Sunday, March 18, 2012

Greece: Day 0 - Preparing the trip...

I'm preparing the next trip... Greece.

This country is becoming a challenge, there are so many interesting, history rich, and beautiful places that is hard to set an itinerary for little more than a week. After a few trips to the Public Library, I ended up selecting two books that I'll take as my travel guides :

Also, the following guides contain a lot of valuable information. In particular, the DVDs helped to decide the places to visit:
... some useful pointers here:
  • Online booking of ferry to/from the islands: http://www.bluestarferries.com , http://www.hellenicseaways.gr
    The ticket can be purchased online but it has to be picked up at the port (arriving 1 hour before departure) or at a travel agent office (addresses included in the above web sites).
    I'll describe the trip later, but I ended up purchasing on Bluestarferries because it accommodated better to my schedule. Got business class, which was just about 15 Euro more, probably worthwhile for an 8 hour trip.
    The travel guides mention that it is highly recommended to arrive during daytime, as the view should be worth of it.
  • Online booking of plane: http://en.aegeanair.com/
    Due to schedule convenience, I'll need to take a flight. Used Aegean Airline because it is a Star Alliance member, and would give me a few United miles. It was just a few Euros more expensive than Olympic. Also, it was somewhat cheaper to buy from this web site, instead of buying from United Airlines site, Orbitz, Expedia, or some of the other sites.
  • Hotels booking: As usual, I found good deals at http://hotels.com and http://aa.com sites.
  • Activities(tours): http://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInformation/destinationInformation/activities.jsp
  • Travel insurance: Got travel insurance from http://aa.com site. I purchased the flight from British Airways by paying with miles. Although I didn't buy from American Airlines, I still could purchase their low cost award travel insurance for less than u$50 for two travelers.

Electricity in Greece, is 220V. The power outlets looks as follows:

Power outlet in Greece
Power outlet in Greece