Hi all,

I've been lurking this subreddit for a while in preparation for my trip that ended just yesterday so I wanted to share my experience in hope that its useful to some of you planning your own trips. Its going to be a long and detailed post.

These are my personal experiences\*
This will be a long read\*

I flew to Athens the 26th of April and arrived around midnight after a 1 hour delay. Sadly, this meant that we couldn't take the metro to arrive to our Airbnb, we went to the taxi queue, which was a mess of drivers waiting and having very heated discussions, we took a taxi and the driver was a bit crazy... she was speeding way over the limit. But we reached our destination.. it was 60 euros + tips.

We took a semi-private tour for the acropolis and it was really good. Definitely recommend it because there is a lot of information you can miss if going alone. The plaka neighbourhood was nice, a bit packed but fun to walk around nevertheless. The next day we took a guided tour to the temple of Poseidon at cape Sounion and it was worth it, we stopped first at an old theater before going to watch the sunset at the temple.

We flew from Athens to Mykonos, it was very windy but the town is beautiful with the painted stones, white houses, and colourful bougamvilleas. We took a bus to the Paradise beach early morning. Because it was not high season it was ok. The beach is beautiful but I can see it getting full in high season. The night life was great in Mykonos. We did not rent a car as the bus got us to where we wanted to go and we only stayed 2 nights there. I felt that in Mykonos you can easily get to the main places (airport, new port, beaches, etc...) by bus for cheap or taxi if you dont mind spending more and being more free.

From Mykonos we took a "fast ferries" ferry to Naxos, my personal favourite place. We rented a car for 3 days and it was great. We stayed at a beachfront hotel in the southern part of the town. A lot of nice places to eat or have a drink, not too full of tourists. We drove to most of the beaches from the main town towards the south and all of them were beautiful. Agia anna was easy to reach, plaka beach as well, both amazing for swimming in the ocean. The hawaii beach was really nice as well, felt more secluded, with very few people. We also drove to the temple of dyonisus which was empty, we were the only couple visiting so we got a really nice personal tour around for free where they explained the history behind the temple. Beware when driving because many roads are not paved and the speed limit is 30-50 km/h in most places.

The night before our ferry from Naxos to Heraklion we got a message from "seajets"that they cancelled the ferry for bad weather, which sucks but it is what it is. Sadly when we went to the agency they told us that the next available ferry was 4 days from that day. So after a couple of hours of stress we decided to take a 5.5 hour "blue star" ferry back to Athens that evening because to the north there was no bad weather and take a flight to Heraklion the next morning. Funnily, we didn't know that the 1st of may was a special day in Greece, and when we got to our hotel in Piraeus port and went to sleep to rest for the next day's early flight we were woken up by the ferry sirens and many many fireworks at midnight. the next day we took the flight to Heraklion and arrived there at noon, grabbed a rented car and drove to our hotel in Heraklion.

Heraklion itself is fun to walk around, sadly that week many stores were closed due to the holidays, but it gave us time to drive to nearby beaches, we went to Agia Pelagia peach, which was super nice. The next day we drove 3 hours and a half to Elafonisi pink beach and it was just amazing. By far the most beautiful beach I've ever been to in my life. Crystal clear water, pink sand, no waves, lots of free space to lay in the sand, and the asphalt road reaches here. Only a 10 minute walk down form the parking lot that charges 5 euros for the whole day. Definitely worth it to go there.

The next day we went to the temple of Knossos and in my personal opinion this was definitely not worth it. The place was discovered by the british sir Arthur Evans, what he did was reconstruct many areas of the temple, and paint it, which to me is not a good practice. I'd rather look at ruins and foundations over reconstructions made 100 years ago... Some people like this, but its definitely not for me. I was more angry about what he did to the place than amazed at the architecture. I'd encourage people to do some research before going there. If I had known this maybe I would have thought twice before booking it.

