Greece Travel Itinerary (Day 1 - Day 9) @goaheadtours

All right, everyone. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another recording. I am Maggie, the substitute teacher. Come on in, come on in. I'm going to do a little, not story time for y'all, but I'm just going to give you all a little insight into the tour that I'm on right now. Just landed in Athens, Greece. Very excited. I've already had my first Greek salad. The food is great. The views are incredible and the people are lovely. So, for anyone who is curious about this cruise, this cruise, for anyone who's curious about this trip, because I do have a cruise coming, I wanted to tell you about the itinerary and let you know a little bit about EF Tours. I've been traveling with EF Tours for six years now. None of this is sponsored, but I just want to show you all the trip that I'm on. So, I am going to share my screen and I'm just going to give you a little bit of insight into what I got going on here. So, I started with EF after my son, Marcus, came home and said, Mommy, I want to join the French club. I said, Marcus, you don't speak French. He said, I know, Mommy, but they have good snacks. So, we started touring with EF because they believe the world is a classroom. And so, EF stands for Education First. And this is actually a really great program because middle school students can get high school credit. High school students can get college credit. I'm just here for the adventure. So, this is the trip that I'm on right now. Yes, it is 5 10 p.m. in Athens, Greece. So, it says a week in Greece. I'm going to go to Athens. We just landed this morning. And then Mykonos and then Santorini. So, I have shared this video that they have here. You all can see it kind of playing in the background. So, I'll just leave this up and then I'll go through the itinerary for you. One of the things that I absolutely love about the way EF Tours does it is that it's all inclusive. So, it's a payment plan and whatever tour you choose, you can pay however you want. If you want to break it up month by month, you can do that. And we usually plan these two years out. So, it's very affordable. And I just set it and forget it. And then as the date arrives, it's like, oh, it's time to go. So, we all met up at the Atlanta airport yesterday. There's several of us that are traveling together. As you can see, I'm in my hotel room. I have a room all to myself. So, I booked as a single, but traveling with a group. So, it's a great way to see the world alone, but together, if that makes sense. You can take a look at the history and everything, especially with all of the pandemic stuff. There are so many options now as far as your trip, if you need to make any changes. But you can see here, we are going to watch the beautiful sunsets. I've already seen the ocean blue. I've already seen the white buildings, so much history here. So, you can see here, let's see if it'll let me expand. All right. So, what comes on this tour? Let's take a look at this tour package. So, every night we're going to be in a hotel, except for last night, I did fly overnight. So, my first night was on Delta. But breakfast is always included to the hotels that we stay in, have a restaurant, and breakfast is provided. So, the way it works is that we wake up in the morning, they tell us what time the bus is going to be outside, or in a Mercedes coach bus. We go to the breakfast buffet, get whatever we'd like, and then we come down to the lobby, and we get on the bus. And the itinerary is already planned out. So, you can see that breakfast is included for every day. And then there are some dinners included, and sometimes lunch is included, but usually you have the middle of the day. If you want to try something on your own, you can. They also have add-ons, like you all know I'm going to be doing the culinary tours. You can add those optional things on as well. So, you can see for the adult trips, the dinner comes with beer or wine, your choice, completely optional. We have tours that are included, and I love this because when you pay for the price of the tour, all of that admission is included. So, you don't have to wait in line, hand over a ticket, none of that. It's done for you. We have tour directors and guides. When we go to these different sites, whether it's in Athens or any place that I've been with EF, because I've been to South Africa, I've been to London, I've been to France, Costa Rica, Italy, it's the same thing. So, we have a local person who will give us the ear pieces that we can listen to them translate what they're saying, and make sure that we can hear them in the crowd. We're always going to be traveling in a private motor coach. So, just our group, like I said, we have a Mercedes motor coach, reclined