We’re taking you on a wellness journey to Mykonos, Greece for a weeklong retreat with Thrive Retreats and shining a light on the world of retreat travel. This was SO MUCH more than a wellness retreat for fitness, it took selfcare into all areas of life for one of the best vacations possible. This weeklong retreat was at the most beautiful boutique fitness resort and perfectly paired workouts, nights out, boat days, spa treatments, beach clubs, and plenty of time to explore this fun island of Mykonos.

Thrive Retreats Mykonos took place at the absolutely stunning Charisma Hotel & Wellness Suites – I would recommend staying here for anyone coming with or without the retreat! The outdoor gym overlooking the ocean, poolside reformer, plunge pool suites, gourmet breakfasts and service is top tier.

Resources to make your Greece trip even better:

• We revamped our 9-day Greece Itinerary with an expanded stay in Mykonos!
• If you are traveling to Mykonos and the other islands and mainland, check out our curated list of Greece things to do in our Viator Shop for more good recommendations like the boat tour, and Greek food tours.
• For an easy transfer service, send a text 24/7 on what’s app +30 6951 34 34 34
• Do not forget to bring sunscreen and mosquito repellent – you will need it in the summertime!

Search for a great flight deal to Mykonos on Thrifty Traveler Premium’s daily flight deals (points & cash) emailed directly to you! Use our promo code TS10 to get $10 off your first year subscription.

Mykonos Wellness Retreat – Episode Transcript

0:34

Insurance and get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.

Hello fellow travelers.

Hey, Squatty.

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast.

Today we are taking you along to experience a week in Mykonos at a Wellness retreat.

0:52

When I say Wellness, it is all-encompassing fitness, rest, relaxation, connection, socialization, friendship, healing, communication, spirituality, and really immersing yourself in a new culture.

That is exactly what this retreat experience had, so I really don’t feel like calling it just a Wellness retreat does it justice.

1:13

So I know that this is your second time in Mykonos and I want to know what prompted you to book a Wellness retreat and how you found out about it.

Honestly, I don’t know exactly what called me to do it.

I think I saw someone I knew at this retreat last year and it just looked amazing.

1:31

Working out every morning with the Mykonos ocean views and just that.

It wasn’t just all about health and Wellness.

There was more to it, right?

Like going to beach clubs, going out to fun dinners, being in Mykonos with a group of 14 women all around your age range give or take like 5 to 10 years.

1:51

Like a massive girls trip to Mykonos, plus all of the other Wellness aspects of it.

Amazing.

Well, so like Brittany said, this is your second time in Mykonos.

Did you go to Greece last year or the year before?

I can’t remember again.

I went to Greece September of 2023 with an ex boy, my friend and only spent one night in Mykonos.

2:11

Most of that day was at a beach club and then the night was a blur in Mykonos town so I really didn’t get to see enough of it.

OK, so to Brittany’s question of like, what prompted you, would you say most of being prompted was the fact that it’s a Wellness retreat or, hey, I want to do a Wellness retreat and it’s in a place that I’ve been, that I liked, but I didn’t spend enough time, like exploring.

2:35

Like truly, what was it that brought you back here?

Going back to Greece was always on my list.

Like I haven’t returned to any country outside of Mexico because it was just, you know, convenient to go to Mexico when San Diego, but I haven’t gone to any other countries again, and I love Greece.

2:52

I would go to Greece every single summer if I could.

It’s my favorite place.

Same thing just about our last episode for the.

I know I love the South of France.

They’re very similar vibes.

It’s beach clubs, it’s just good life, the sun shining.

I like Greece more than the South of France.

3:08

So I will say that and Mykonos, I wanted to see more of it and doing it with a group of 14 women, like I don’t have 14 women friends that would go with me to Greece.

So being here, especially with this group of women, I went with Thrive Retreats.

It is hosted by Amelia, who is a female personal trainer in San Diego.

3:28

And so without, I knew like sort of the type of women that would be there, they’d be around my age.

They would be beautiful, successful, ambitious, health focused, but still really fun.

That was the type of vibe that I wanted in Mykonos.

Like if you’re going to go to Mykonos, go with a group of friends.

3:45

Don’t go with your man that’s.

Funny, so before you guys got there, did you happen to meet any of the ladies like virtually or did you just all meet on the spot in Mykonos?

I had a phone call with Amelia when I first booked and I booked this like a year in advance, so I have been really waiting for this.

4:03

And then they created a WhatsApp group chat about a week before.

So we were chatting in there, but we didn’t have any like calls or anything.

And I went solo.

Some girls came and they had a friend with them.

I would recommend you go to a retreat solo.

You tend to kind of stick with your friend that you go with if you do that.

4:21

And the great thing about retreats is you get to know people.

You leave with these people as friends in a lot of cases and I would recommend going solo for that reason, no?

It makes a lot of sense.

You’re right, and I say this with respect.

Obviously I travel with Brittany, so I’m always traveling with the companion and maybe ourselves, not going to go to Wellness retreat, but we meet people all the time when we travel, stay in touch with them.

4:45

Not everywhere we go, but it happens.

And that’s one of the fun things about traveling is meeting people that you’ve shared an experience with.

Obviously you like them, they like you.

So that seems fun in and of itself.

And so I’m really interested to hear all about the retreat and Mykonos, you exploring it more.

5:02

So I know we’re going to get into both those topics, but tell us a little bit about Mykonos itself.

Mykonos is one of the most iconic and glamorous Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.

It is world renowned for having its stunning beaches, whitewashed buildings, vibrant nightlife like it is a nightlife destination.

5:24

You know, some people call it the Ibiza of Greece.

I don’t really hear that too much, but I’ve heard it a little bit.

Really it’s because of its chic party scene and draw celebrities and yachts and things like that.

It’s actually a very small island, but don’t let that get in your head.

5:41

It’s not that small.

You can’t like walk around it.

It’s still big enough.

A lot of people use ATV’s to get around.

The roads are extremely windy.

They’re like zigzag roads cut through the island.

It’s very strange actually.

There’s different parts of the island too, like you have Mykonos Town, which is the main hub of the town of the island.

6:02

I’ll say it’s on the water, the windmills are there.

They have Little Venice, they’ve got all these beautiful restaurants on the water’s edge.

There’s different beach areas like Paradise, Super Paradise, depending on the vibe that you’re going for.

There’s more relaxed spots and it’s not like a long strip of a beach, right?

6:20

It’s an island, so you kind of have to take a car to get from one beach section to the next.

Nightlife is amazing, right?

Like every place you go in Mykonos Town at night is going to have AD DJ.

When I was here the first time, there was even a saxophone guy on the bar playing to a DJ.

6:36

All the beach clubs turn up around 5:00 PM, so it’s definitely a place to party.

They also have really great food.

When I first went to Greece, I thought, oh, I don’t need that much time in Mykonos because it’s just a party.

This time I spent an entire week there and there’s still so much more to see and do.

6:53

I would go back again.

Well, I’m really excited for you to talk about your days, of course, at the retreat and then what you did at Myekonos to give us some good ideas, right?

Because I remember when you came back from your first Greece trip, and I know there’s an asterisk now with an X.

You’ve stated it and don’t go with one, right?

7:10

But you loved it and said it’s one of your favorite, if not your favorite country.

It is now solidified.

OK, so you you got to sell me up on it.

And the reason why I say that, Kim, is because I don’t not want to go to Greece.

It’s just not high on on my list, right?

7:26

It’s not like I have that urge.

So with one place Mykonos sell me on it.

I really want to get I.

Mean, I don’t know honestly if you would like it.

I think Britney should go with friends.

Like if you don’t like being on a beach club all day and then dancing, which I know you don’t.

7:44

I like to watch people dance though and if I get enough drinks I can, but if I’m not like fully lubricated up I don’t really fully.

