Paros Island, Greece + Haridwar, India
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Alison is obsessed with her Blink Tears Eye Drops, she keeps them by her bedside, and is worried she’s addicted in the same way you get addicted to Chapstick®, you know? Lulu echoes this obsession but her love is Rohto Cooling Eye Drops that have a menthol feel to them. Feels weird, but then oh so good. Okay but that was just an “in-agreement” obsession. Lulu’s real obsession this week is Billy Flanigan. A fascinating person anyways, he has biked to all of his friend’s across Florida, and is now heading cross-country to surprise friends with a socially-distanced visit (and a song and dance). Follow his bike journey, if you like!
Alison is wishing she had the capital to do this herself, or if someone would just do this. A website where you plan your dream vacation, everything from hotel to rental car to activities, all booked together. And then you can pay monthly. Lulu reminds her of something called a travel agent. But can you pay them monthly? Also…here are 4 companies that let you book flights now and pay later.
Lulu is wishing for a great bluetooth speaker that is also a smart speaker, like an Alexa or Google Home. However, her Alexa Dot does not have a great speaker…and she doesn’t want both. So can Alexa or Google Home just come out with a really amazing speaker quality for audiophiles? Thanks.
Alison is for sure one day going to Greece. She’s done a 10K Day in Santorini, but wants to have done research on multiple options, so that future her has a plethora of possibilities. So she is heading to Paros Island, along with her favorite companions - Lulu, Ash, and daughter Emma. She flies them over, roundtrip is about $1300 each from Tampa to Athens. The crew is staying the first night in Athens at A77 Suites by Adronis, which is definitely worth the trip to Athens alone, but its an early morning for us as we have a ferry to catch to Paros Island. Alison is treating herself and her friends to business class seats on Blue Star Ferries for $50 each...which may seem extravagant, until you hear that it is a four hour ferry ride. You're gonna want some comfort for that. World on a Whim has a great article about whether to take a flight or a ferry in this exact destination, worth taking a look if you decide to book this trip, IRL!
Once our gaggle of gals reaches Paros Island, part of the Cyclades cluster of islands, they check into Minois Village Boutique Suites & Spa. This breathtaking hotel has some amenity favorites such as pillow menus, turndown service, and rain showers. Booking includes a Greek buffet breakfast and a welcome drink. Alison and Emma are staying in the Eros Suite with Private Pool, while Lulu and Ash are making the Grand Two Room Suite their home away from home. Their suite comes with two bathrooms, one with a whirlpool and shower the other with a rain shower, a king-sized bed or two twins or two twins, and a living room with sofa beds or built-in sofas. This spacious option is perfect for the two introverts of the group who like their primp time. Alison also took advantage of their very affordable add-on options - A bottle of wine and fruit platter for ~$22, a bouquet of flowers for ~$44, and a cake for ~$16! She gets all of the above for her and Emma's room, but just the wine and fruit platter for Lulu and Ash. No hard feelings, that's the most important add-on and she did fly us to Greece after all.
There is much to do on this island, with resort towns and nearly-tourist-free villages. Wanting to do the most active of excursions first, Alison has booked wind-surfing lessons at Sunwind Surf Club. For $85 per person you get a 2-hour rental of the board, rig, harness, everything you need, plus an hour of instruction. Now for some wandering and sight-seeing, the group heads to Lefkes, a gorgeous village full of “little alleys and pine-shaded squares with tavernas and traditional bakeries”. How picturesque! With multiple stops to sample Greek coffee and pastries, somehow the group is still hungry when they come upon Klarinos Tavern. They fill up on pork chops, local sausage (a ntakos salad for the lone vegetarian) and a local dessert of watermelon and sour cherries served on greek yogurt. Yum!
On to the next, the foursome visit Moraitis Winery, where they take in the underground aging cellars, tour the antique winemaking tools, then do a tasting of their full range of reds, whites, rosés and dessert wines along with an offering of cheese and charcuterie.
Somehow the group is still hungry - wind-surfing and village-strolling must really take it out of ya! - so we are off to dinner at Siparos, where they specialize in fresh seafood and feature local products.
After-dinner entertainment is in the form of an open-air cinema! Cine Rex has comfortable seats, and shows a wide selection of movies including thrillers, comedies, animations, and more! And it’s only $7.50 per person entry fee!