seating, also sometimes Wi-Fi, sometimes cell phone chargers. Y'all know how it is, but I don't have to get an Uber or worry about anything like that. Now, because Greece is a composition of islands, some of the trips are also over boat. So, we have ferry included, and then a flight. So, we're going to be flying within Greece, in addition to flying to and from Greece. All right. So, you can see all of that is included, and you can see here what we're going to see on this tour. Temple of Zeus, the Acropolis, the hotel that I'm in right now, the rooftop restaurant has a view of the Acropolis. Incredible. We're going to go to the Parthenon. We're going to go to Mykonos. That's where the jet setters go. Y'all know I'm not a jet setter, but I want to see what they do. And then we're going to go to the beaches in Santorini. Cannot wait for that. So, you can see here Mount Prophetess. I don't want to butcher any of the names, but you all can see how it looks, and I'll make sure to leave the link to this tour in the description. They have them recurring. You can pick the date that you want, sign up, and you can go with a group or go on your own. So, I'm going to go over the itinerary so you all can see what we're going to be doing from day to day, and then we'll wrap up this video. All right. So, you can see here we arrived to Athens, and then from Athens, we'll go to Mykonos, which is one of the islands. From Mykonos, we're going to go to Santorini. So, those are the two ferries. You can see the shorter portions here. Then when we get to Santorini, we're going to have to fly within Greece back to Athens, and then that's how we get back home. I came from Atlanta, direct on Delta Atlanta to Athens. This tour does allow you to add on. If you want to extend your trip, you can, but we're staying within Greece for this trip. All right. So, how does the daily schedule look? So, on your first night, it's an overnight flight. So, we had a 4.50, so like a 5 p.m. flight Atlanta time. It was a 10-hour flight, so it was long, but they took great care of us. Of course, we had dinner and snacks and breakfast on the plane, movies, pillows, blankets, whatever you need to stay comfortable. So, we flew overnight, and we arrived this morning in Athens around 10 a.m. Our tour guide met us at the baggage claim, so I love that. You don't even have to go far. She's got her sign up, and we all gather together, grab our luggage, and then the bus is waiting out so it's literally door-to-door service, and you know I love that. All right. So, on our first day, book our overnight flight to Athens. Now, one of the things I love about the go-ahead tours, which is catered more towards adults, it's a little bit nicer quality hotels and meals, beer and wine, and it's a little bit slower paced. When I've been on the tours that are with the kids, for example, when you take the overnight flight and your tour guide meets you at baggage claim, instead of getting on the bus and going to your hotel to relax like I've been able to do, you actually start your tour, and you're hopping off and on, and they want you to do and see everything. So, I am enjoying this slower pace. All right. So, I'll sleep in a bed tonight, shower and go to bed, and then tomorrow we are going to be in Athens. Actually, I'm sorry, our welcome dinner. This is actually day two because it started yesterday. So, we're going to have a drinks party very shortly, a travel group meeting, then we're going to have dinner. I think we're going to walk somewhere close by. Where are we going? I don't know, and I love not knowing. It's all planned out. So, if you like just kind of having that adult daycare experience, I think you might like this. So, we're going to meet our tour director, and because there are people coming from different places, some people's flights arrive at different times, so we will meet the whole group. The way they do this is they try to get a full coach bus of people. That makes it more efficient for pricing and whatnot. So, we'll meet whoever's new, but I'm in my room by myself. All right. So, on day three, which will be tomorrow for me, we're going to sightsee Athens. So, I will have my walking shoes on. Of course, we're going to have breakfast in the morning, and then we'll have a local guide to take us through the capital city of Greece. So much history here, you all. Thousands and thousands of years old. So, we're going to see Olympic Stadium. We're going to see the Arch of Hadrian. I don't want to butcher it. The 6th century Temple of Zeus. Now, one of the things that I love is that, you know, being in America, you're used to everything being new, because the U.S. is only a couple, two, three hundred years old, and when I love traveling to older countries, especially in