From Chaos to Paradise: Our Wild Journey to Ikaria, Greece 🇬🇷 | Travel Vlog 2025

From Chaos to Paradise: Our Wild Journey to Ikaria, Greece 🇬🇷 | Travel Vlog 2025

[Music] Every change has a reason. Baby, let it come to you. Every soul, every season lives outside the status quo. If we stop, we’re meant to be expanding our abil. If the pass gone, we are doing it. Baby, you and I, baby, you and I start now. We made it to the MKOS port where we will wait till about uh 9:00 tonight to take our ferry to Icaria. So, here we sit waiting, having a beverage, working on our YouTube. If you’re keeping track, this is like methos number 101. What do you think, Ollie? You going to survive partying? Cheers to me. Four more hours. No, it’s only like hourinds. [Music] We just have night fairy tokide. [Music] Baby, you and I. Baby, you and I should start living now with the whole world at heartbeat. We could stay or we could leave. There is nothing in between. So baby, we should start living now cuz we only have this life. Want to laugh and cry. I don’t want to waste my time. Welcome to Icaria, Greece. I’m Rory. And I’m April. And this guy is Oliver. And we’re the great escapers. We have made it to Icaria, Greece after a really long travel day. From Naxos, we went to Mkos, which was not a bad fair ride. However, we sat in Mkos for I don’t know, five, six hours. It was like seven or eight. It was a long time. Like I did the entire Knax YouTube video that usually takes me a day or two while we were sitting there, which was a good distraction. It really was. And it was weird because we just had to sit there at the port to get a taxi into the main town of Mkos to kind of see it for our delay. Was €50 there and €50 back. And I mean, it was not even a quarter mile down the road from the port. So we just sat there and had some food, had a glass of wine, a beer, and then took off to Icaria. We arrived at Karia. We were told to just walk past the port and our car would be waiting for us, unlock with the keys inside. Of course, we’re not really used to this being from America. So they’re like, “What? You’re going to leave the car unlocked?” They said, “This is a don’t worry about it.” We didn’t even pay for it yet. It was just an unlocked car with the keys in there ready for us at midnight. And then we just decided to show back up the next day to take care of the paperwork and pay him. Another reason why I love Greece and the Greeks. We’re crime traumat Americans apparently. Now, after we got the rental car, of course, we get on our Google and it’s showing us where our first day is and it’s dark. We don’t know where we are. We kind of got a little lost, but April called our host Tony, who was great, and talked her through the rest of our adventure to our first Airbnb. stayed on the phone with me, y’all. Up this teeny tiny mountain path. We can like see it dropping off in a completely unfamiliar island. And I’m freaking out. I mean, it’s midnight. It is dark and all I see is water like two or 300 meters down. But he got on the phone with us, showed us how to get to his place, like down a hill off the road into a random place. And I mean it was just like a little bitty little bitty little dorm room to stay for the night cuz we didn’t have our reservation until tomorrow. Then so we get up in the morning at Tony’s Airbnb and we head down, we take care of the rental car, we have some breakfast because we can’t check in into the monthlong Airbnb till like 3:00 or 4 in the afternoon. We’re all happy. We get up to this little mountain home. It’s supposed to be small but really cute with this beautiful view. I’m talking it had over 50 or 60 positive, happy reviews except for one German guy who said it was a construction zone and we Google mapped it. We’re like, there’s no construction. What is he talking about? Meanwhile, meanwhile. So, we’re jamming out to 80s in the car and just happy waiting for the cleaning people to get done cleaning the Airbnb. Check-in time comes. We drive up this dirt road and I’m talking it was probably like a 40 to 50 degree incline. It was like up a dirt road. We get out this Airbnb. They were literally building a another like an addition on top of it. Banging, sawing, soldering. We were like, “Oh no.” View amazing. It was a great view. But we try to walk in and the door like sticks. You really got to get your NFL on. And I mean it was like and and it was it was almost as if like I don’t know maybe like a 18-year-old decided to build him a clubhouse up on top of a mountain. It was so makeshift this place like walls barely nailed together and and it was the smell. It was like I don’t know if it was cat litter or what it was. It was filthy. I go in the bathroom and I and I lifted up a towel on top of the washer and there is a a spider. I mean, he was like this big under there. And I usually will call Rory, but it was moving so fast I just stopped it with my hand. And I ran out and I said, “We’re not staying here. I can’t stay here. It’s filthy. It’s gross. It stinks. There’s a huge spider.” The only thing good about this place was the view. Now, the host