Their last stop of the evening is Summer Minnie Chez Linardo, a nightlife spot right on the Aegean sea. Like so close you have to hold on tight to your cocktail or it and you could fall in. 10 pm is considered an early arrival, and as the night goes on, more and more patrons will arrive and the dancing will begin! They are open for revelry until 5:30...in the morning! Perfect girls’ trip!
For more info on Paros Island and many other isles check out Lonely Planet’s Greek Island guidebook, available in physical form, as an eBook, or you can even buy individual eChapters for a specific island or island cluster!
The Hindu religion recognizes seven Holy Cities commonly known as the Sapta Puri, one of which is Haridwar, in the northern Indian state of Uttarkhand. Now usually Lulu is one for some socially-distanced space, even pre-COVID era. But not having seen many people in so long, this week she decided to imaginarily visit a place with large crowds. She looked into the largest peaceful gatherings in history anywhere in the world. She stumbled upon Kumbh Mela, Hindu pilgrimage and festival that alternates its destination between 4 different river banks and the towns on them. One of those is Haridwar. For a frame of reference the population of NYC is 8.5 million, on the highest record day, this town of population 300,000 was populated by 30 million people. Lulu and Alison are completely flabbergasted by this number, wondering where the people stay, eat, even walk? All of these people come to the sacred Ganges River to bathe away their sins and gather the holy water to carry to shrines. Our producer Ash lived in India in 2018, and went to the Ganges to bathe, take in a Ganga Aarti (a devotional ritual that uses fire as an offering), and offer a diya to Maa Ganga (the goddess of the holy river). She was in Varanasi however, a different sacred city. After Lulu’s research all of us here at 10K Dollar Day are feeling a visit to Haridwar, where they don’t use the word “water” for the river, they say “nectar”.
Of interesting note is that the entire city of Hardiwar is meat and alcohol free. There was even a Supreme Court ruling to ensure that certain holy towns in that area of Uttarkhand - Haridwar, Rishikesh and Muni Ki Reti - were free of all meat, fish and eggs.
The Devi Music Ashram includes access to Indian musical instruments and music lessons, which is right up her alley. She pays extra to have a room to herself, and is excited by the “breakfast included”, and plans to fill up on enough paranthas and aloo gutke to last her until dinner. Lulu found this ashram as an Airbnb listing in Rishikesh, and even though it’s up to an hour away from Haridwar, she just couldn't resist the music-centric stay. If you'd like to stay somewhere within the Haridwar area you can check out these hotel options and Airbnb.
Her first activity is to venture out to Rajaji National Park, where more than 500 elephants, 12 tigers, and 250 panthers await her. Admission is $8, and for just $19.83 you can rent a jepp to take you down the less-traveled jungle roads. She decides to also get a filming permit, a movie camera permit, and security so that she can film a video #10KSaturday without getting eaten by a tiger. But hopefully one appears in the background!
Hinduism is by far the predominant religion in India, with around 80% or citizens claiming the religion. There are some Muslim communities throughout, in the 2011 census there were 14% of Indian citizens reporting their faith in Islam. When it comes to customary attire, Hindu Indians are not as covered up as their Muslim counterparts. However, Lulu is one to be respectful and take every precaution when it comes to what is appropriate to wear, so she buys a Mayovera fully covered swimsuit from Modanisa.com She dons the getup of a printed tunic, black pants, and a black head wrap, because she is headed back to the Ganges river to bathe.
She knows that pilgrims to the Ganges collect water to take with them to shrines, and she finds this similar to her Catholic understanding of holy water. So she is going to bottle up some of the Ganges’ “nectar” to bring back to friends and family. 40 of them to be exact as she hits up 1stdibs.com, buying this Set of 10 Gold Leaf Label Antique apothecary bottles, and this Set of 31 19th Century Apothecary Bottles, one of the bottles she’ll keep for herself. Averaging at $155.16 a bottle, each filled with healing water from the most sacred river in the world, this is a priceless souvenir! Of course, she needs a secure way to get these bottles home, so she buys this Louis Vuitton hard sided Horizon 50 suitcase for $2940.
While she’d been looking for fully-clothed swimwear on Modanisa.com, she found this Amine Hüma Purple Muslim Evening Dress, which she’s going to wear it to dinner at Hoshiyar Puri. She may be the fanciest diner at the restaurant, but it will not stop her from enjoying the recommended dhal makhani, aloo gobi, and kheer, the traditional way of eating…with your hands with the help of an order of naan. Maybe two orders.
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