Wedding Calling Haven, Greece?

[swimmer]

Haven, I hate to bother you, your wedding is coming up so soon! Have wanted to ask you for ages...did you go with EF to Greece? I am leaving tomorrow night on a trip with a ton of kids.
Any suggestions? Have never been there, but travel with HS kids a ton, so will make the Target run for snackies and first aid.
Thank you if you have any time!
Anyone else with thoughts on Greece, please chime in.

 

[Haven]

We did go with EF! Not the biggest fan, and I don''t think we''ll ever use them again, but the trip was still great.

We had some serious issues with EF prior to leaving, but those were mainly administrative and you''re beyond that point now so I won''t even touch on those. My beef with EF during the trip was that we felt like they were nickel-and-diming our kids. There were a lot of little costs that we didn''t know about until we showed up.

Most of our "choice lunches" were dictated by our tour guide, who we were quite certain was getting a percentage of what we spent at the restaurants. (We saw her standing with the owners in a few places summing up the total and then taking cash. So, um, yeah.) The restaurants she chose were all pretty pricey, too, and the kids would have spent far less money on lunches if we let them loose in towns or Athens to grab something. I wish we would have articulated to our guide before the trip that we wanted the kids to be able to grab lunches on their own and not have to eat together every single time. I think we only had one day in Athens where the kids could choose where to eat themselves.

The other thing was that our guide sub-contracted to a lot of other tour guides at places like Delphi, ancient Ephesus, and the like. SO, even though we paid our guide an exorbitant amount of money per day to guide us, she was sub-contracting and then we had to pay tips to all of these other tour guides.

And there are the tips for the bus drivers--EF never told us about this, either, so we had to get cash from the kids each day to tip all these bus drivers. And the sub-contracted tour guides. And this is after we collected a large amount from each student for tips for our main tour guide.

We also stopped at a few places after seeing sites and it was clear that our tour guide was getting a cut of what the kids spent at these places, too. For example, we went to a pottery demonstration at a pottery shop, and then the kids spent a ton of money there and there was our guide--counting up the money spent and taking her cut. Things like that just really bothered me.

There was also a bus strike going on when we were in Greece, so instead of having our own private coach bus for the first three days, we had to haul 40 kids on and off the tram and various buses. It was a nightmare. And it saved EF a TON of money because we paid a huge amount for our bus, and the tram and bus tickets cost very little, yet they refused to reimburse us that cost.

ANYWAY, I loved Greece, it was beautiful, and the kids were generally very good. We had a fabulous time, I just felt guilty that our kids were spending so much more unexpected money after paying $3,000 to go on the trip in the first place.

THINGS WE DID THAT REALLY WORKED

- I know it''s too late for this, but we gave each student a hot pink t-shirt that says "Greece 2008" on the front and made them wear it to the airport. It was AMAZING--we could locate our kids immediately, and we got a lot of special attention from the airlines because of it. (Hence my free upgrade to first class on the trip from London to Athens, British Airways said we deserved it because we were traveling with so many kids.) I highly recommend it for the next trip.

- Each chaperone had a group of eight kids for whom we were responsible, so for all check-ins, we just had to see our eight kids and then once all chaps had seen all eight of their kids we knew they were all safe. This was much easier than checking off a list of 40, AND the groups developed tight bonds and made names for themselves and little cheers, it was great.

- Nighttime check-in--We made 11:11 PM our check-in time for all nights on land. (On the cruise it was 12:30 AM check-in, and 2 AM lights out.) 11:11 was really easy for the kids to remember, they had to find their chap at that time, and then we set lights out for 11:30.

- Buddy system--All of the kids chose a buddy the first day of the trip and they HAD to travel with that buddy whenever they were on their own anywhere. We didn''t want any kids traveling alone, and it worked out really well.

- Be visible. We were everywhere, as chaperones. There were seven of us, and we made sure the kids knew we were walking around the cruise and we''d know if they were getting themselves into any trouble. We also really bonded well with the kids, and I think it''s because we spent so much time with them.

