Ithaka Bound

Cost of Traveling to Greece

I’ve gotten more than a few messages asking about costs related to traveling to Greece, so I thought it warranted a blog post.

The good news: compared to most European nations, Greece is extremely affordable.

The bad news:  if you’re American, you’re still getting about .60 euro to $1.

Timing is everything.  Prices go down by as much as half if you travel outside of July and August.  Prices start their steep climb in July and reach their peak sometime around the middle to end of July.  The peak lasts a full month and prices drop again on September 1st.  Athens may be the exception, in that prices don’t change quite as much, but on the islands, timing makes a huge difference.

So here’s the nitty gritty on traveling to Greece:

Airfare

Airfare is dependent on where you’re flying from, so I’ll use the U.S. as an example that’s familiar to me. When I was searching for decent airfare last year, prices from the east coast averaged about $1,100.  A good travel agent or a thorough internet search will pay off.  A good friend who visited me last summer in Greece was able to get a ticket for about $700.  Europeans are lucky — they have a plethora of budget airlines operating around the continent.

Some sites to check out:

www.attitudetravel.com

www.airninja.com

www.ryanair.com/en

www.bing.com/travel

Accommodations

First things first:  if you’re going through Athens and care about location and cleanliness, book early.  Book early.  Athens fills up fast, no matter what time of year you’re traveling.  This is especially true of rooms  around the Acropolis, Plaka and Monastiraki.  If you’re like me and just want something cheap and are not averse to walking 15 minutes to reach the Acropolis, I would still recommend booking early.  I’ve showed up in Athens without a reservation after a long trans-atlantic flight and always vow never to do it again.

On the islands, forget about hotels and go for private rooms instead.  Most private rooms are just as good, if not better than hotel rooms, and you get the added bonus of getting to know a Greek family.

When I arrived in Kythnos, I found a room for 30 euro, which turned out to be a bit higher than I paid on the other islands for the month of June.  The average cost for a single room in June and the beginning of July was 20 – 25 euro.  The price last summer for a room in the Cyclades in August was about 35-50 euro.

Some things to keep in mind:

1.  Mykonos, Santorini, and to some extent Folegandros, are always more expensive.  Try to book a room before you arrive or you’ll end up praying a premium.  If you show up in Mykonos in August and someone offers you a room for 70 euro, take it — it’s not going to get any better.

2.  Rooms on some of the least visited islands can actually be a bit more expensive than average because there are fewer rooms on those islands.

3.  Americans, keep in mind that European room prices vary depending on how many people are in the room.  This worked out in my favor since I was mostly traveling alone.

It’s perfectly OK to show up on most any island (caveat:  Mykonos, Santorini, Folegandros) without a reservation.  Most people do this when traveling through Greece.  Your ferry will be met by a group of locals who will offer you all sorts of rooms.  You can bargain, within reason.  Don’t expect the price to drop by more than 5 euro or so.  Also, almost every island has a tourist office near the port and they’re a big help when it comes to locating rooms.  Just go with the flow and remember that things move at a different pace in Greece.

Car Rental

In the beginning of the summer, I was able to rent a car on the islands for about 20 euro a day.  Mind you, I always asked for the cheapest and smallest car.  In the middle of August, I rented a jeep for about 50 euro a day.  On September 1st, the jeep price dropped down to 30 euro.

The great thing about renting a car in Greece is that there are no hidden costs.  The price includes everything.  That means no extra costs for taxes or insurance.  Americans will especially appreciate this, since we get shafted on a regular basis by car rental companies in the States.

Also, feel free to negotiate the price down.  I was almost always able to get the price lowered, just by asking if there was a better price.  I  think I brought up the dismal dollar to euro exchange rate once or twice.  Feel free to look around for the best price — you might be surprised by how much prices vary from company to company.

Ferries

Ferry prices are dependent on how far you’re traveling.  I paid about 12 euro for a one hour ferry between islands, and 45 euro for a trip of a few hours to one of the more remote islands.  To save money, skip the fast boats and stick to the slower ferries, which really aren’t much slower.  To save even more money, stick to steerage and don’t reserve a specific seat.  Most greek ferries don’t have classes, per se, and so-called steerage fare will give you access to the entire ship unless it’s a ferry with pullman seats or sleeping berths, which cost extra.  Use common sense though —  if you’re on an overnight ferry, it gets fairly chilly on the open sea and you can save yourself a lot of discomfort by booking an interior seat if one is available.

