Thanks to our family in Heraklion, we were able to find a furnished apartment before we arrived, so we didn’t sleep on the floor for the first few weeks. When apartments are rented unfurnished here this includes no stove and no refrigerator, so a furnished apartment was necessary. Luckily, we were able to start renting in May, before we arrived, so the family was able to get our keys and stocked our apartment with new sheets, pillows, and dishes, and cleaned the apartment for us. Without them, I don’t know what we would have done.

Even with the apartment prepped for our arrival we still had a ton to get just for everyday life. Eventually, we will buy a car, but we are in a very walkable area, and almost everything we need is nearby. My first morning I walked to the bank to get cash and the local grocery store for some supplies. Everything was needed like salt, pepper, Greek Olive Oil, trash bags, and most importantly a hair straightener. We have started to label things as “Day One” or “Week Two” so we can prioritize. The things the apartment needs most are storage, rugs, and comfortable seating so we hopped on Amazon. Little did we know Amazon isn’t actually in Greece, so we had to use Amazon from Germany. This gives us options, but shipping is not free or quick but without a car, we decided to order some rugs to be shipped to us and hope we can find other things locally.

The next thing place we headed was the local pet shop. We needed treats, beds, and food for the dogs. As advised by our local pet store in Tampa, Health Mutt, we had gradually switched the food before we left to an Italian brand found in Tampa and the EU- and we easily found it in Milan where we landed, and at the local shop near the apartment. You can’t bring more than a very little bit if dog food contains meat or dairy into the EU so I highly recommend doing this if you’re moving your pets- to make sure to avoid bad tummies during travel. Here is the brand we found, and they do sell it on Chewy.com too.

Now that the dogs were settled, and rugs were slowly on the way we needed food ourselves. Our aunt knew just what was needed. She took us to a taverna nearby that I know we are going to frequent- just a block away from our apartment. Even with all the things still on the to-do list, the meal made everything seem bearable.

So still on the long list, Internet, Cell Phones, Debit Cards…. so many things to arrange. Hoping we can get a lot done before Jeff’s sister gets here in 2 weeks so we can have some fun and start enjoying our new location. Luckily Jeff has a little more time until work starts up again and soon, I need to head to the Greek school and sign up for lessons. Wish us luck on our next shopping excursion!