Europe, when you see things that are thousands and hundreds of years old, it's incredible. So, we're going to see the old Royal Palace, Parliament, and drive through. So, some of the things that we see are from the bus, and some of the things that we see will actually get off the bus. We're going to walk the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the Temple of Nike. Oh, my goodness. Now, you can see here, you can have a free time in the afternoon, or you can add an excursion of a food walking tour, and y'all already know. I've added that on. You already know. So, you'll be hearing all about that. All right. So, we'll stay in this hotel for two nights, and then we're going to leave, and we're going to make our way to Mykonos by ferry. So, that means we're going to get on a bus, and we're going to do a sightseeing tour of Mykonos. Apparently, this is a Greek island where all the clubs are, and the jet-setters go. So, I want to look. I won't stay, but I just want to look. So, we're going to have a boat ride to Mykonos, and then we'll walk through the town of Mykonos, see the windmills from the 16th century still functioning. We're going to view Little Venice. I love that you're in Europe, and all the different countries are so close. You hear a little bit of what sounds like German, Italian, Spanish. It's amazing. We're going to be on the GNC. I've never been on the GNC. We're going to pass this church and look at the beautiful architecture in Europe. It's incredible. And then we have dinner included in Mykonos. All right. The next day, it's a free day in Mykonos. So, you can do your souvenir shopping. The tour guide always has recommendations of things you can do on your own, or you could just lay around at the hotel. I love that. So, you can do a free day in Mykonos, or they have another excursion. I have added on everything because I want y'all to see. So, I will be going to Delos. So, I'm not really sure the history. Let's see here. Let's see the history of Delos. It's a boat ride, ancient city with history. So, this is a whole five-hour excursion. I'll see Apollo. Oh, the house of Dionysus. Oh, my goodness. The god of wine. Absolutely. Absolutely. Now, I'm going to go back and take a look at that walking tour for the food tour. Oh, my gosh. I'm so excited for this. Baked good bagels. Oh, yeah. We're going to try it all, and y'all are going to hear all about it. So, if you like what I'm doing here. Oh, baklava. Okay, let me stop. Let me stop. All right. So, after Mykonos, and we have our free day, then we take a ferry to Santorini. Every time I hear Santorini, I think of Yanni. If you're a music lover, you know who Yanni is. So, we're going to take another ferry because from island to island, we're island hopping. We're going to go to Santorini and have some free time or at an excursion. What do you think Maggie's going to do? Yes. Yes. Yes. I'm doing the winery visit and wine tasting. Absolutely. Cannot wait. That looks beautiful. Love the local wines in different areas. We're going to look at how they grow their grapes surrounded by volcanoes here, mountains everywhere, and then we're in the big bowl of Greece. It's beautiful. I'm taking lots of pictures, and I'm going to be doing my lives telling you all about it. And then sightsee in Santorini the next day after we arrive, we rest, and then we're going to see the volcano beaches, the shores, the white architecture. We're going to go through the settlements, go to the top of the mountain to see these views. If y'all know about Greece, you have seen these white buildings with the blue tops. Absolutely. You can have free time or at an excursion. Y'all already know Maggie is going on the dinner cruise. You already know. You already know. So we'll be on a catamaran, which is another small boat, and basically be doing dinner on the cruise. So you'll see what I'm eating and drinking. I'm going to take pictures and video of everything for you all so you can see. And then coming back to Athens, which is the capital city where the airport is, we'll have breakfast and dinner, and then depending on your flight, we will say farewell. All right. The last day we get breakfast, unless you have an early morning flight, and that's it. So I just wanted to share with you all the itinerary. I'm very excited. I will drop the link. I do plan to have content for you every day so you can see what I'm up to, but I think it's time for me to go. We're having a welcome dinner party and drink, so I'm going to head on down to the lobby. But I'm Maggie, the substitute teacher, sharing my love of food with you all. Usually I'm cooking, but if I'm not cooking, this is where you can find me. So let me know what you think. Stay tuned. Thank you all so much. I appreciate it. Class is dismissed.