Lubricated.

Fully.

Fully.

Lubricated.

Yeah, but you like that terminology.

Fully lubricated?

No, Kim, you’ve seen me without Brittany.

I’m not saying that.

8:00

Oh, when Brittany’s away, Jamal’s going to play.

But like, I can throw down when I really want to.

It’s just not Brittany’s traveling scene.

So I know you’re saying.

Don’t blame it on me.

No, it’s I could do.

Just fine, do you?

Want to go to beach clubs and party up until 12:00 AM?

One AM. 2:00 AM Maybe I do.

8:16

No, you don’t.

I know you don’t.

I think that you guys would like some of the other islands like Peros a lot less.

Party scene and still very beautiful.

But if you’re saying there’s good food, the good ambience with the windmills, walkables, I mean, I know you said people take ATVs, but just areas that you could walk around town, explorer, etcetera.

8:35

I mean, it could still be up our alley.

I’m not going to be like, oh, I’m going to love it.

But I have a good feeling you can convince me like Oh yeah, Greece should be higher on my list of 1.

We’ll see what we can do all right.

It’s not really like a nature destination either.

Like you’d be on the water, but you’re on a boat or you’re at a beach club, right?

8:51

You’re there’s not a lot of hiking.

It’s actually a volcanic island, right?

So there’s a myth that Hercules came to Mykonos and caught the giants and they’re all buried here.

And that’s what these big rocks are, because the landscape is big rocks.

9:07

There’s not a lot of trees.

There’s not a lot of like nature beauty.

I would say like a Banff, Canada or Switzerland and the Alps.

It’s not that.

And what makes it beautiful is the beautiful white the buildings that the blue doors and blue shutters, the gorgeous ocean, the way they have their grey and white cobblestone grounds and the vibe.

9:28

The vibe is really what makes it here and what you do there.

One little quick fun fact for you about the white buildings with the blue shutters and the blue doors.

The reason, the original reason so many places in Greece have this, is because they wanted to confuse the pirates and make them think that they had already invaded that island.

9:49

And so all the islands have these white buildings with blue doors.

And that helped them back in that day of pirates.

And now it’s more of an aesthetic thing.

There’s no pirates coming to get them.

That is a fun fact.

Thank you for sharing that with us.

So before you get into the Wellness retreat, tell us some tips about visiting Greece Mykonos and about the retreat as well.

10:11

So Mykonos tips.

You can get there by airplane or ferry.

There’s a small, easy to navigate airport there.

Ferries in Greece, kind of our shit show.

There are tons of people.

They’re late.

The waters can be choppy, but if you’re coming from one of the other islands, a ferry is usually your best bet because the planes come from Athens or somewhere else.

10:33

I would recommend you go June through August.

That’s the high time, but I was there in late May, early June.

The weather was fantastic.

It was windy a couple days, but other than that was fantastic.

I was also there the first time in September and it was still very warm.

It’s just that the crowds get a lot smaller.

10:50

So if you’re coming for the vibe, the party scene, you’re going to want to be there in the higher season, June through August.

To get around Mykonos.

You can rent an ATVA buggy, a scooter, motorcycle type thing.

A lot of people do that.

But you can also use the transfer service.

11:06

I’ll put this information all in the show notes for the transfer service that we used the whole time.

But it was super convenient to text them through WhatsApp, tell them when to pick you up, where to pick you up, where you were going.

And the vans can fit up to seven people, but you can also get it for just one.

11:22

And the price is pretty good.

It was like €5 per person and then for groups of seven like maybe 20 or €30 depending on where you were going.

And that would take you anywhere really on the island.

I know you said it’s not small small, but it’s not large large either.

So anywhere kind of flat rate per person €5.

11:39

Pretty much depends kind of where you’re going.

So the longest ride we ever took was maybe like a 25 minute drive.

It’s not too bad.

I would say don’t try to do too much in Mykonos.

Like if you’re going to be at a beach club all day, you might not want to go out at night or you might want to.

Maybe you’re there just to like really rage it up and you’re going to go hard.

11:56

That’s fine too.

But I found it to be really enjoyable on this trip to just do one thing.

Just do a beach club one day.

Just do a boat one day, do a night out another day.

Bring your sunscreen.

I do remember hearing the first time I went that it was so hard to find sunscreen.

12:12

It was so expensive, but it’s really not.

The pharmacies in Mykonos town have sunscreen and it’s reasonably priced.

You will need mosquito repellent if you are someone that gets bit by mosquitoes.

I brought it, I put it on myself.

I still got bit.

12:28

So you really want to stay vigilant with it because they are hungry.

And my last tip is you should go shopping in Mykonos.

In Mykonos town specifically, they have tons of shops with bikinis and jewelry and dresses and shoes and purses and so much cute stuff.

12:45

I would recommend don’t even pack that much.

The first day you get into Mykonos go shopping, you’re going to find so much cute stuff that’s perfectly tailored for Mykonos experiences and you’re going to want to wear it when you’re there, like the stuff that you can get online and whatnot.

You can surely find cute outfits for Mykonos, but all that you need is right there in Mykonos town too.

13:06

I can’t believe you only we brought a carry on luggage.

Yeah, I definitely had some extra stuff with me on the way back and we’ll get to that in just a minute here.

The retreat that I went on was a seven day retreat from Thrive Retreats.

We’ll link that in the show notes as well.

It was centered around fitness every morning.

13:24

But like I said already, it was more than just that.

There were Wellness experiences, social experiences, nightlife, all of that.

And so I’m going to talk a little bit about it, and by the end of this episode, you are going to want to book it.

Oh, and by the way, this isn’t sponsored at all, but it might come off like it because I’m going to be hyping it up so much.

13:46

And before you get into it, I just want to remind our squaddies that this is an extension of your trip to Paris and the South of France.

So if you guys haven’t caught those previous episodes, go back last week to them and take a quick listen.

Because now, from the South of France, Kim is diving right in from here.

14:03

And I kind of like doing that.

Going to a different country on the same trip, it’s like like trip #2 back-to-back to back.

And it’s kind of cool.

I think I’m going to do this more often.

So Wednesday, May 28th, I got in around 5:00 PM for this retreat.

14:18

I should have got in a little bit earlier to make some of the first activations, but it’s fine.

Got in, got picked up by my Charisma driver.

Charisma is the resort that we stayed at.

Charisma is a beautiful resort.

Almost every room has its own little private pool.

They have a main pool with gorgeous day beds.

14:35

All your meals are included.

They make the best brunch, lunch dinners, green juices and smoothies and they have massive outdoor gym on the upper level so you can see the ocean from the outdoor gym.

They have reformer Pilates machines there, bikes, treadmill, everything you need.

14:53

So it’s a resort that really leans into Wellness, which is the perfect place for this retreat to be at.

So after I get into my room, I actually tried to unpack.

The one thing I can recommend to Charisma is to get some type of like dresser drawers or something to put your stuff away.

15:09

They really don’t have a lot of space to do that.

But anyway, I wanted to lay all my stuff out, hang what I can and then I went down to a pair of TiVo to have drinks and meet the group for the first time.

So you did have your own solo room?

I shared a room with one of the Co leaders of the retreat.

15:27

You could book your room a solo or you could do it shared and the price changes a little bit based on that.

But I kind of was putting myself in the mindset of wanting to make connections.

I was like, I’m going to share A room.

That’s a good mindset to have, especially for that type of retreat.

But also going back to what we were saying, fun meeting people with traveling.

15:46

The only thing I would be concerned about that with a stranger is sharing a restroom with a stranger.

I don’t think that I know.

There was a situation.

Well, maybe we’ll get to it.

If it’s an embarrassing story for you, I think maybe you’ll pass it.