Food

Food in Greece is reasonably priced and very filling.  Greek don’t skimp on portion sizes, and most entrees are sized for two people.

I spent, on average, between 15-20 euro a day on food.  On one especially thrifty day, I only spent 6 euro, so it can be done!

Over the coming weeks and months, I’ll try to do specific posts on rooms throughout the islands.  It’s information I really could have used before my last trip, so hopefully it will help someone else out.

If you’re interested in keeping your travel costs down, yet still want a fantastic holiday in a breathtakingly beautiful country, I highly recommend Greece.

© 2010, Ithaka Bound. All rights reserved.

Greek Crisis

There’s been much talk of Greece in the news lately, what with all the protests, strikes, accusations, and public spankings related to the cover-up, or should I say ‘glossing over’, of the national debt.

I’ve been keeping abreast of the ever-changing situation but I have any right whatsoever to comment on it.  Things are never truly as they seem to be – that’s the one lesson I learned during my years of working internationally.  Despite what corporate media would have us believe, there is seldom one source of blame or one avenue of salvation.  Here in the States we like things neatly separated into black hats and white hats, good guys and bad guys.  But this is a Greek story, not an American one, and Greek stories involve tragedy, gods, fate, and a chorus singing or weeping in the background.

My natural inclination is to always side with those marching in protest, because another maxim is also true:  the people in the middle and on the bottom are the first to get screwed when it comes to paying the piper. Tragedy, fate, cue the weeping chorus.

So, I’ll leave all the commenting to the people who know–the Greeks.

In other news, I haven’t felt like writing anything at all lately.  Must be the winter doldrums.  Everything is grey and flat and all I can think about is leaving for a sunny, blue place.

© 2010, Ithaka Bound. All rights reserved.

How Anyone Can Travel

To utter a curse out loud was considered one of the most heinous things a person could do in ancient Greece.  A curse spoken was a curse given life and set on it’s course.  To the ancient Greeks, the spoken word carried a lot of power as it spun through the universe, gaining momentum, taking form, and becoming reality.

There seems to be verifiable proof that this ancient belief was in fact true — to a lesser or greater degree — and it’s something I’ve been pondering throughout the winter.  It started when I went to the midwest to visit family in January.  I was going through a closet filled with the remnants of my youth when I ran across some mementos from my first trip to Greece over 20 years ago.  That trip occurred  over a four month period between my college graduation and the start of my graduate studies.

I was struck by the similarities between that first trip and the trip I took last summer.  For example, both trips were over approximately a four month period; my modes of travel were basically the same; and the accommodations I used were more or less equal.

There were also some glaring difference between the two trips, as you would expect from a separation of over twenty years.  During that first trip, I was a college student who had worked part-time making less than $100 a week in order to finance the trip.  Last year, I had twenty years of professional work experience behind me, and, when I wasn’t on sabbatical, I made much more than $100 a week.

Greece was one of many European countries I visited on that first trip; I also went to Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Yugoslavia.  Last year, my trip was confined to Greece, one of the cheapest (and most beautiful) countries in Europe.

How, I asked myself, was I able to afford a four month trip through Europe while still a college student earning about $75 a week, with the same ease with which I traveled over 20 years later?

Do we will such things into being simply by stating our intentions out loud?

Yeah, I think so…though I hate to sound like a crystal-worshipping advocate of the power of positive thinking.

It’s really practical when you think about it — aren’t most of the things we accomplish in this life intentions spoken out loud?  It isn’t until we give them recognition that we can start on the path to making intentions a reality.

Several people this winter have mentioned to me how lucky I am to be able to travel as much as I have.  Although it’s true that I’m lucky in the general sense of the word — living in a wealthy western nation, in full possession of all my faculties — a lot of us fit that bill.  When it comes to traveling or not, luck has very little, if anything, to do with it.  It all comes down to intentions and choices.

So I’m convinced that anyone who does the above will soon find themselves on the open road.  Whatever you think might be holding you back — money, family, responsibilities, time —  is a mere bend in the road that needs to be maneuvered.  Eventually you’ll find a way to navigate it.

Think you can’t travel because you have children and don’t earn a six-figure income?  Check out the SOULTRAVELERS 3 blog.  They’re a family of three that’s been traveling since 2006 and living on $25,000 a year.

