Thursday, September 17, 2009
Crete is calling
We also use http://www.venere.com/ which offers accommodations ranging from luxury to cheap places. Another favorite: http://www.greeka.com/
We usually double check http://www.tripadvisor.com/ to see what other travelers might have said about the place. While opinions can vary widely, if a place gets high ratings many times, we don't hesitate to book it. Such is the case with the Lefka Apartments we have booked in Chania. Trip Advisors comment that they couldn't believe a place was as good as that described by other travelers until they arrived and experienced it. We will report in after our arrival.
We also found on our last trip to Greece that people do wait at the ferry dock with hand-printed signs advertising rooms for rent at incredibly low prices. . .so armed with our web sites and sense of adventure, we are holding fast to the plan to have no reservations in Greece and no set island destination other than our first week in Crete (and that is because we knew we wanted to further explore Crete and would easily fill a week or more doing just that).
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Countdown: Greece
Actually as the departure date nears, we have added a stop to our return, so we know where we will be for the first week (Chania, Crete) and the last five nights. We've included 5 nights in Paris to our return routing, thanks to Mr. Marriott and those loyalty points that lured us in to a timeshare purchase two years ago. (http://www.marriottvacationclub.com/). We will fly from Athens to Paris on EasyJet, the cheapie airline for $73E p/p. (http://www.easyjet.com/).
As for yesterday's bombing in two Greek cities (one at the Athens Stock Exchange) . . .we are still heading to Greece, as of this writing. The BBC reports that the bombers called a local newspaper alerting folks to the bomb and allowing police to seal off the area before it detonated. Couldn't help but wonder if they used the news tip line?
Jackie took the photos on this post in Naousa on the north coast of Paros, an island in the Cyclades. We took the public bus ($2.40E) from where we were staying to this once-fishing-village, turned somewhat touristy-fishing village.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Stavros and Spinalonga - Novel Destinations
At the other end of Crete, off its north coast, the island of Spinalonga, was Greece's main leper colony from 1903 to 1957. "The Island," a 2005 novel by English writer, Victoria Hislop brings the island and its one-time residents to life, sparking an interest in visiting it one on of the many day trips offered.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Peru and Chile Beckon
Friday, August 7, 2009
Special occasion destinations
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Greece countdown
What we do know: We'll fly Seattle to London Heathrow on British Air, spending a night at the Courtyard Marriott, (http://www.marriott.com/) walking distance to Gatwick, from where we will fly out early the next morning on an inexpensive Easy Jet flight to Crete.
We have reservations in Chania for a week-long stay at Lefka Apartments (http://www.lefka-apartments.gr/). The complex comes recommended by TripAdvisor members (http://www.tripadvisor.com/) - in the past we've relied on their opinions and stayed in nice, but inexpensive accommodations. After spending a few nights there in spring 2008, we vowed to return to this old Venetian port city which allows further on-foot exploration of it. We continue to search rental car web sites but may opt to use public bus service to explore the neighboring villages.
We've purchased a 2.7 pound NetBook by Acer; it's loaded with Microsoft XP and provides internet connection. It is easily tucked into the side pocket of the Baggalini. If we can figure out how to connect its three-pronged cord to an adaptor for Greece we will have it made. Jackie is reluctantly entering the digital camera world, leaving her bag of film canisters and 35-mm camera at home.
Alaska Airlines - credit card mileage plan changes
The two things that will change: 2009 is the last year we cardholders (who are in good standing) will be awarded anniversary miles. The $50 campanion certificate will be increasing from $50 to $99 on Oct. 1, 2009. This applies to all new certificates earned on or after Oct. 1, 2009. All of this comes in a letter we received today from James Rice, a Sr. VP at Bank of America and Rick Rasmussen, Director of Customer Loyalty & Marketing Programs at Alaska Air. They assure all other card benefits remain in place.