was gracious enough to We called. noticed the problems. She refunded us our entire amount. She did. She was very sweet. And then she However, she did let something slip. Yes. She goes, “Well, you know, the maid just left and she said that she found a ton of black worms.” Now, if you Google black worm infestation, they start in like the larae stage and turn into worms and they leave this horrible odor all over the place. that can actually make you sick if you breathe it in. I was like, “So, you were just going to let us check in to a black worminfested apartment?” Not not to mention it was not clean. Grandma’s couch was covered with like five different linens trying to cover up how crappy the couch was. I mean, it was it was y’all, it was it was traumatic. No, it was traumatic. I almost went home. I wanted to go home at this point. Even I I because usually I’m the one who wants to go and do this and I’ll just deal with wherever we are. I was ready to go home. But she refunded our money through Airbnb and now we’re homeless. We’re homeless for a month and it’s like 3:00 in the afternoon and the panic is setting in. The panic sets in. Head back down the mountain again. We’re panic. And we’re in Karavastamo, by the way. It’s a little village in Icaria on the north side of the island. Okay, so we’re in this teeny tiny village. I’m talking there were like two places open. Yeah. So, we we get down there. We’re again, we’re panicked. We’re sad. We don’t know what we’re doing. We find this one little bar that’s opened and of course the guys, he’s very nice. We sat outside. He gave us our my beer and her wine. Well, no. I walked in there and I said, “You do you have something strong to drink?” I know it’s like 4 in the afternoon, but he’s laughing. He’s like, “Oh, yeah. I got this. I got that.” It’s only like 2:00 in the afternoon. Can we just sit anywhere out here? I mean, there’s like nobody there. So he comes out and April told her kind told him the predicament we were in and he’s like, “Hey, I might know someone who has an apartment.” So he goes in, calls his friend. We continue just to scroll through Airbnb, hotels, Google. We’re here. We have nowhere to go. What are we going to do? This that’s kind of frightening. This has never happened to us before and all of our travels over the last 15 months and then anywhere else we’ve ever been. Not in a month-long stay where you’re going to be there a month. So, I mean, we booked these at least up two, three months in advance. Yep. So, the guy, his friend comes over and April decides to walk with him and go check out the apartment. So, while she’s gone, I’m flipping through Airbnb and I may have come across this place. We had asked for permission to stay there, but it might have been a tad overbudget. Okay, so going back this guy with the little apartment, it was cute and it had a nice view, but it was very small and he hadn’t cleaned it yet from the guest before, which you should probably never show an apartment like that, but we’re thinking like a month-long stay. So, I was like, “Thank you so much for showing me your apartment. You know, let me let you know because if we didn’t find anything else, we were going to stay there.” So, Rory books this villa. Of course, it was not pet friendly. So, we asked Michael, who has been a wonderful host. He has come over to bring extra sheets and towels and get things working. And he cleaned it up like all night that night. We didn’t even check in till probably 9:00. It took him like four or five hours to get it like sparkling beautifully clean. Um, but the the the drive over here, I mean, so we hadn’t seen much of yet. We have only gone from Tony’s little Airbnb up to the Black Wormhouse back down to the village to have a beer. So, we’re not really sure, you know, kind of where we are. But, man, we took this drive. We had to go all the way up the mountains. Icaria’s highest point, we think, is like 3,400 ft. And for a Greek island, y’all, this is high. I mean, we can see like six different islands all around us. And keep in mind, you’re driving on the side of the mountain. There’s no tunnels to take you through. No, not many guard rails. It just like drops. There’s little bitty lanes. And I mean, this drive was just stunning. Just stunning. [Music] Oh my gosh. [Music] Wow. Now this is impressive. Can you do it? I mean, I’m doing it. I don’t have a choice. Look, it like drops off over there. [Music] Oh, wow. Y’all, look at this. I think I’m pulling over on the side of the cliff. Don’t No, just maybe keep driving. Come on. Wow. Hyundai. Give me all your Korean power. Who makes a Hyundai? I think it’s the Koreans. Hey, they got good stuff. Got good food. Kimchi will give you the gases, y’all. This view. I mean, stop it. I Greece at its finest. Look at this. My gosh. [Music] We have been climbing up this mountain to go to our place on the other side of Ecaria. Y’all, we are above the clouds. Do you see clouds back there? Wow. [Music] So, yeah, while Rory’s searching, he uh so we found this place. I’m going to take you on a little tour of it really quick. It’s amazing. Um