But we’d still all love to hear it, so you know, when it comes, let us know.

16:02

All right, so we all meet, We have our wine or whatever drink you want.

Not everyone drink on this retreat, but most people did.

We sat down for dinner.

Most people had the salmon and vegetables and salad.

They’ve made me something special.

16:18

It was like an arugula pizza with Caesar salad.

And so that was good because I don’t eat fish.

We met all the girls.

We went around the table and kind of introduced ourselves, why we were doing this retreat, what we’re hoping to get out of it.

That was fun.

And then we did a sleep workshop.

So we got these cool masks, had our robes on, had slippers on, and then we had yoga mats laid out in this area.

16:39

And we also had journals.

They gave us this really cool goodie bag that had all these like supplements and journal and all the slippers and things in it.

So we go down there, I pick my spot, and on each spot there’s a card.

And then my card says I’m here to live my best life.

16:56

Love it.

That is setting the tone for this week in Mykonos, just my life in general.

And the sleep workshop was really cool.

One of the people that was leading it kind of took you through a few journal prompts to release stuff before you go to bed.

17:12

And then they put on this great like Hertz type music and kind of like almost did like a little guided meditation type thing while we were laying on these yoga mess with our IMS on and it just really relaxed and Oh my God, it was so nice.

Like might have dozed off for a little bit.

17:27

That was like an hour, maybe an hour and a half, and then after that we went back to our rooms to go to bed.

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17:45

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Thursday May 29th I woke up around 6:30 in the morning, had peppermint tea kind of settle my stomach, had an espresso banana, and talked with my roommate for a little bit.

18:05

Every single morning.

The workout start at 8:00 AM.

So the first workout of the day is a push strength training day.

I don’t really lift heavy weights like this but it was a go and get it day.

Everyone showed up for it, we hit it hard, and then the second hour was a HIT Pilates class.

18:25

I don’t do Pilates like this either.

I always do reformer Pilates.

I don’t usually do mat Pilates and this was a high intensity cardio Pilates set.

So it was such a good workout for the first day to have a 2 hour workout like that.

Looking out at the beautiful Mediterranean ocean in the most gorgeous resort.

18:43

Like what a way to start your morning right?

How could you not have a good day?

After that workout, we went down to have brunch at the resort.

And this is kind of the setup most of the days on the retreat is this workout for two hours, then go down and have brunch.

You put your order in for breakfast the day before and then they bring it out to you.

19:00

So I kind of mixed it up some days.

This day I got scrambled eggs on sourdough with avocado fruit bowl and these protein bites that I kind of would say for later.

They were almost like, if you think about a muffin without the top, that’s about the size that it was and they were protein and sometimes dried fruits and I don’t even know what they made of it.

19:20

They were so good.

I wish I should have got the recipe, had a cappuccino juice.

We’re all talking.

We don’t really have anything else set for this day until a dinner.

So the day’s open and some of the days on the retreat are like that, which is good.

So the whole group of girls is chatting.

19:36

We’re like, what are we going to do?

We decide to go to Super Paradise Beach Club.

Real quick before you get into the Beach club, Kim, because I know you’re excited to talk about it, just getting back to the aspect that this is a retreat, the price that you paid for the retreat, what’s included?

Your room, which I know is included because you said it’s either cheaper or not depending on if you did solo or with roomy.

19:57

But what about your meals?

You’re talking about the breakfast here.

You mentioned cappuccinos or espressos like twice now, like what is included with your package.

Yes, the room is included.

All of the brunches are included.

Certain days like today where we could be at the resort, the lunch would be included, right?

20:17

If we’re planned to be out during the day, then the lunch was not included most of the time.

So always your brunch, some of your other meals, any transfers to things that were planned in the itinerary, like the dinner tonight is specifically planned and covered, included.

The transfer is also included.

20:33

It also includes all of the workouts and all of the other experiences like the sleep workshop and other stuff that I’ll talk about.

The yacht day was an add on, and then if you wanted to order anything off of the charisma menu during the day that wasn’t included, then that’s extra as well as any alcoholic drinks.

20:54

OK, yeah, but good question.

And I love buying trips in this fashion where it’s like a bulk price and then so much of it is covered when you’re actually there.

Us too, that’s why we love Gate One sometimes when we do our guided tours, you know.

So this one to some degree is with the things that you mentioned of course, as add-ons, which makes sense, yes.

21:13

So we went to Super Paradise Beach Club, we took a transfer over there, we all rented a day bed.

We had a few drinks, we went in the water, took pictures.

Now in Mykonos and a lot of beach clubs, I think in Europe that I know of, France for sure, the party gets going later in the day.

21:31

So the beach club’s going to be pretty chill until about 4-5 PM.

And then at 5:00 PM, it really turns up.

People move from the day beds to the dance floor.

The DJ gets louder, there’s tons of dancing and drinks and lights and things.

But then the beach clubs do close around, I think like 7.

21:49

So from like 5:00 to 7:00, it turns into a much bigger party.

Then you go take a nap and then you do nightlife.

And that’s what happened here.

We did that.

And then at around 5:00 PM, they had these dancers come out.

They were first up on the Cliff top and they were all wearing these almost like ancient Greek looking like toga outfits doing these beautiful dances.

22:10

And then they came down into the beach bed area and we’re dancing and kind of pulling people to the dance floor and trying to get people to go over there.

And then they were on the dance floor dancing so that they really turned up the party.

And the beach clubs too, they have the beach beds, but they also have like tables you can actually eat at.

22:27

They have a bar you can eat or sit or drink at.

And then they have bigger beach beds and then they have like round tables.

So there’s a lot of different seating options when you go to a beach club.

It’s not just a beach bed.

So we had a really fun time there, loved it.

And then we went back to Charisma to get ready for dinner.

22:44

We had planned to go to dinner at Mama Luca.

This was one of those included activities, so we all got ready.

This group on this retreat ended up being pretty glam.

So everyone’s like wearing really cute outfits every single day.

And before we actually go to Mama Luca, we go to the windmills, take pictures by the windmills at sunset.

23:05

It was really pretty.

And last time I was in Greece, I didn’t actually get to like go see the windmills.

I saw them in a distance in a hazy party mode, but hazy.

Drunken party night.

But I actually got to get up close and personal with them and it really got my bearings more of the area seeing it during the day.

23:23

Oh that’s good.

And I know you said the girls were all glam, but that just prompts a question for me.

You may have said it, and if you did, I already forgot how many girls total were on the retreat. 14. 14 including you.

Yes, including the Amelia and Georgia who were leading it.

23:39

OK, so then Mama Luca, your dinner’s included.

So we’d all put our orders in already.

I had this really good chicken with vegetables and wine and we had a great dinner there.

It’s a really cute like Greek classic Tavern.

Good food, good drinks, good vibes.

23:54

It gets busier later, like we had a 7:00 PM reservation or 730.

By the time we left it was full and busy and I’ve seen videos of it where people are really dancing and twirling around napkins and stuff, but it wasn’t that crazy when we were there.

This was the night that I had a stomach ache after dinner though, and had a interesting encounter in the bathroom sharing A room.

24:17

Oh, that story has come up very soon from when I had just mentioned that.

And I was like, Oh my God, I didn’t bring Cipro.

What did I do?

Did I really screw myself on the first day of this retreat?

But I took Pepto Bismol and activated charcoal.

I had that with me, played music on my phone while I was in the shared bathroom.

24:39

Light a match afterwards.

Open the window.

There you go.

And my stomach was hurting so bad.

Like I don’t, I’ve never felt a stomach ache like that but luckily in the morning I was good to go.

What do you think?

It was something you ate earlier in the day at lunch?

24:55

Breakfast.

