The Dumbest Thing I Brought Back from My Greek Honeymoon
When my husband and I decided to go to Greece for our honeymoon, a lot of our friends and family were jealous. I didn’t blame them — Unmarried Me was jealous of Future Me, too!
To help ease the sting (and thank everyone for all they did for us during wedding planning), we knew we wanted to bring back souvenirs for everyone. We wanted to get everyone the same thing (to make things a little easier for ourselves!), and that thing had to be special and something people would actually use.
We were touring a tiny olive oil factory on the island of Crete when the idea hit us. Let’s give everyone a bottle of olive oil from this adorable local place! we decided at the same time.
We needed eight bottles, plus we wanted some for ourselves, which brought us up to a cool dozen. We had driven a rental car to the factory, so we plopped the box down in the back seat and blissfully ignored the reality that we’d have to get all these bottles back to New York somehow. (But first, we’d have to take them with us to Santorini, where I’d proceed to clumsily bump and drag my suitcase up and down 1,392 rocky stairs. Whoops.)
Packing them up was going to be tough.
Back at the hotel, I took six and my husband took six. We decided the best approach would be to take them out of the cardboard box they had come in and disperse them throughout our suitcases to help distribute the weight. We wrapped each bottle in dirty clothes (we didn’t have bubble wrap or other packing materials!) and hoped for the best. My maxi dresses had never seemed more practical!
Our luggage was instantly a lot heavier and I was constantly checking for leaks for the rest of our travels. Did that awning drip rainwater onto my suitcase or am I dealing with a bigger issue?
All the bottles survived our detour in Santorini and when we checked our bags at the airport for our three-legged journey home, I decided it was out of my hands. It was up to the Olive Oil Gods — and the airlines.
Upon being reunited with our luggage at JFK, we decided we didn’t even want to look inside to see if anything had been broken. (As far as we could see, there were no telltale signs of damage.) If there was a problem, it’s not like we could do anything at baggage claim. We got home and opened up …
Wait for it …
Everything was totally fine! I was so proud of us. We transported a lot of glass and leaky stuff — and we did it successfully! I took it as a good sign for our marriage.
However …
The kicker, though? Turns out, we could have bought the exact same bottles at Dean & Deluca, which was literally in walking distance from our apartment. Who knew? Hopefully, we at least helped the economy?
Buy: Biolea Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, $31 for 16.9 ounces at Dean & Deluca
What’s the most impressive edible souvenir you’ve ever brought home? And how’d you do it?