way out of budget. I’m I’m talking like we never do this. So, we always have reserves and savings and we have some investments and things like that, but but we stock our savings and we try to stay well below our passive income. But this time, I mean, no regrets because I’m having a blast. There’s a hot tub over there. There’s a yard for Olly, a view of the ocean, a private beach, a pergola with a picnic table. I mean, it’s it’s amazing. just in case you hear the doodles. It’s not that we’re ignoring him. It’s just he’s chasing his friends. He’s mad that there’s lizards over there and he can’t get to them. He’s already killed two. So, we’re trying to not let him kill the beautiful Greek lizard. Took the tail. We’ll go back. But it’s a beautiful place. Enjoy the tour of this gorgeous place. It is called Carame Paradise Villa. It is at Carame Beach on the south side of the Icaria Island. I’ll put the link below. If you happen to get a nice gift for Christmas and would like to splurge in Icaria, this is your place for sure. [Music] [Music] Everything’s normal. She’s just your friend Rachel. Your friend. Do you like your show? Your friend. [Music] Let me [Music] fall. Let me [Music] Hey, hey, hey. So as you guys know one of the main reasons we came to Icaria is because it is famous for its healing thermal waters. It has natural thermal hot springs I guess from like volcanic inards of the island and they just come up in all different spaces all over the island on the shores like between the rocks. You can kind of find them because the rocks will be weirdly orange. I don’t know if it’s the radon or the minerals in the water, but they’re all over the island. The main one is in Thurme. Thurma is this little bitty town just about 15 minutes down the road from our villa. And we we were happy to stay here as well because it was so close to the so I have been going there to soak in the mineral waters every almost every single day. They say that within 3 weeks it can have the same effect as like morphine painkiller but naturally which I don’t do opiates but that’s what that’s what they want to do to heal my back of course. So I’m here I’m I’m getting in all these waters. They have like radon and very minimal amounts. So they say it’s like radioactive but it’s mainly 10 to 15 different minerals like everything in the world in these waters. So they have the Apollo house has a lady statue and then there’s a building right behind it and it has like concentrated waters that they’re pulling from the earth and pouring into all the baths in there. So that’s the main one I’ve been going to. But you can also go right around the corner in town and get in the water and it’s like boiling hot up by the the rocks and then it mixes with the sea water and comes and goes and it’s just really relaxing and amazing. All these locations, they say the max time should be in there is 20 minutes so that you don’t get sick. I may have messed this up once when April found a a friend from North Carolina she was talking to and I decided I was going to go swim in the bay. Hi Patty, hope you’re watching. So, I was swimming around and I was in the water a lot longer than 20 minutes. I slept like a baby that night, but I was out early. Yeah. So, it can like make you nauseous, give you headaches, make you dizzy. You you just can’t stay more than 20 minutes. uh when you go to the Apollen house to do your your bath in that house, they come and wrap on your door. Um so you don’t stay too long. But Rory didn’t set a timer. That’s what Rory did. Anyway, so just to let you all know, I I mean, I’m getting a little bit of relief, but nothing like miraculous or spectacular. But I’m only nearing the end of my second week. So maybe in the end of the third week, I’ll see some real progress. Here’s hoping. Pray for me. Pray for healing. [Music] So these are the thermal baths of here in Clare. And there’s supposed to be one of the reasons why this is a blue zone. And if you look here, well over a hundred. So these bags contain a very minimal amount of radon and like tons of other minerals that are so good for your body to reduce inflammation and chronic pain and supposed to be preventing cancer here in the area. So we’re going to try it out. Little Amazing. Just like a nice warm bath. You can make it either hot or cold. There’s a couple of levers up there that you can fill it more hot, but I like it just kind of warm. And then they come and wrap on your door and tell you that it’s been 20 minutes. Get out. I’ve been setting a timer though because I was in here a couple days ago and a lady left me in here a really long time and then I was really sleepy the rest of the day. So, I’ve been trying to be careful, but here’s hoping for some healing. I’m on my second week going to the baths. Hopeful. Our Airbnb host sent us some coordinates for another, I guess, local thermal spring and it was like a dirt road to get down here right past the airport. But I think this is it. It’s kind of weird, but check it out. What do you think? It’s like just this bath made out of concrete they’ve like built. And it’s super