No, it was just like, maybe I was dehydrated from drinking at the beach club and then I don’t really know, but yeah.

You fixed it.

That’s all that matters.

So pack activated charcoal when you go to make a nose.

Friday, May 30th, woke up around 7:00 AM.

25:13

Christmas had this really weird thing with these birds that around 5:00 AM they would hurl themselves into the window and it just sounded like this loud banging.

Very weird thing.

If you stay there that you’ll get to experience that.

Like the wild birds are just flying into the windows and like knocking on it.

25:32

Interesting.

Yeah, it’s around 5:00 AM.

Not every morning, but at least half the mornings.

Consistently they were knocking on your windows.

Yeah, very strange.

So anyway, that was a fun conversation throughout the retreat with everyone and kind of hit it again with espresso before the workout.

25:49

It was a strength pull day and then a flow Pilates class, which was much better than the HIT class.

The HIT class was good too.

It’s just it’s so high intensity.

And then this morning for brunch, I got the acai bowl and cacao overnight oats.

It was so good.

26:05

It was really nice to just sit and have brunch and talk with people in the morning like most mornings as we did this and it was really nice and then just wanted to have a chill day.

I was also coming off of France, right and just being busy all day for many days in a row.

And so a bunch of us stayed at the resort.

26:22

I went and got one of the day beds by the main pool and actually did some journaling and I got a lot of value out of just sitting with myself and journaling.

I actually asked ChatGPT to help me because it knows a lot about like my needle chart and whatnot and then I kind of journaled off of that.

26:38

So I’m trying to get into journaling and I think this retreat helped me.

So I did that for most of the day and then talked with some of the girls, had a green juice tanned and had a really nice relaxing day there.

Really positive, like thinking about the life that I want to cultivate after this retreat and what I want to get out of the retreat while I’m there.

26:58

And so that was really, really nice actually.

Question for you, retreat wise of course.

You’ve mentioned the morning workouts, which I understand.

It looks like you took it upon yourself to do the journaling.

I know.

So you had that kind of guided meditation the first day, but did they have anything else in terms of like the mental Wellness aspect or was it just you’re in this ambiance working out from the breakfast you mentioned sounds like healthy food is being what is given to you etcetera.

27:27

So like, what was there in terms of like mental Wellness?

Well, I’ll get to that there.

There are some days where that’s planned in.

I think that they could have planned something on this day.

To have two open days back-to-back, I thought was a little odd for the beginning of the retreat.

27:44

So just like constructive criticism, I would say they should have planned something this second day.

But it was fine, right?

Yeah, I took it upon myself.

But they provided a journal and they did that sleep workshop that kind of got me thinking about journaling.

And you know, part of me going to this retreat was I wanted to have some time to reflect on myself and my life and do exactly this.

28:08

That was part of my intention of going and so I did that.

That was amazing.

And then this night we had the option to go to Alan Magoo for dinner.

Alan Magoo is a beach club during the day, but it’s also a dinner, really hot dinner spot and dancing spot at night.

28:24

I think it does close around midnight.

A lot of these places do, which is interesting, but Alan Magoo is like high end great place.

The food was amazing.

I got this tagliate pasta with beef and truffles and like I don’t really like mushrooms, but I do like truffles.

28:43

I like the flavor of it and it was cool.

It was really good.

We had truffle fries.

The dinner was good.

This was a really, really windy night though, so it was actually pretty cold and all of us were wearing the blankets that Alan Magoo gave us.

But before it got dark, the sunset, it was the most gorgeous sky of like orange and yellow and pinks and they have these gorgeous palm trees here.

29:07

So it was a really, really pretty place to go.

I would definitely recommend going here for but because it was so cold and actually did start reading a little bit too.

The vibe wasn’t super high, but we came to party right.

So me and a couple of the girls hit dance floor.

Once we were done with dinner, we’re like we’re getting this party started.

29:25

We just started dancing.

There was playing this funhouse music in Greece Afro house they call it and very quickly people start coming onto the dance floor.

There happened to be a lot of men here this night.

As soon as we walked in, we were like, it’s full of men, but a lot of men started coming onto the dance floor and talking with us and dancing with us and there was an Italian group of bachelor party guys we were dancing with.

29:50

More people came on.

It actually got really bumpy, like we got the dance floor going at Ella Magoo.

You would have gotten Jamal right on that dance floor.

I need to be well lubricated like I said.

But you guys would be really proud of me because I was pretty self disciplined.

30:06

Like when some of the girls got a taxi around 11 to go home, they said do you want to stay or do you want to go?

And I went home.

Wow.

It was that journaling earlier in the day, you really had like an epiphany, it seems.

Like I was setting intentions for like the person I want to be.

Or more embrace, I should say.

30:23

That’s good.

And I wanted to get a lot out of these workouts.

I was really looking forward to that aspect of the retreat.

So I didn’t want to be hungover for the workouts.

I didn’t want to miss a workout and I’m glad I went to the next workout on Saturday.

It was a glute day, so all of the strength training stuff that we did was glutes and then we did another HIT Pilates type class back-to-back again and I loved it.

30:44

Some of the girls didn’t make it to the workout always, which was fine for them.

You know, that was their retreat experience, how they wanted to do it after the gluten hit Pilates on Saturday.

Then we did brunch again.

I had some poached eggs this time, protein, overnight oats and fruit.

31:01

The breakfasts were so big, like, you know, me and my small portions, I would want like just poached eggs or just overnight oats.

But no, you got a main two sides, a coffee and a juice every single morning.

So I think I kind of gained weight on this trip.

31:18

But don’t worry, I’m already back on track.

No one was worried.

But you’re even though it is a Wellness retreat and you’re working out, you are on vacation, you are in Greece, there’s good food, you’re entitled to put on a few L BS as they say, You know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, I just a few.

31:35

There you go.

Probably less than a few, but you know.

And it sounds like everything you ate was really healthy, really fresh.

It was, yes, it was really good.

Charisma makes amazing food.

All right, so then Saturday we are kind of discussing what to do.

Some of us want to go shopping.

31:50

I mentioned you go shopping in the Mykonos town, and I would recommend that.

We didn’t go there though.

We went to Namos.

Namos is another area in Mykonos that has the Namos Beach Club.

There’s a Soho House there and there are a ton of designer shopping stores.

32:07

So you’re like Mew, Mew, Christian, Dior, Balenciaga, like all of those type stores are here.

And so a few other types of stores as well, but mostly designer.

We went here, it was me and three other girls, and we had a little shopping day.

32:24

And I don’t like shop in designer stores that often, but I think I should need to start doing it more because it’s such a fun place to be, beautiful stuff, like beautiful places to sit.

They’ll bring out champagne and they’re just so friendly and like, this is the kind of experience I need to have when I’m shopping more often.

32:44

Did you buy anything?

I did.

There was 1 store called A and it was a Greek designer store and I bought a bikini there that’s really cute and I bought a kind of a gold necklace that had charms on it and the charms were evil eye heart and they were there was like 3 of each of them really cute necklace.

33:05

When you go shopping in Amos, if you are going to go to a designer store, bring your passport because they’ll fill out information on a paper that you will use before you exit the country to redeem the taxes that you pay.

You’re that tax.

Exactly.

33:20

So you get some money back.

Things are cheaper when you buy them overseas.

So you got to shop.

And so then after the shopping day, we went back to the resort and we were shopping all day long.

And by the time we got back to the resort, we were kind of late for dinner.

33:38

But we sat down with everyone had like a really casual dinner.

I went in my matching pajama set, you know, was very casual this night.

And I think some people ate fish for dinner.

I can’t remember, but I had a flatbread.

They brought out a really good flatbread for me.

33:54

And they had a bunch of dips, too.

Oh my God, There’s one dip that’s like harissa and feta, and it’s so good.