Next we took a "seajets" ferry to santorini which was a bit under 2 hours. I was one of the big ones so it didn't move as much as I thought it would. Once we arrived at Santorini port we took a taxi for 30 euros to our hotel just outside Fira. We decided to stay only 1 night in Santorini as we were warned by locals that its super touristy and we don't usually love this. And they were right, the place is beautiful, the houses on the side of the mountains are beautiful, white with the occasional blue roof church in between I'll give it that. But the amount of tourists and tourist catered restaurants and places is overwhelming, prices were higher everywhere. We went to Oia with a bus departing from Fira center for 2 euros to watch the famous sunset form the castle. We arrived 2 hours before and it was not very crowded but as time passed the place got full and it was a uncomfortable, too many people coming for the "instagram photo" and the people that have no sense of personal space, to people that tried to push us out of our first row spot anytime we slightly moved, it was definitely not the best experience. The sunset was beautiful, but the experience stained it a bit. The bus back to Fira was full and if you didn't get the bus you'd have to pay 40-50 euros for a taxi we were warned by the hotel staff. So we rushed to grab the bus as soon as the sunset ended.

Finally we took a flight the next day to Athens and then to our final destination to end the trip.

Overall, I return very happy. I can say that Greece became my N1 favourite place in the world so far. In regards to food it was amazing, mediterranean food with amazing flavours. Plenty of vegetarian and vegan options. The landscapes in both the mainland and the islands is amazing, the beaches were as taken out of dreams and the people super friendly and everyone basically spoke english so no problem communicating.

In regards to food what we loved the most were the greek salads, we had it at least once every day. The fava dip, vine leaves, fried feta saganaki, zucchini balls, tzatziki, and the pita bread is amazing. We had mushroom/falafel souvlaki as well as vegetarian Gyros and they were amazing. What surprised us was that everywhere we went the restaurant always gave us something as complimentary, sometimes we got some dips plus homemade bread, orange pie with ice cream, may times we got Ouzo, Raki, or my personal favourite, Mastiha as a digestif after the meal. this detail made our lunches/dinners way better. Tipping was not mandatory but we always rounded up the bill because every one was so nice to us.

As far as places to eat I'd recommend:
Athens: Kafeneion 111
Mykonos: Niko's taverna
Naxos: Taverna Naxos, Avli in agia anna
Heraklion: Olive trees in the center
Santorini: FalafeLand

Feel free to ask me if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. And sorry for the long read!

I've been a long time lurker of this sub, this is my first post and I just wanted to share my story and how joining this group has helped me tons.

I never loved flying, but I didn't hate it either. For decades, that was my though of flying, its just something we have to do to travel long distances, sometimes it was uncomfortable, sometimes it was just another trip as if I was traveling by train or car.

For context, I used to live in south america. This changed around 7 years ago, when I had to travel overseas to France 6 times for 14 hours in the air each time, with a small layover, in a single year. I don't recall having a bad flight, it was just very tiring spending so much time in an uncomfortable seat and then adjusting timezones with a 6+ hour difference. But I was not afraid, I just disliked it.

Fast forward a year, just before the pandemic begun, me and my wife moved to France to live here. I was overwhelmed by emotions of leaving my friends and family behind and starting a new life in Europe, so flying was not something I'd think about, not even when I was in mid air.

Now here is where the issues begun. The pandemic hit, so traveling was almost impossible at first, very difficult next, and really annoying when the restrictions were being lifted progressively. So I had an excuse to not fly back home, or anywhere to be honest. When we went for vacations I'd look for places where train or bus was an option. I even took 2 overnight buses instead of flying to Portugal just to avoid it. It was a this point that I realised that I was not only avoiding flying because of the hassle, but rather because I was starting to be scared of flying. To this date I cannot find a solid reason why that fear started to settle in me. The realisation that I was scared of flying made it 10 times worse, I'd think about it regularly when we had vacations discussions with my wife and I'd do anything in my power to avoid flying.