hot. What do you think? Are we going to put our suits on and get in? I don’t think so. Why not? Sure. This is totally wild. Icaria wilderness at its finest. like really strangely unexpected like like a booby trap or something like sit in this concrete hole. This is right. It’s hot. Water’s hot. I don’t know if I want to sit in that tub of algae. Let’s go find the other one. Supposedly there’s another one like 36 feet from here. Like working on this abandoned building. Oh, maybe he knows where it is. Must be just a serious like local spot this way. Rory and April’s adventure always. Well, he knows where it is. Guess we’ll follow him. Was it? It was all right. That’s a lukewarm bath, but it’s not so much the temperature of the water as much as what’s in the water. That and a lot of crabs. Like, it’s this little bitty pool over here, but it’s got a lot of big crabs. A lot of really big crabs. One bit me with pictures. Rory got bit. So, I think we’re going to go try to find somewhere else. Not really sure where. Probably go to Therma again. Just chasing some healing all over Icaria. Do you want to go in the changing hut? Um, I only have my birthday suit to change into. Back in the gets. Is that how you say it? The Hyundai gets. Hyundai gets gets me where I need to go. Hopefully it makes it up this dirt road. I mean, you just got to leave it in first the entire time. So, our max speed 10 15 miles an hour tops. Hence why it takes four hours to get anywhere on the side. Come on. Come on. Come on. You can do it. Good girl. All right. Second gear. Oh my. This is all of IA, everyone. You really gota get your Greek bravery on. Oh, well that’s maybe splurge for a 4×4. Yeah, maybe. [Music] looking for. [Music] Hey breathtaking. [Music] [Applause] [Applause] So, one day of our little discovery or travel day, we decided to go up to a winery and a monastery. Now on the way here to the spill we went through a part of the mountain but this day our Google took us down south across the coast which was beautiful drive and then we cut through the mountains again. This was a different route. Now I like heights. I like to jump out of planes and do crazy things. There’s something about driving in a car with no power manual shift at that that you can really never get out of first or second. Hey now don’t don’t hurt the Hyundai gets his feelings. It did gets us where we wanted to go. Okay, we have a new car now. They made us turn it in and get a new one, an SUV. So hopefully the rest of our time here will be better. Anyway, April’s the one who usually gets to stare off into the abyss of where we’re going. And every time we would take a turn, she’s got the little Google and she’s saying, “Rory, take a right.” And I take the hard right and I’m like, “Oh my god.” And the incline got higher and higher. The road was not paved. It started getting rocky. This I was just counting the strikes on this drive. I’m being a good goose. There’s only one turn that Google took us on that we we stopped halfway down. We’re like, “No, no.” No, we did that twice. Like, oh, this doesn’t look good. Let’s not go this way. But it So, it’s just one of those things that, you know, I grew up learned how to drive in a manual. So did April, but it’s been a while, right? I drive here and there, but when you get behind a guy, a car and you have to leave it in first and you’re playing with your feet on the brake, the gas, the clutch, and you’re shifting from first to second or however, cuz there’s no power in second. And again, you’re you’re making this hard turn, zigzagging around, pin turns back and forth on teeny tiny roads. And if you miss your gear and start drifting backwards, there’s I mean, I didn’t I know how to drive, but it’s just that that fear of like I got April in the car. Anyway, we get to the top of this mountain after again I gave this place three strikes because we it is just not I’m not doing the job again. We get off to this church and April’s like, “Rory, come and enjoy the view.” I couldn’t move. I was like white knuckled. I couldn’t even feel my toes. It’s not funny, but it’s funny. It was so stressful on this drive. Lesson learned. Don’t always just follow Google. Uh maybe get a local map and Well, we did have a local map or Google. Hello. Maybe we should have one of those options like no tools. Yeah, let’s make no dirt roads. If your if your little car with a camera can’t go down that road, maybe don’t give us directions down the road. Yeah. But we made it to this really awesome monastery. Um it is it’s it’s built into the rock and it’s for St. Theopes, I think is how you say her name. Uh she was the patron saint of Icaria. She lived her life in Patmos. Um, apparently after being like drugged here by pirates or something, it’s like this crazy story. But her remains were found at this monastery in Icaria and that’s why they dedicated this really cool chapel to her. It was a harrowing drive there, but I definitely suggest coming to see it if you’re on the island. [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey, hey, Heat. [Music] Heat. Hey, hey, hey. [Music] [Music]