Jamal put that on the list.

Harissa and Feta noted Squatty, this is a good time to let you know all about the resources that we have for you guys, more particularly on our website, travelsquadpodcast.com.

34:15

You can find tons of things on there from all of our itineraries, some of them featuring countries, national parks, giving you day by day recommendations of things to do, where to stay, what to eat, where to eat, as well as our Amazon shop that has all of our favorite travel products.

34:33

Whether we be going to a snowy environment, desert environment, something to have on the plane, backpacks, etc.

So you can see that there as well as our curated Viator shop that has a lot of our favorite tours from places that we’ve been.

So be sure to go and check it out at travelsquadpodcast.com.

34:52

Sunday is the next day at the retreat and we start the morning with a push strength training day followed by an hour of Pilates flow.

And this is a day that we have a content creator with us.

For the retreat, they hired a content creator to come out for two days.

35:08

This was the first.

And so everything was really pretty when we laid it out for like the Pilates, we use the balls and the weights this day.

And because the content creator is there, you’re like holding poses for longer.

So it was a good workout, I’ll say that.

35:24

And I can’t wait to see all the content when they do release it finally and share the files with us because there’s so much good stuff that’s going to come from it.

But the content creator was also really fun.

His girlfriend was there and she was really great doing the workouts with us too.

Afterwards, we had brunch and I decided to try the Kagiannis, which is a Greek dish.

35:44

It’s scrambled eggs with tomato and feta atop a delicious piece of roasted focaccia bread.

This is such a good breakfast, Jamal.

You should put this on your list to try to make it’s so good.

Well, it.

Sounds really good.

It does sound delicious.

35:59

I make something similar, slightly different.

You’re talking about scrambled eggs with tomato and feta.

I make a scrambled egg with spinach feta.

And I know you said earlier you don’t really like mushrooms, but that is a very nice little Greek Mediterranean style breakfast as well.

36:16

But the simple tomato and feta sounds really good too.

I would say add in some spinach on top of that.

But.

I don’t like hot spinach.

Well then we’ll keep the spinach omitted for you, Kim, but on top of the focaccia.

That does sound really good.

Yeah, the focaccia was so good and I was like, don’t eat the bread, you’re gaining weight.

36:33

But I couldn’t because it was so good.

I haven’t made my homemade focaccia in a long time too, so maybe if I make this I should do it with my homemade focaccia.

Yeah.

And then I had fruit and those protein bites on the side there.

And then today there actually is planned activities.

36:48

It’s actually going to be quite a busy day at the resort here.

It is a Wellness day, spa day, if you will.

And so for a few hours we have reserved to use the cold plunge and the hot tub that they have at the lower pool area.

And then there’s a ton of other stuff we could do with like guashaw tools that were out.

37:07

I learned how to give myself kind of a lymphatic drainage guashaw massage with Castor oil on my stomach and it’s kind of crazy when you do it, you can actually feel the air bubbles coming out.

It’s weird.

We’ll have to show you next time I see you.

We did face masks while we were laying out.

37:23

There were these, I forget what they’re called, but they’re like these big tall boots that you put on that compress your legs and it helps with like circulation and muscle recovery and things like that.

So it was a real full spa day probably.

We’re out there for a couple of hours just enjoying it and having a good old time.

37:42

And then with this retreat is included a 30 minute sports massage.

And so mine was scheduled for this day and I went in, got my massage like I’m a hot stone massage girly.

I don’t want it rough.

I just want to be rubbed down and hot stones.

38:00

This was so rough and my muscles were sore from all these workouts that like it was a long 30 minutes.

You know, Brittany really likes the rough massages when they really rub deep on her back shoulders.

As a matter of fact, one of the first massages I ever bought Brittany, when we first started dating ’cause I knew she liked massages.

38:20

She always asked me to give him.

I don’t like giving them.

So it’s like, oh, I’ll buy you one.

It was a hot stone.

And then she left out of it and she’s like, yeah, you know, whatever.

You would have appreciated it, Kim.

But apparently not.

What can I say, I just like those deep massages.

Yeah, well, you would have liked this one because it was painful, but it was good.

38:39

I mean, he was working on knots on my back.

And like, honestly, I never really go for a male masseuse.

I typically always choose women, but I think I’m going to start picking men from now on.

It was nice.

What did?

You come to that epiphany.

Just his like strong hands and he was a great looking gorgeous like Greek man too.

39:00

So yeah, it was a nice experience.

There you go.

And it was kind of a couple’s massage because there were two masseuse and they took two people at a time.

So one of the other girls on the retreat was right next to me.

And I could hear her telling the guy like, go as rough as you want.

39:16

I like it rough.

And I’m like in my head thinking go easy on me.

You should have told him to go easy on you.

He would have lightened up.

I mean, I know it hurts because you need it, so I was just taking the pain.

Embracing it, yeah.

And then we went to go have lunch.

39:34

And today for lunch, they were serving this really good, like lentil tomato salad that had fried halloumi and chicken.

Extremely good.

Like, put this one on your list, Jamal.

It was delicious.

I’m making notes.

And then immediately after that, we had a sound healer that was coming.

39:53

I kind of think that they could have done the spa day and the sound healer on different days to fill up one of the days.

But sometimes I guess it’s nice to have the free days too.

So yes, you’re a part of this retreat, but you also have the option to go.

Shopping, go to beach clubs, do something on your own if you want a break.

40:10

Pros and cons, but I loved the sound healer.

Not everybody came to it.

I would say about only a third of the women actually came to the sound healer and I think they really missed out because I think that was probably one of the more transformative experiences that was this retreat.

40:27

So she came in and she brought different things, like wind chime things.

Instead of them being hanging, they were like stands of wind chimes.

And she had brought terrible cards and this like feather wand thing and like a big like candle sage thing.

40:43

So in the very beginning of the sound healing, she goes to everyone with the sage and the smoke and she kind of like fluffs your whole body to release energy.

And she tells you to think about something you want to release.

And then everyone’s on their own yoga mat and she starts, you know, the sounds are going.

40:58

I think she’s playing some type of sound.

She has sound bowls too.

And she’s talking through it.

And I’ve never really done anything like this.

So I thought it was just going to be down, but it was actually a guided meditation of sorts.

And I fell asleep for part of it.

But when I woke up, like I just felt like it was like being hypnotized almost.

41:17

It was kind of crazy.

The things I remember her saying at one point was a little bit of like shadow work.

It was like, think about yourself through the years when you were a kid and a young teen and a young adult.

And she, like, kind of brought you through the progression of your life and said, like, you know, think about times where you made mistakes and what did you need in that time?

41:40

And what would you say to yourself and forgive yourself and give yourself a hug.

And I thought about things that I have not thought about in years.

And like, I don’t know, it was weird.

I’ve never thought about, like, telling yourself to forgive yourself.

And things that popped into my head that came up during that was just like, wow.

41:57

Like I didn’t even realize I needed to forgive myself for that, for mistakes I’ve made, like, when I was 18 or something.

So that was powerful.

All this from kind of really sound too is what it seems like because that seemed like the way you described it, her thing.

42:12

And of course then with the guided meditation.

So this is more so the mental stuff that I was talking about too in terms of the Wellness retreat.

I mean, the workout itself is fun.

Don’t get me wrong.

It’s nice needed part of the Wellness, but I really think the mental and spiritual when I hear like Wellness retreat, this is what I really envision.

42:29

Yeah, that’s, I think that’s the stereotypical thing you think about, right.

And I’m glad that they included in it.

But I like this retreat the way it is with so many different aspects because Wellness is connections.

It is your body.

It is, it’s so many things, right?

This is for your mind.

42:44

Well, not only that, it’s going and having fun too with you don’t have to stick with the program.