Time passed, work got super busy and this gave me another excuse to not fly or take extended vacations worth of a long travel. But my wife started to get annoyed that I would refuse flying to places she really wanted to go to. So eventually I caved in and agreed to book tickets to fly to Edinburg. It was my first flight 3 years after I arrived, and I was panicking. I found this subreddit and read post after post, looking for emotional support and reassurance.

The day before the flight arrived and I was a mess. I'd have a breakdown at the thought of flying, and that was all day. My wife would comfort me in all ways possibles but nothing would work. I refused to cancel this trip though, as I had spent a lot of money in bookings and made plans with friends I had not seen for ages so I felt pressured to go through. I took a pill and went on with it. In my memory it was an awful flight, it wasn't all bumpy but at one point it shook very harshly and I thought I was going to die. Needless to say I arrived safe and didn't have to worry about the flight back as we were going to take trains south to do other stuff until we reached France again. It was on this trip I realised my fear was of turbulence and nothing else, I actually enjoy landings and takeoffs, I'm not claustrophobic.

From that point until today I have flown with my wife to Iceland, Italy multiple times, Spain multiple times, Portugal once alone, and every time I'd have a bad day before the flight. But during the flight I was ok, I always took a pill for the trip. I started at 1 pill, and progressively reduced to half and a quarter.

Last week I arrived from a trip back home to south america, I did it guys! And I was not a smooth flight at all! It was very bumpy at times, but I used a phrase that I read somewhere here that goes something like "turbulence is an issue of comfort, not security", I kept repeating that phrase and it worked wonders.

Now I'm excited about my upcoming trip to Greece next month, I plan on not taking any pills at all and seeing how it goes. Now my fear is not gone, its still there, but I've learned to control it. To manage it and reduce it.

Basically what I want to say is thank you to everyone that is a part of this subreddit. The people that share their experiences, the pilots, everyone, really. You helped me a lot.

Sorry for the long read, and thank you for taking the time to read my testimonial!

Hello,

I'll be travelling to various islands next month and I want to rent a car, I'm over 23 and I have a debit card but no credit car. I don't really want to get a credit card just for this trip and then be stuck paying the annual cost... How difficult would it be to find a place that rents cars without requiring a credit card? I'm planning on renting a car for Naxos and Crete.

Thanks!

Hola todos,

Contexto, yo soy chileno pero vivo en el extranjero y no he vuelto en varios años. Lo que pasa es que yo tenia licencia de conducir clase B (la de autos normales), pero esta vencio en 2021. Y no puedo manejar en donde vivo ya que no la convalidan. No quiero hacer un curso aca porque duran mucho y son costosos, entonces la opcion es renovar mi licencia en Chile ahora que viejo pronto de visita, validarla internacionalmente por un año en el automobil club y asi puedo manejar en donde vivo por este año.

El problema... es que se me perdio mi licencia hace un tiempo. Vi que te piden bloquearla por si un tercero la usa, pero como no vivo en Chile me dio lo mismo, ademas que bloquearla por telefono dura 48 horas no mas, el bloqueo permanente se tiene que hacer presencial.

Bueno, he estado averiguando como hacerlo ahora que viajo y debo obtener el certificado de bloqueo definitivo que lo puedo sacar en el registro civil, facil. Luego debo llevar a mi comuna ese certificado y renovar mi licencia haciendo el psicotecnico, ok. Ahora segun la nueva ley de renovaciones las licencias vencidas en 2021 quedan automaticamente renovadas hasta el 2023. Lo cual no me afecta en mi caso ya que igual no la use.

Basicamente mi pregunta es si todo lo que he escrito tiene sentido? O se me ha pasado algo?

Para no encontrarme con ninguna sorpresa cuando vaya a renovar mi licencia, ya que mi tiempo en Chile es super limitado y no quiero perder tiempo haciendo todos estos tramites si despues me van a rechazar en algun momento la renovacion.

Gracias!!!