After researching and trying to figure out whether I’d be doing a RTW ticket, a regular round trip or a one-way, I decided that the best way for me to be flexible without choosing anything too expensive is to just get the one-way ticket. I have totally never bought a one-way ticket before to anywhere. This is pretty exciting! We found really good prices for British Air, Polish Air and Lufthansa on STA Travel, which luckily both of us can still use as we’re under 26 years old still. By the time I finish this epic journey, I will have turned 26 and won’t be able to use these lovely ticketing options, sadly.

So far, this is what the first leg of the trip is looking like:

• Fly from Phoenix to Athens, arrive July 5 in the evening
• Depending on the situation in Athens (yes, I’m a little concerned there will be crazy rioting possibly, what with all the crazy economic things going on, but maybe not) we can either: 1.) stay overnight in Athens or 2.) Take the night train to Thessaloniki. In either event, we end up the next day in:’
• Thessaloniki, where we can go to the White Tower, check out the Church of Agios Dimitrios and see some sweet archaeological things in the Archaeological Museum.

Photo of the White Tower courtesy of BalkanTravellers.com

• Next destination: Litohoro, where we plan to climb Mt. Olympus. I’m really excited to give this one a shot. So far, it looks like we’ll stay in Litohoro a night and then get to Refuge A, stay the night there and summit the next day. How epic would it be to say I’ve climbed Olympus? REALLY FRICKIN’ EPIC! 
• Last stop before heading back to Athens will be Meteora, where the alien mountain landscape has been home to monasteries for centuries.

Photo of Meteora courtesy of AthensTours.com