You want to enjoy where you’re at and go shopping or to the beach.

You can.

So it has it all seemingly going for it.

What it’s sounding like to me is that it’s just a little disappointing that it seems like it’s only for women, because I’m like, where’s my?

43:02

You know, technically it is open to men and women, but I had told them, like, I think you should keep it just men.

I mean, just women because it’s more comfortable that way.

And like, the connection is there.

And like, some married women might not want to go if there’s been there.

43:19

But I was telling them, like, I think you should mark it some as Coed and then some keep it for women.

But yeah, so the sound healer was amazing.

At the end.

She had tarot cards and I pulled the tarot card that was basically saying like, it’s a pivotal moment where things are about to change so much for the better.

43:36

And that theme came up a lot during this retreat actually.

So I really feel like this is a moment where my life is going to change.

And even just like the boundaries that I set with myself by dancing and then going home at a decent hour and getting up every morning with discipline.

43:52

Like since I’ve been home, I get up at 5:00 in the morning no matter what.

I really feel like it’s the beginning of something different and I want to do more sound healing.

I love this for you.

It sounds transformative.

I guess that’s like the best word I have for it, but I’m excited to see what it has in store for you as we move forward.

44:10

Me too.

But that wasn’t the end of this day.

This is a big day because we were planning to go to Scorpios for dinner.

Scorpios is an iconic establishment in Mykonos.

You have to go when you’re here.

It’s a massive venue.

It has tons of beach beds.

44:25

These huge, like double sized beach beds.

They have the like the posts around the top and the sides.

Tons of VIP tables along the beach, inside in front of the DJ booth, There’s actual tables for dinner.

There’s like several different bars.

It’s a massive venue.

44:42

So we had a reservation for dinner here at a table, a dinner table.

And then we tried to get a VIP booth, but they were already sold out because I think this was opening night for them for the season.

And it was packed like so crowded.

When I first got there, I was like, I don’t know if I like Scorpios.

44:58

It’s too crowded.

You couldn’t move that well even.

And I was like, where’s the DJ?

Like there were so many people.

I couldn’t even see where the dance floor was.

But we had a great dinner here.

The food is so good at Scorpios, so don’t just come for the party, actually eat.

45:13

Like I had fried artichokes falafel.

That was like the freshest falafel I’ve ever had.

It was so good.

This delicious harissa and feta dip.

Drinks were good.

I had wine here and we had a really great dinner with everyone.

They have an oyster guy that comes around, giant oysters.

45:29

Of course I did not eat any, but other people it’s.

Sounding like your mental perspective is not truly transformed because you were still anti.

Take more of a.

Or seafood, I should say.

To be hypnotized to go there.

I don’t.

45:44

I’m just giving you a hard time on that front.

But when you started talking about the oysters, it’s like, Oh my gosh, is Kim going to say she?

Actually tried.

These were massive.

Answered my question, got to try the baby ones first then.

So after we had dinner, they have a limit on the table.

I think it’s like 2 or 2 1/2 hours and they’re really trying to move you through because they’re busy. 01 thing I forgot to mention, when we first walked up, some of the girls were wearing somewhat sheer dresses and they were immediately stopped by security and they said you can’t come in.

46:14

Scorpios really wants to be a classy establishment.

So when you’re thinking about what to wear, like I wouldn’t wear something like extremely skimpy or see through just to avoid this issue.

You want to look sexy but upscale.

And we did get all of the girls in like there was a big debate on do they have to go to the store and buy something here?

46:34

Do they have to go home and change all this crap?

You won’t see that on the dress code on their website, but know that if you’re wearing sheer, you likely could get stopped or not let in.

And that’s the vibe is classy, sexy.

That being said, after dinner we decided to dance.

46:50

So we go down and it’s just like full of people.

You can’t really move around that well.

And but we’re dancing, we’re having fun, and we stay until about 11:00.

And then a lot of the girls stayed here.

But I know Scorpios closes at 12, and when that place closes, it’s going to be an absolute craze to get out of there.

47:11

And so at 11, when some of the girls said they were leaving, I took it, took advantage of the opportunity to go home.

I partied and then I went home.

Wow.

Monday woke up at 7:00 AM again and there was no workout plan this day so I just decided to do a little bit of cardio on my own.

47:31

I went on the treadmill and then the bike and a couple of the other girls were up there too.

I had breakfast delivered to my room this morning so that beautiful wooden tray was delivered to my room and then I ate it out on the balcony that I have that has a private plunge pool with ocean views that was top notch next level amazing.

47:51

The reason we did not I have a workout this morning was because it’s the yacht day.

Big day for me.

Yacht day, baby.

Love Yacht?

And this was a great yacht too.

Did all of the girls from the retreat added on?

Because I know you said it was an add on.

48:06

Yes, and I think it really should be included.

Like who doesn’t want to do the yacht day?

I guess if you’re get really seasick, maybe not.

The yacht day is really fun.

The meals that you eat on the yacht are included.

They had a really great Greek salad and pasta and of course, some seafood, food, wine, unlimited wine.

48:24

And it was just amazing to like lay out on the yacht, you know, dance and party on the yacht, relax on the yacht.

Me and one of the girls jumped off the side of the yacht and went swimming.

The water’s pretty cold or beginning of June now.

So once you get deeper into the season, the water feels a lot better.

48:42

But you got to go in the water, right?

You have to.

You got to jump in the water.

So that was really fun.

The content creator is with us this day as well, and he was also with us at Scorpios the night before.

There’s going to be some fun content coming out about that.

But yeah, so we have a ton of great content coming out of the yacht and it was just an amazing day to be out on the water.

49:01

It was gorgeous.

Perfect weather, like sunny, no wind.

And we stayed out there probably from 10 to like 4.

So it was a really long day out on the water.

To get on the yacht, you have to go on a smaller boat that takes you out there and brings you back.

49:17

And on the way back, we’re all like tipsy.

And someone put on California Girls from Katy Perry.

Because I would say there was 4 out of the 14 girls from other places.

The other ten were all California, mostly San Diego, actually.

And yeah.

And then me, I used to live in San Diego.

49:34

One of the girls lives in Florida.

She used to live in San Diego.

And then two of the girls were from London.

So they put on Katy Perry’s California Girls on that little a little boat coming back to the dock.

And the guy who was driving the boat, like, kept going around in circles and we were all singing it.

49:50

It was so funny.

Yeah, he was loving it.

I just, I love the Greek people, too.

They really play in with you.

Like, they have great attitudes and personalities.

So after this, most of the girls went to Namos Beach Club.

50:05

I just wasn’t really feeling like the party vibes at this point.

I don’t know.

I was kind of tired and like the girls were very loud, which I love you know, when you’re partying, but if you’re not in that exact same level of party, then it can be like not quite the vibe you want.

50:23

So anyway, whatever reason, I decided to go back to the resort with a few of the other girls and kind of just chill.

And so one of the ladies, her name is Aaron, she’s from London.

She is a tarot card reader and I had set up a tarot card reading with her that was supposed to happen the next day.

50:39

But since her and I were at the resort and it was, I asked her if she wanted to do it this night.

It was still daytime when we did it.

Actually, we set up on one of the big day beds by the outdoor pool in the sun and she gave me a tarot card reading and it was like about an hour long tarot card reading, very in depth.

50:57

It’s kind of crazy because a lot of the stuff that came up during the sound healing also came through in my tarot card messages.

Yeah, wait a minute.

I know.

So some of the tarot card stuff just said like you need to really listen to your into tuition.

51:12

Like she was basically saying, it’s an extremely powerful moment where things are about to change in big ways for you and you know what you want to do and you know how to do it.

So listen to your intuition and act on your manifestations quickly and that really positive outcomes are going to occur.

