margarita..yum, although you can only have one cos of the sugar content! then the redbull bar beckons for some dancing (dont even bother trying to get to the bar here,if you want redbull that badly either get a table outside for the waitress to serve you or go to a mini market.. its mental busy in there with the dancing, then at this point it should be about 3am, about the right time to hit shooters bar for a flaming lamborgini and sex on the beach for 5 yo yos (they all do crzy deals) after some pop music there head along to Coo where the barmen are delcious, the cocktails very grown up and the music is hip hop mix (a personal fave) plus they have a savage aircon system there! if you are feelin brave head down to flames bar to try for the shots record.. currently it stands at 7 shots in 6 sec 79...you get the 7 for free and a teeshirt. i tried and failed :( then onward down the hill to rehab a bar cum club with very tasty doorstaff and house music, and wierd foam rain every so often! they close up around 5am. if you are still standing trip along dowwn the village with the rest of the hard core peeps and the satff that have just finished up and hit Kandi the club until 7/8 in the am.....ofcourse this is just a sample of what a night could be like here, i havent even mentioned the shamrock bar,astra,slammers,disco 69,barmacy, satisfaction,pegasus, dreams... the list goes on and on..but its all about starting later than you think you should and pacing yourself. seeing the dawn is definitely worth the headache later in the day!

oh and on the job front i might have something sorted.. watch this space..
xxx

Friend Whore

so as you can imagine going somewhere on your own is a little daunting.but not so much on this island actually. i have coined a phrase... friend whore. now im not sure if it is already out there but if it is .. damn! that is exactly what i am. i will talk to anyone and anything. i will show people about the island and drive on the right hand side of the road for them... that was today and it freaked me out no end. but these 3 canadians really needed to see the island and friend whore becka was only too glad to get in on the act. the 3 in question are these 3 school teachers doing a bit of backpacking for the schoolo holidays. first stop Ios then on to Athens and Croatia and then somewhere else but i have forgotten it. so i met them in francescos (the best hostel on the island) and they want me to come travelling with them but i ahve already paid for my room so that wont be happening.nice to be asked though. now they are hilarious women. so educated but not at all at the same time. i mean they thought all irish were of the pale skin red haired variety! and they cant drive a manual car. but i love them all the same. we went out on the town last night and didnt see our beds till 7 this morning. hard core!last night was a worldwind of a late dinner (didnt finish till 2am) and then a tour of the bars that we liked, and amazingly enough it was some norweigan holiday so that was nuts!!but great craic. did some hottie spotting and talked to random people, flirted with someothers and parties the dawn away in the club kandi with a (slightly creepy) restaurant owner from the island... typical ios night! we headed out to manganari beach today with me driving and it was beautiful. just enough away from the hustle and bustle of the main beach. but it took a while to get there... the roads are unbelievablem so so so windy, we are talking hair pin bends that our rented car.. fiat panda.. battled bravely against. it was worth ig though. just to do a bit of swimming even cos the water is soo soo clear. there are not a lot of fishies here, but someone told me that this is a good sign,. ie no sharks.... whatever, talk about a silver lining!tonight is their last night and then they leave me to befriend some other selection of hotties, i might even try to make friends with boys the next time!

actually speaking of boys... there was a parade of hotties out last night from the beautiful Luc from Oz who is so in love with his girlfriend and unaware of his hottness... yum... to colin on the door of the bar Coo, to the barman in Coo who told me he really wanted to kiss me only for me to walk in on him and a blonde in the ladies of the bar on his break! cheeky! thats the thing about this island, anything goes. you have to be in the drop dead gorgeous category to have a guy actually persue you. there are far too many pretty, drunk and easy girls on the island for them to really need to bother......

