1999.
I was four when the movie about a boy named Tzatziki came out.
The eight-year-old who dreamt of finding his biological Greek father fleeting.
Images of the beaches, endless blue sea, sun-soaked skies.
It mesmerized me.
We couldn't travel like that when I grew up, so I did what any kid would do.
I played pretend.
In Stockholm on a hot July afternoon.
I put on my bathing suit and rolled around in a sandbox at the local park.
My mom brought out buckets of water that was the ocean.
This must be what Greece feels like, I remember thinking so vividly.
I wonder if the taxi driver knows the suffering he imposed on us, dropping us at the very bottom of a steep hill with Super Mario-like endless stone stairs.
Overheating really brings out the worst in us, doesn't it?
Why the hell did I pack this giant suitcase?
I told you we should have gotten the large water bottle.
Touch me with your sweaty arm one more time, I dare you.
Why does Google Maps still say 8 minutes?
Hasn't it been like 18 already?
After lots of bickering mixed with desperate laughter, we finally reached the top.
Only, the hotel was not there.
That wasn't really my fault.
No one else volunteered to be in charge of google maps, so i had to take charge, but i did fear for my life.
I felt like i had just taken us through an unnecessary journey through hell.
Luckily i was not traveling with my sister, because at this point we would have gotten into a major argument of you said, you said and ruined the mood for everyone.
You guys wait here, I'll go ask around.
The bleached white buildings were so blinding I could barely keep my eyes open.
After walking in circles for what felt like hours, I knocked on a random door.
When did you get this brave?
My inner monologue encouraged me.
The door opened and there stood a guy and a girl about my age.
They had traveled from South Africa.
Do you guys happen to know where this hotel is?
I've been walking in circles and I just can't find my way.
They had no idea.
And yet, without hesitation, they walked out barefoot through the scorching heat on their way to help me find my way, as we got lost in both chatter and direction.
Sometimes the most beautiful parts of travel aren't in the postcard views.
But in these fleeting human moments, and as with most things, everything worked out in the end.
Oh my gosh, I just woke up and I fell asleep with my wet hair.
And I look like Bellatrix Lestrange, which I don't even really mind.
But it's not what we're going for, so...
Let's do a vacation hair routine that I just learned a week ago.
And then I take a lot... Okay, I think I've used up this one.
And this does not give me perfectly defined curls, because to get perfectly defined curls, you need more products.
I'm only trying one product right now.
It's been at least giving me more defined curls than if I just don't use any product.
So I'm gonna hug, hug the curls.
Just hug, hug the curls.
Hug, hug the curls.
Shake them.
Absolutely gorgeous.
Just watch the sunset.
It's true, what they say, Greece feels romantic.
The hormones, the sweat from hand-holding, and the sparkle in lovers' eyes almost linger in the air.
The narrow alleys, the way the ocean hugs everything, the sound of locals chatting and laughing loudly, becoming one with the music as food keeps arriving to the table.
It's the perfect setting to get lost with someone.
But if you're not with that someone, do you just get lost?
Satsuki went to Greece to find his father, the superhero in his mind.
But when he finally met him, he realized he was just a man flawed, just like his mother and just like himself.
I didn't come to Greece searching for anything well except good food and maybe somewhere to fulfill the dream of my four-year-old self.
But just like Satsuki, I too realized something important.
Sometimes, fulfilling a dream doesn't come with a rush of happiness or a sense of arrival.
The beautiful buildings, the friendly locals, the breathtaking sunsets it's all there and it's everything it's meant to be.
But it didn't speak to my soul in the way I hoped it would.
Maybe, in the end, it's not about the place itself, but where we are in the story of our lives.
That's what shapes our experiences.
And this time, Greece was a chapter that didn't quite align with my own narrative.
There's a full moon tonight, look.
Exciting, isn't it?
And we can never really know where or how we will fall in love, whether that's with a place, a food, a person or just a fleeting feeling.
Sometimes the most powerful thing a place can give you is a question.
And as I left Greece, my question was this.
What if the places that don't capture us are the ones that teach us the most about what we're truly searching for?
