I’ve always wanted to go to Greece to see the old temples and the city. Explore the rich culture and history. When my Ma passed last year she left me a little money so I decided this was the time to go.
First thing I did was Google tours and found a tour company that could show me a great time for a week for close to $11,000 – not including air fare. So that was out. So I decided I’d do it on my own with the help of Google and ChatGPT.
I booked a flight from Norfolk –> Philadelphia–> Athens, going premium seating which is like regular First Class seats. Later I upgraded the flight out from Philadelphia to Business Class – which was nice but I found I couldn’t sleep due to a lot of turbulence.
I wanted to be able to communicate once I arrived so I bought English to Greek phrase book and signed up for Duolingo Greek. I also signed up for PrepareforGreece with Dimitri which was helpful. Turns out I didn’t need to do that at all, everyone I spoke with in Greece spoke English really well and were just pleasantly surprised when I managed a Greek word or two.
I booked an Airbnb in Athens and really didn’t know what or where I was going to end up but it ended up being perfect, walkable to many sites and a lot of local flavor to experience. The place had a nice dog and two friendly cats too. Nice guy Willian who gave me great ideas on what to do and how to do it. He was great.
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