xxx

etiquette in the bedroom

So sharing a room with a boy, well 2 boys now is not exactly what its cracked up to be. boys are disgusting!! my god! so cahill comes home the other morning from wirk with a girl.. uh oh.. i got up to pee and met her. so they knew i was there... i then went to bed but forgot where my ear plugs were, big mistake. the beds in the room squeak, something shocking. so i had a lovely hour of moaning, squeaking and general sex noises. luckily i couldnt see anything because of a combination of not wearing my specs and having my bed tucked behind the couch. but yeah he managed to help her climax 8 freaking times!! i was mentally applauding him whilst willing him to stop. but then she ruined it for him by saying that her record was 16 times! 16 times in the one session! dear god she is a machine. that was the funny part. the not so funny part was me hearing it all and feeling part of the session, so much so that i had to tell the others and then cahill got really mad at me later on, the cheek of him really! but the iceing on the cake was when i went into the loo the next day and saw that he had attempted to flush the condom (at least they were safe ;) _ but eeeeuuuuuwww. plus he hasnt washed his sheets since or even remade his bed,..,. double gross. the others are sweet to live with but cahill is like a child you have to explain everything to him in simple language. its an uphill battle for sure. i mean i dont really have a problem with the concept of bringing someone home even though i would never do it, but i had to sit him down and tell him how to handle things and to be respectful of both me and her. no wonder they call me momma becks here!
xx

the Ozzies

Ios is full of australians! they are literally everywhere. but none were so lovely as my 3 ladies who i befriended on the ferry on the way over. well i met alli and tors at the port and we travelled on the boat together adn Em was with them when they came over to Ios for the past 4 days. it has been a lot of fun. they felt like my friends and not people i had just moved in with. we spent the last few days sun bathing on the different beaches across the island cos we hired a car and went exploring, saw Homer's tomb and paid our respects, and went out every night to try to drink every option available!Alli is from Sydney, Victoria is from Melbourne and Em is from Canberra, Alli and Em went to college together and Tors met Alli in Maastricht on exchange. its funny how things work out. the girls are all off the island this evening and im going to miss them. facebook is a wonderful invention so when i head over to Oz they will be waiting for me.. or so they said! but what i will take away from this experience with them is Em tryin to do the 7 shots in 7 secs and only managing to do it in 8 sec and then me trying to beat her and ending up pouring them all over myself.. oops. the 4 of us heading kayaking and snorkling for hours yesteday and most of all when i asked a group of people at the port is anyone spoke english ally looked up and saying "yeah sure"... the start of a long friendship.cheers ladies, i'll see you next year
xxx

Found accomodation!!

hey readers!
so yesterday was my first day on the island of Ios and i was all freaked out that i wouldnt find a job or a place to stay or even talk to people.. how wrong was i?!granted the prebooking of the purple pig hostel that i had thought was a good idea was NOT. the place had no air con and was riddled with mossie, i know this becuase the nap i took there when i arrived is the only time i spent any time in the room and i have many bites as a result. god damn! so yesterday evening after some hours in the sun on the beach i thought i might check out the rest of the hostel and try to make some friends.... no such luck there were 6 "cool" english people at the pool in the hostel .. all couples and an irish pair who were not even talking to eachother, i felt a little intimidated to be honest. i know, me of all people!! so then i took myself to my run and seriously considered coming home, i think this was just becyuase i was so knackered at this point, instead i threw on a skirt and tank top over my bikini and headed in to the village to check out the scene re jobs etc. nothing is awake in the day timein ios. so i was worried that i would have nothing to do and no body to talk to for hours.. luckily fun pub came to the rescue. i dropped in and introduced myself to the owner Mick and he told me what to do. so i put a little note on the board saying i wasnt a psycho and that i needed somewhere to stay. i then met the delicious barmen Reece and Mark, Reece is an Aussie and Mark is a Paddy. the took care of me and introduced me around. i headed back to my hovel of a hostel to shower change and head out for the night and hopethat someone had read the notice and wanted me. no such luck. there was a kareoke thing on in the Fun Pub that night and this chick from Limerick Aoife was incharge of it, we got talking and it turned out she had an apartment with free beds!!! so after i murdered Gloria Gayner's I will survive, we talked a little more. 10 yo yo a night adnit was smack bang in the middle fo the village!! so then i ran around the village checking outthe bars to see who needed anyone.. but the major rush hasnt started yet so there are no jjobs plus the health inspector is in the island so everyone is trying to be on their best behaviuor. but im putting the word out etc. so then atabout 2am (which is super early in ios terms) myself aoife and her boyf keith headed home.. i crashed there that night cos i couldnt face the 20 minutes dangerous walk... plus i dont think keith was going to let me go alone, nice limerick folk!! at about 9.30 in the am cahill returned home from work in teh club and had no idea who i was!! but we talked and he seems nice! spent the day on the beach with them and will be cooking dinner for them in a bit!! woop woop now all i need is a job!!