51:30

Wasn’t necessarily saying anything about love or whatever.

It was more about like just me, like growing and achieving big things.

So that was a great reading.

She, she said multiple times how positive it was and I was like, OK, and I recorded the whole thing on an audio note.

51:45

So I really need to go back and like process it and fully embrace it.

But she did also recommend I do some shadow work, which was essentially kind of what the sound healing was doing.

And so I’ve been dabbling with that since being back and I actually think it’s really beneficial.

52:03

Do you know what shadow work is?

No, I don’t.

So from my understanding, it’s kind of like going back in your life and thinking about something that happened that you regret or that you feel shame around.

So like, say you cheated on a partner in the past.

You might not feel like you’re holding on to that, but you probably are in some ways.

52:22

So you go back to that and then you address like what did you need in that moment?

Like what do you wish you could have said to yourself?

Or like, say it was like your parents failed you on something.

You kind of go through.

What would you have wanted your parents to do?

And just that simple process of doing that, like actually brings a lot of healing and understanding ending.

52:43

I just went through one thing that was kind of major in my life with that process.

And I just came to a big realization of why certain communication situations are a little harder for me.

And I could trace it back to that moment in my life.

52:59

And also like certain upbringing things, right.

And you forgive like say your mom wasn’t there for you in this certain situation.

Well, through the shadow work process, you forgive them.

It’s, I don’t know, it’s it sounds very woo, but like once you actually do it, like it’s kind of crazy to see the lift.

53:15

So that’s something I took out of this retreat for sure.

And then we had a pretty chill evening.

Like there wasn’t that many people there since they were all out still.

We had dinner at the resort with the few of us that were there and then kind of went to bed a little bit early.

Kim going to bed early on.

Vacation.

Well, it was still like 10 or 11:00 PM, but yeah.

53:32

That’s early for you, Kim, especially in.

Ikonos, I know.

But you see, I love it because you are embracing the whole idea of the Wellness, mental, physical health as well.

Because I mean, obviously anyone who’s listened to our podcast knows that we love the occasional beverage, especially when we’re on vacation.

53:49

But you’re really embracing it here to kind of put it to a minimum and not go exorbitant.

That’s kind of crazy, but don’t speak too soon here.

We got the last day still.

OK, Well, well, it’s the last day that’s different.

You know, you’ve been good the whole time.

Last day.

54:04

Squatty’s Before I go on to the last day, I want to remind you that we have a ton of itineraries on shoptravelsquad.com.

One of those is a Greece itinerary.

And with this information in Mykonos now spending so much more time there, I will be updating it.

Currently in that itinerary, it’s just about a day in Mykonos.

54:22

It’s going to be much more expanded for you if you want to take a Greece trip and spend, you know, quite a bit of time there and island hop a bit.

So look out for that.

Link is in the show notes, and you can find all of our itineraries on shoptravelsquad.com.

So you said, Kim, that I spoke too soon about the parting leading into the last day.

54:42

I can’t imagine the whole day was parting, but tell us what you guys did at the retreat for your last day.

Yeah, last day was exciting because we got to go on the reformer machines and do a pretty small class.

There was only four of us that went to the reformer class.

54:58

I guess everyone stayed out pretty late the night before and didn’t want to do the workout, which is totally fine.

I love reformer Pilates and I’ve never done at outdoors with the gorgeous views of Ikonos and Mediterranean ocean while I’m doing Rivermore Pilates, so that was amazing and it was a really good workout.

55:17

Sarah West, who’s the Pilates instructor, is opening a Salt Vault Pilates studio in Encinitas, and if you have the chance to go do one of her workouts, I would highly recommend it.

After that, Pilates were former class.

I had some breakfast, I did poached eggs again, and then I had cinnamon overnight oats and fruit.

55:35

And I wish I would have got cinnamon overnight oats earlier because they were so good.

If I would have known this, I would have gotten them every day.

They had like honey and cinnamon and some fruit inside of it.

I’m gonna start eating overnight oats now.

That’s what I have every day that I work.

55:52

I have apple cinnamon, overnight oats topped away, the walnuts, blueberries and strawberries.

Good.

And it is.

I never thought that I liked it ’cause it was like cold oatmeal, but having it, especially with the cinnamon overnight oats, the way they did it, like Oh my God, it’s so good after that.

56:08

So it’s mostly a open day here.

The retreat leaders did want to get the group together as much as possible for this last and final day.

And one of the girls birthdays was today.

We actually had a lot of Geminis on this trip, so this was the 3rd birthday of the retreat and we wanted to get everyone together and of course celebrate her.

56:29

And so during the day, a few of us went into Mykonos town to do some shopping and I shopped till I dropped.

This is why I wish I would have gone the first day because there was so much stuff that I was like, I could wear this, I could wear this, but like I can’t really wear that in Austin.

56:47

It’s not really a fit for Austin, but it’s such a fit for Mykonos.

But I did end up buying a bunch of stuff.

I got three different bags.

One’s like a Wicker bag, one was this gorgeous jeweled green bag and one was a like black and white.

I have to show it to you.

57:02

It’s it’s really cute like snaps open, super cute. 3 bags.

I could have bought more. 2 pairs of shoes. 1 was like platform sandals, one was heels that were like really, really cute.

I bought a couple necklaces, an anklet, a couple of rings, a dress and a skirt and I wanted to keep going but we had to get back for dinner. 01 thing I forgot to say.

57:24

The other thing I got was in the pharmacy, like I got skin care in France.

I wanted to go into the pharmacy here in Mykonos and get face masks.

I’d seen a TikTok about this and I needed to get them.

So they come in a 2 pack and there’s a whole bunch of different ones.

57:39

I bought so many of them.

They’re like €4.00 each, 4 to €6 each for a 2 pack.

The number one I would recommend you get is the olive oil scrub mask.

My skin has never looked better and I did it when I got home.

If I would have known how good it was, I would have bought a million and more of those little packets.

57:57

The best mask you can never imagine.

So good.

I got a hair mask, some under eye masks and I got 1 sheet mask that I knew I was going to use on the flight home.

That’s another little hack.

Use sheet masks on the plane, especially coming home.

You need that recovery.

I did see you post on your Instagram that you did.

58:15

I did.

At first I thought that’s the mask you were talking about, those little olive oil ones, but it seems.

Like something else, Most of the masks that I bought were ones that you put on and then rinse off.

I made sure to get one sheet mask for the plane so we shop till we drop all day long.

I also bought a euro when I was in town so I was like I can’t go to Greece and not have a euro.

58:34

I haven’t had one yet.

I need to eat 1 and I’m starving and it was so good.

Chicken Euro with fries in it.

Sounds delicious.

Now we were supposed to meet the group at Santana Beach Club at 4:00 PM, but everyone was kind of out and about and it kept getting pushed back and back.

58:50

We ended up getting picked up from the resort at 6:00 PM and when we were on our way to Santana, Santana, they said Santana’s closing, let’s go to Scorpios again.

They’re right next to each other.

So at first, all of us were like, really are going to Scorpios.

And half the girls are wearing bikinis.

59:06

And they’re like, we’re not going to get in.

They’re not going to let us in in a swimsuit.

You’re not supposed to wear swimsuits there unless it’s during the day.

But we did get in and the girl whose birthday it was ended up getting a VIP table because it was a lot less busy this day than it was the opening night.

Our VIP booth was right in front of the DJ.

59:24

It was amazing.

And when we got there, there was hardly anybody there.

It was very open.

So we’re at a lot of space to spread out and just like talk and a couple people got some food.

I obviously didn’t need food because I just ate, but we got drinks.

59:41

All of tequila taking shots, yes, me taking shots now.

And I think that that’s actually the key to not getting hungover.

It’s just a tequila shot with a lime.

