Greece – NorthAmericanDarrell

Eurorail-10 day pass CANCELLED!

01/09/2026

by Darrell Countries Europe Freedom 50 Greece Personal History Spain Travel bucket list Travels Deals Travels Stories United Kingdom

I’ve bought three Euro rail passes so far.

2 of 3 have now been cancelled and refunded!

(Make sure you buy the cancellation insurance).

It has become obvious that Europe in general is not affordable for my adventures. I have turned my attention to the Philippines and Asia in general.

Here WAS the plan when I bought the THIRD pass before cancelling AGAIN:

The first two months/ten-day pass I canceled—I was burned out on Vietnam train travel.

The second, a one-month pass, I actually used, which immediately justified the obsession. (Portugal, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, and the UK)

And now I’m already planning number three, a ten-day over two-month pass for a late 2026 adventure.

At this point, it’s not even about spontaneity—it’s about saving stupid amounts of money with the possibility of dropping pins across 33 countries in Europe.

Trains beat planes in Europe, bags don’t cost extra, and the scenery alone makes it feel like I’m hacking travel.

Traveling with financial responsibility, but make it European.

The pass I used in 2025 turned out to be so awesome that when it went back on sale, I didn’t hesitate—I booked another one immediately.

When something actually delivers on its promise and fits your travel style, the decision makes itself.

I’m not entirely sure how it will all unfold—I just know that late 2026 is going to involve seeing a lot more amazing places by rail throughout Europe.

These rail passes go on sale 25% off fairly often, and when you run the numbers. It works out to less than $50 a day to ride the train for up to 24 hours at a time for ten days over two months.

My cheap ass took the train from Venice to Paris in a single day.
Fourteen-plus hours. Multiple connections. Less than $50.

Could I have flown? Of course.

But the quiet satisfaction of watching entire countries slide by looking out the window was mesmerizing.

Honestly, it wasn’t even that bad. Comfortable seat, snacks, scenery, and a beer cart.

I’m fairly certain I can push this to 16+ hours next time just to prove a point.

At this stage, European rail isn’t transportation—it’s unlimited adventure at my fingertips!

15 Countries visited in 2025📍🌎😎

12/31/2025

by Darrell All you can fly Asia Austria Bangkok Barcelona Countries Europe Freedom 50 Frontier - AYCF!Greece HCMC / Saigon Italy Koh Phi Phi London Madrid Mexico North American Personal History Philippines Rocky Point Rome Singapore Slow travel Spain Thailand Travel bucket list Travels Stories United Kingdom United States Vietnam Volaris - AYCF!Wizz - AYCF!

2025: My first full year taking a run at retirement!

2025 turned out to be my most traveled year ever—and somehow, I feel that I’m just getting started.

January – Vietnam
(HCMC, Nha Trang, Da Nang, Hoi An, Hue, Phu Quoc)

February – Cambodia & Thailand
(Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao)

March – UK & Europe
(London, Greece, Iceland, Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Italy)

April – October–US & Mexico

(Mesa and Rocky Point—two incredible home bases)

November & December – SE Asia
(Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Bali)

Every trip felt different. Every move resets my brain. And somehow, it all worked out absolutely perfect!

2026: Already Booked (Of Course It Is!)

January to mid-April
Mexico, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Philippines

May to October (Homebases in Mesa/Mexico)

Volaris + Frontier all-you-can-fly chaos—route TBD, cheap is guaranteed

Nov and Dec– Europe by Rail-pass

Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Southern Spain/Portugal…
Eastern Europe is still being self-negotiated with my grade-three attention span.

My big fat Greek weekend!

03/26/2025

by Darrell Greece

Feta cheese – they put that amazing shit of everything in Athens. This is an amazing Armenian Family that kept the Greek dishes coming over the weekend.

The Greek salad with a slab of feta and olives and lamb gyro were the best!!

I spent a couple of months touring Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand). I spent my last days in Singapore before leaving for Europe. It was also the first time I flew on discount airline Scoot, which is a low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. I stress low cost as it had nothing like the feel of my favorite Airline, Singapore Airlines.

Now that the important introduction is over, the food, I can explain traveling in and out of Athens a bit more.

I was able to travel to Athens, Greece for a few days, the third weekend of March 2025. I left Asia after 70 days touring Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Singapore. It was a 12-hour flight from Singapore to Athens, but I booked it several months ago, so it was only a couple of hundred dollars.

It was a long flight, but I was able to make do with the onboard amenities.

I left Athens and headed to London for a quick overnight trip to use my Wizz all-you-can-fly pass to Istanbul, Turkey.

After those long flights, I am always discombobulated (more than normal). I needed to navigate the metro system to get to my hostel, which was extra challenging.

I always tailor my accommodations to the price of the city, and Athens was not cheap.

I ended up biting the bullet and booking an amazing room in a hostel for $50 a night. I know you’re thinking, $50 a night is cheap, but multiply that by 84 nights, which is the length of this trip. That would have been USD 4,200 for accommodations alone!!

Anyway, I was able to catch up on my sleep, regroup, and reenergize.

I knew I would only have the weekend in Athens, so I booked a three-day pass on the double-decker bus that stops at all of the tourist traps. I tend to do that when there is a lot to see in a city in a short amount of time, as it is worth it.

One of the biggest draws on the tour and in Athens is the Acropolis and the Parthenon.

Here is a clip for the wiki that explained to both of us:

The Acropolis of Athens (Ancient Greek: ἡ Ἀκρόπολις τῶν Ἀθηνῶν, romanized: hē Akropolis tōn Athēnōn; Modern Greek: Ακρόπολη Αθηνών, romanized: Akrópoli Athinón) is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon.

The word Acropolis is from Greek ἄκρον (akron) ‘highest point, extremity’ and πόλις (polis) ‘city’.[1] The term acropolis is generic and there are many other acropoleis in Greece. During ancient times the Acropolis of Athens was also more properly known as Cecropia, after the legendary serpent-man Cecrops, the supposed first Athenian king.

While there is evidence that the hill was inhabited as early as the 4th millennium BC, it was Pericles (c. 495–429 BC) in the fifth century BC who coordinated the construction of the buildings whose present remains are the site’s most important ones, including the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike.

The Parthenon and the other buildings were seriously damaged during the 1687 siege by the Venetians during the Morean War when gunpowder being stored by the then Turkish rulers in the Parthenon was hit by a Venetian bombardment and exploded.

Another big draw was the temple of the Olympian Zeus:

Here is more wiki history that I did not know either:

Dedicated to Zeus, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, also called the Olympieion, was the largest temple in ancient Greece. Though the Parthenon is better preserved, the Temple of Olympian Zeus was an even more monumental structure in its day. The temple dates to the sixth century BC but was not completed until the second century AD by the Emperor Hadrian. In front of the Olympieion, not far from the entrance, stands Hadrian’s Arch at the end of Dionysiou Areopagitou.

It’s easy to imagine the grand impression this temple made in its complete form. More than a hundred enormous marble columns once supported the grandiose sanctuary. Only 15 columns remain standing, and another surviving column lies on the ground, but the ruins’ monumental presence gives a sense of the massive size of the original building. The gigantic structure was a befitting shrine to Zeus, the ancient Greeks’ most all-powerful God, known as the King of the Gods.