After a crazy ferry delay in Mykonos, a nightmare Airbnb, and a few unexpected adventures, we finally made it to Icaria, Greece, one of the world’s famous Blue Zones! 💙

In this episode, we share the highs and lows of our travel from Naxos to Mykonos to Icaria, our hilarious Airbnb disaster with black worms, how we ended up homeless on a Greek island, and how we finally found our dream villa overlooking the Aegean Sea.

We’ll also take you to Icaria’s healing thermal hot springs, drive through mountain cliffs with no guard rails, and visit a hidden monastery built into the rocks!

If you love Greek islands, travel mishaps, and authentic adventures, this vlog is for you.

👉 Subscribe for more real-life travel stories, expat life, and slow travel inspiration.

⏱️ Chapters
00:00 – Intro: Every change has a reason
00:29 – Ferry delays & waiting in Mykonos port
01:57 – Welcome to Icaria, Greece 🇬🇷
03:00 – Rental car surprise & midnight arrival
04:40 – The nightmare Airbnb experience 😱
06:54 – Black worms & full panic sets in 🐛
07:57 – Homeless in Icaria! Searching for a place to stay
09:20 – Finding our dream villa at Karame Paradise
10:10 – Above the clouds: the wild drive through Icaria
13:00 – Villa tour & stunning sea views 🌅
15:35 – Discovering Icaria’s healing thermal springs ♨️
20:00 – Exploring local hot springs & volcanic waters
22:10 – Crab attack in the “secret spring” 🦀
22:59 – Driving the island’s cliffs in a tiny Hyundai
23:50 – Our little Kerame Beach 🏝️
24:40 – The scariest drive of our travels 😳
27:10 – Hidden Monastery of Saint Theoktisti ⛪

#IkariaGreece, #GreekIslands, #TravelVlog, #GreeceTravel, #TravelCouple, #BlueZones, #ThermalSprings, #GreekAdventure, #AirbnbDisaster, #TravelFails, #IslandLife, #SlowTravel, #Wanderlust, #TravelEurope, #CouplesWhoTravel, #GreatEscapers, #Mykonos, #Naxos, #AegeanIslands, #HealingWaters, #AdventureTravel, #DigitalNomadLife, #GreeceVlog, #ExpatLife, #GreekVacation