I’ve been trying to get you to take tequila shots with me for years, and you always say, no, I don’t like shots.

1:00:00

And then here you are.

I see you posting all of these videos, the shots, shot shots.

And I even message you saying you never take shots with us.

And you’re like, yeah, I do.

I’m like, no.

You Well, I do now because I never got hungover on this trip even after this day, which was my biggest party day.

I think I probably took like five shots of tequila and probably five shots of gin on this night, and I was not hungover.

1:00:22

Well, OK, so the VIP table next to us was this group of guys who were at a double bachelor party.

They had gin.

So I was taking shots with them.

We were commingling.

They were very nice.

They’re actually a lot of them were from Lebanon.

Oh, look at that.

Yes, I was talking about Lebanon and whenever I tell someone I’ve been to Lebanon they’re always so surprised because it’s like really not a well known destination or well visited destination.

1:00:46

Right.

And you tell that to a Lebanese person, then they’re even more excited when they see a white girl who’s like, Oh yeah, I want to.

Just got to flex my Lebanese travel on them.

There you go.

So that was fun.

They were a cool group and so we’re dancing.

It gets really crowded in here as the sun goes down and the party really gets going.

1:01:05

The female DJ was so good, playing like the best Afro house music.

It was so good.

Everyone’s dancing.

And so we got there around 7.

Scorpios closes at midnight.

We actually left it when it closed, but there’s a little bit of information I’m leaving out.

1:01:23

So one of my goals for this trip was to make out with a Greek God.

The Greeks are so hot.

I wanted to meet a Greek guy so bad, and it hadn’t happened yet.

So one of the girls was like, Kimberly, you haven’t made out with a Greek guy yet.

1:01:39

Let’s go walk around.

And so we’re doing a lap and I’m looking at everyone and I’m like, OK, who’s hot?

Who’s not?

I’m trying to decipher who’s Greek because there’s so many people from other countries here that I’ve talked to people.

And I’m like, where are you from?

They say Italy, they say Germany.

1:01:55

And I’m like, move along.

And I don’t really find anyone.

But we get back to, like, where our VIP area is.

But I’m on the outside of the rope where the dance floor is.

And I’m now, like, on my own, just kind of like, going through the crowd dancing.

And I do see this guy who I saw earlier, he was so cute.

1:02:12

He had, like, the cutest smile.

But he’s Italian.

But we make out anyway.

Yeah.

And he was cute.

He kind of like took my hand and we went and like sat down on one of these day beds down by the water for a little bit and made out.

And then it’s like I got to get back to the group.

1:02:28

I got to get back to my mission.

But I never did find that Greek guy at this night.

We did like talk to the bachelor table next to us a lot and we ended up going back to their place when Scorpios closed at 12 for an after party.

1:02:44

There was a lot of them.

There was a lot of other people that came back too and they had like this beautiful place with this great pool.

And we stayed and hung out with them for quite a while.

Very friendly guys, very great time times We got there around like one in the morning.

1:03:00

My flight out of Mykonos was at six AMI had a transfer coming to pick me up from Charisma at 4:30 AM.

So from 1:00 AM to basically 4:15 AM, we were partying at this house was.

Your bag already packed and ready to go.

Yeah, luckily Squatty’s, if you’re going to do this, make sure your bag is packed.

1:03:19

Like luckily my bag was like 80% packed, so we got an Uber back there.

I’m like, throw everything remaining into the bag, change.

I had my outfit laid out for the travel day so that was good too, but I didn’t get to shower or any brush my teeth or anything.

1:03:36

The transfer shows up, I get in, I go to the airport, I make it on my flight and that’s no sleep straight from the party to the airport.

I actually got great sleep on those plane rides back though.

I would imagine Sophie can sleep the night before or do anything.

1:03:52

Why would you not get some good sleep plus?

Here’s another thing, I think this is a travel hack because you’re kind of getting one day ahead of acclimating to your home time zone, and so you’re lessening the jet lag effects from when you get home.

But what you keep that theory?

1:04:08

Yeah, test that theory on the next trip, Kevin.

Let’s.

See in Quebec, OK.

In Quebec, yeah, we’re going to be on that one.

I’m ready.

We’re going to test it because we I don’t know about you.

It’s only an hour.

Difference back to well our flights like at 4:30 AM, I remember correctly.

1:04:25

Our flight, No, it’s in the 5:00 AM hour.

We’re on our last.

Day well, that’s still pretty bad I mean we.

Got to be definitely.

Then just go straight from the party to the airport.

That we will do and then land back at noon in San.

Diego and then take a nap.

But this was such a fun retreat.

1:04:41

I’m looking into doing a Pilates retreat in Bali.

I was like searching on the Internet for more retreats and I found a Pilates specific retreat in Bali that has unlimited spa treatments every single day.

Oh.

That sounds.

Amazing.

And that’s like the perfect place for a retreat too.

But I had so much fun on this retreat.

1:04:58

I love Mykonos.

I made great friends with all the girls.

Like I definitely would connect with them when I’m back in their cities in the future for sure.

I would book it and do it all over again.

I don’t think I would do anything different except go shopping on the first day instead of the last day.

1:05:15

And I just loved like working out every morning and having some type of Wellness aspect with the vacation.

Like I said, I feel like more disciplined in my workouts now to where I think I can make this a more permanent just part of my life.

Like regardless of where I’m at when I’m vacationing I will still work out.

1:05:33

I already do this when I travel for work in hotels that I stay in for work but it was made the vacation better.

I I think and just like with the girls and the partying and the balance of everything, it was honestly perfect.

I would highly recommend this retreat.

They’re doing one in Ibiza, which I would love to go to this year, but if they do it again next year I’m going to try to go.

1:05:53

It’s in September, so hopefully September 2026 I will go to Ibiza.

Well, it sounds like a great time all around.

We were talking at the beginning of this episode about Sell Me, and honestly, I really think you have, Kim.

I don’t think you thought that you were, but you did.

1:06:08

Now I need to find, find a men’s retreat like this, obviously.

But I really like what you described, right, Because you had fun in the evening, kept it mild up until the last night.

But everything from like the morning to the afternoon was like health, mental, physical, workout, leisure, just in town, exploring it at your own convenience and time.

1:06:31

And then of course, in the evening, drinking.

You may have even drink less if you weren’t with all the girls too and other people were doing it but you still kept it restrained.

So I’m actually excited now and want to check out Mykonos.

Well, Amelia, who started this, I think she went on or used to work with Helios, which is another company that does retreats like this.

1:06:52

They’re very much more geared towards men and they do retreats in Mykonos.

So if you really caught the bug, look into that one.

I have, I will actually.

And I’ve told this to Brittany too.

Not that I don’t love traveling with her, but one of the things I say to her constantly too is like, I regret that we traveled later in life, like only together and that we never had the experiences to travel young and alone.

1:07:16

And so now I still want to do things with her.

But I think like one trip a year, kind of like what you had here is exactly what every couple is, an even non couple, right?

Just for that, Yeah.

I mean, I’m kind of moving toward more of the solo Trouble bandwagon, and I think it’s pretty cool.

1:07:33

I like it.

Well, it.

Sounds like you had a great time and I’m jealous and happy for you.

Britt, what about you?

How do you feel about retreat after this?

Are you intrigued?

I am intrigued, yeah.

I think it would just be really healing and relaxing and with our everydays being just like, so go, go, go.

1:07:51

And each of us have our own like 9 to 5 per SE, plus the podcast and everything else that we have going on in our personal lives.

It’s just a way to step back and like re evaluate your life and what you want for the future.

And I think that can just be so transformative and just help you push to your next level.

1:08:09

Yeah, I agree.

I hope you squaties are also inspired.

Thank you so much for tuning into this week’s episode.