Travel is the great teacher, indulge in her lessons.  I learned about art and architecture standing in Italian churches and Palladian villas.  I had an epiphany on the equality of all religions while looking around a hindu temple in Malaysia.   I learned perspective from Borromini, and extravagance from Caravaggio.  The Thai’s reminded me of the beauty of good manners, and Middle Easterners could give us all lessons in how to treat a guest.

Anyone with a yen to travel should know that it’s well within their power to turn it into a reality.

Happy travels!

© 2010, Ithaka Bound. All rights reserved.

And More Snow in DC

With nature putting on such a show, there’s no point in writing about anything else.

I ventured out today to get some snapshots, but the freezing cold ushered me back inside after less than an hour.

I want to go back to posting the bright blues and brilliant colors of the Aegean.

© 2010, Ithaka Bound. All rights reserved.

More Snow in DC

There’s something so awesome about seeing Mother Nature fulfill her destiny this way.  As if to say, “So, you want to bring on global warming?  Well, stand back.”

Snow always seems to bring out the best in Washingtonians.

It purifies things.

And for a few hours at least, people have domain over the streets again, not cars.

© 2010, Ithaka Bound. All rights reserved.

Brrrrrr

Do I follow the snow or does the snow follow me?

I left DC shortly after the storm of the century.  I arrived in Wisconsin the day before two feet of snow fell.  A month later, I arrived back in DC the day after a snow emergency to find my building without heat or water.  Yesterday, another snowfall turned the city into a winter wonderland.

No complaints though; if it’s going to be winter, I much prefer it with snow.

While in Wisconsin, I realized that I’ve become a major wuss when it comes to tolerating cold weather.  When my 14 year-old niece was walking around in nothing warmer than a sweatshirt, I was bundled in a wool coat and wearing a polartec cap, scarf and fleece lined mittens. And I was still shivering.

My parents keep their house a balmy 68 degrees.  They cranked the heat up to 69 when they noticed my lips turning blue and icicles forming on my eyelashes.  I usually had three layers on and sat in the sun spot in the living room.

This wussification bothers the part of me that likes to imagine itself an explorer who could have made the trek with Sir Edmond Hillary.  I feel like I should be at least as hardy as young teens and senior citizens, but then, I really enjoy the snow from my toasty living room.

The photo in this post has no relation whatsoever to the topic — I was nostalgic for a warmer, balmier world.

© 2010, Ithaka Bound. All rights reserved.

Forcing Odysseus to Leave Home

I was surprised to learn that one of the main heroes of the Trojan war, and the protagonist of the Odyssey, pulled out every stop in the book to avoid having to leave home and join the fight.

When Helen was abducted by Paris, her husband, Menalaus, asked Helen’s old suitors to help bring her back to Sparta and to make the Trojans pay for their affront.  Odysseus was obligated by an oath to help, but an oracle had prophesied that if Odysseus left home, his journey back would be long-delayed.  To avoid this fate, Odysseus pretended to be insane.  He attached a donkey and an ox to his plow and began to sow his fields with salt.  His ruse was uncovered only when his infant son, Telemachus, was placed in front of the plow and Odysseus veered to avoid hurting him.

Human beings will put themselves through all sorts of ruses to avoid doing what they know they should do.  I’ve certainly done it

I’ve been visiting my family in the midwest for the past few weeks and I noticed that one of my family members was sowing his fields with salt and had a donkey attached to his plow.   So I put a Telemachus in front of him.  And I keep putting a Telemachus in front of him.

It sucks being the person to uncover the ruse and make life difficult for someone you love.  I’d much, much rather be with the others — wondering what the hell Odyssesus was doing but letting him go along on his way.  Maybe I’m too medddlesome but I hate to see a life wasted.

What would have happened, I wonder, if Odyssesus had succeeded in his ruse?  Would he have been just another long-forgotten king of Ithaka?  Would he have secured his place in history through some other adventure or act of bravery?

History has shown that the stories of ancient Greece all have some basis in fact.  What do you suppose really kept Odysseus wandering for ten years after the fall of Troy?  Who were the sirens,  Calypso, and the Cyclops?

All interesting questions, and I hope to be able to answer at least one in my lifetime.  For now, I need to find another Telemachus.

© 2010, Ithaka Bound. All rights reserved.