xxx

The journey to Ios

SO currently im here in Ios on the beach marvelling at the heat of it all.. it took a while to get here but it was so worth it!So i flew ryanair from dublin to london and then at 6am flew out of london into athens at 12pm but the journey didntn stop there... i met Andy in athens and he took em to the beach, with a lot of bitching from me cos of my bag and the heat was intense.. i had left my bag in with a random travel agency man but my nerves got the better of me and i recused it and lugged it out the hour journey on the tram to the beach. andy got a little lost and i got annoyed but we finally made it for about an hour of swimming and sun. so i forgave him a little when he took me for a really tastie souvlaki dn then popped me on the train to the port town of Pireas. I arrived in pireas at 8 in the evening totally freaked out that the ticket sellers would be closed, but it was fine and i got a reagular cheap ticket of 27 yo yos to take the ferry of death to the island of ios at 10pm that would come in at 8am (and it did, very much on time) whilst walking over to the loading bay i came acrosse these two austrailian girls, victoria and allie, we got to chatting adn then i ended up travellin with them most of the ferry ride over, until it got too cold on deck of the ship, i stayed up there the entire night in my sleeping back (a last minute purchase at the port) they were going on to another island but will be in Ios in 3 days so we are going to meet up again... love travellling!! so i stumbled out on to the port in ios and found my man with the sign saying purple pig hostel \, met a lovely couple and finally made it to the hostel some crazy amount of hours later than when i left dublin. i booked a bed in a mixed dorm but currently i have it to myself which is not that great but at least i got to sleep this morning for a while but fingers crossed i have visitors soon, that or im moving to francescos in town, but apparently he will kiock me out should i get a job.. hmmmm. met this local (well i think he is originally british but he has been here 36 yers) terry. and he gave me some tips on getting a job etc... im hopeful, plus am looking into doing my diving cert?! am feeling really white adn a little flabby but who cares im here!!! feel free to email me to stay in touch adn photos will be up soon
xxxx
beckajane@gmail.com

Leaving Oracle & Ireland

So folks it happened i finally made it out of the corporate world to do what i have been threatening to so for some time... travel. ofcourse i could not just up sticks and leave, that is not the becka way. i had to think about it for some time and then when the time was right get a job that would fund the expedition cos i do not want to get in to debt just yet, the credit card scares me enough as it is... thanks mum!! right so on friday the 27th of june at the kick off for FY09 i mae my teary farewell to many a manager, friend and collegue... the cringe is so raw right now i hte to think about it but wheen you have been fed free wine adn yummy food (the yummy stuff is never the soakage stuff) what do you expect?! plus im a light weight! so instead of having a dignified exit at the radisson i cried.. alot... and hugged way too much, im not a hugger it soft of freaked me out to be honest. when finally i got over my tears and the party was over i left oracle without my dignity but with a shiny new bruise courtesy of cristina dumping me over a chair!

Sat night was my going away party thing that i was expecting EVERYONE toturn up to but it didnt work out like that.. infact my mom drove me to diceys and the stayed a little while cos she felt sorry for me! but then seeing as she had been at the races that day and was in her races suit she felt like a hick so she exited stage left pretty sharpish! kelly was my partner for the first while while i freaked out that no one would come... that was ridiculous ofcourse but pre party nerves are a bitch to keep under control! then influx of people started and the party got underway, that is until the bouncers found us... we were not allowed stand in the walk way, dance in the walkway or disrupt the flow of traffic at all.. makes sense in the real world but this dude was anally retentive about it for some reason... sort of soured the beginning of the night really. midnight came and we all rocked over to the tripod en masse for our free cocktails... thanks siobhan...mmm... i managed to behave myself somehow, i even ended up at home and not staying over in some randoms apartment!!!woop woop clearly i am growing up!the night was filled with laughter and danceing and some confessions which will not be shared online but maybe one on one..... then after the club adn some neck sucking for the craic (sorry vonnie) i rocked over to the house of sin for an afterparty where my kt was polluted in the corner and stil managing to be alot of fun! but i didnt last long, 6am saw skinny get me a cab and me try really hard to creep back into my apartment... but the mothership was awake getting the slut sisters to the airport... uh oh, cue drunken chat about the night and then me passin out!noice! a great night i think over all.... and i somehow managed not to stain my dress, miracle!!