- The one great thing about our tour guide was that she went through the cruise excursions with us and told us what was a huge waste of money, and what was great. I think that did save the kids from spending a ton on stuff that would have been a disappointment. In case you are doing the same EF Greece tour that we did, the cruise excursions she recommended were:
- Patmos, St. John''s Grotto and Monastery (FABULOUS! My favorite.)
- Kusadasi, Turkey, Ancient Ephesus (SO cool. Must do.)
- Heraklion, Crete, The Palace of Knossos (Meh. I didn''t love this one.)
She said that the sailing on Santorini was great, but the kids would miss the island so we definitely didn''t want them to do that. In fact, we only offered these three excursions for the kids, and I''m so glad we did. The town of Rhodes is fabulous, so if you stop there DEFINITELY make the kids get off at the port. Crete wasn''t so great for walking around, so the kids might be better staying on the boat, especially since it''s such an early dock.
OH, and give yourself A LOT of time to take the cable car down from Santorini before debarkation. We didn''t give ourselves enough time and so we had to WALK down the nasty donkey path, through all the donkey droppings. It''s very long, slanted, and horribly disgusting.

And if you''re not taking the same tour, sorry for all the irrelevant info!

Hmmmm, I''m sure there are a ton of other things I could say, but I can''t think of them right now. Do you have any specific questions? I''d be happy to share whatever I''ve got with you!

ENJOY! Oh, and savor your rest, you won''t get much of it!

 

[mimzy]

obviously not haven, but i just wanted to say have a great time! Greece is amazing, both ancient and modern. if you find yourself in any small towns or the islands make sure to take a minute to take to the yiayias and/or papous sitting out drinking coffee - greeks love to talk! (especially us women

). i miss it and can''t wait to go back!

 

[swimmer]

Haven you are the master.
That was so in depth! You are fabulous! Thank you so much!
We are on the exact same trip, down to British Airways flights. Our extension on the boat at the end is San Torini and Crete. They just switched it today!
Thank you so much for the heads up on the lunch situation. I won''t stand for that nonsense so good to be prepared. The kids and I usually find fruit markets and gelato for lunch. The dollar is so weak now, I told them to bring some granola bars and we will buy peanuts to supplement.

This will be my 11th EF trip so I know how the nickle dime thang goes, but new and different forms of it are always a challenge. I am so concerned about the ship. Most of the kids I am taking are 16-22 (yeah, former students, now college kids come back because we have fun and its cheaper to do EF, I just tell folks its like Costco). They would kill me if I showed up at the airport with matching T-shirts! My idea was to get the girls large straw hats, we did that in Hong Kong last year and it was useful and funny.
I''m sort of concerned that we are on a booze cruise...the boys I have with me are mostly good Muslims and Hindus, but there are a couple of girls. Yes, I will be super visible

on the decks catching some rays!
yikes, all those local guides...and the boat requires 9usd a day tips. Oy, I only collected $90 per kid for tips...

mmmm, mind is racing, what else to ask? must re-read again!
Thank you so much for the time and expertise!

Musey that is an awesome tip, grandmothers are the best wherever you go!

 

[Haven]

Wow, I can't believe you're taking the same trip. How funny!

In that case, make sure you take advantage of Epidavros and Pilos. Those towns were so nice, and you'll stay in each for one night. I LOVED spending time in Epidavros, it was fabulous. And Pilos was where we stayed right on the water. OH--our tour guide tried to get us to spend something ridiculous like 18 euro per person to take little boats out to a svakteria from Pilos, and she said that was the only way the kids could enjoy the water there because according to her the water right on the beach outside our hotel was full of tar. By that point we had enough of the kids pulling euros out of their pockets so we said no. Guess what? That beach right outside our hotel was PERFECT. The kids were on that sand immediately, and they had the best day ever.

The cruise was a total nightmare with the drinking, I'll admit that. Our kids brought alcohol and we did catch them drinking. There were three other high school trips and one Contiki (AKA Drink Your Way Through Europe) tour, so we were watching them like hawks and they snuck it past us anyway. I will say that everyone we met told us we were the most strict group of chaperones they had ever seen, but I was totally okay with that. We got them all home in one piece.

The shirts were hilarious. We didn't think they'd wear them because we had an enormous group of jocks and cheerleaders who generally seem to think they're too cool for school, but they were amazing. Loved it.

ETA: If your tour director is Rachel W. tell her that you "know" one of the chaperones (Lori) from the Illinois trip. If she is your director, get ready to hear a lot of "koo koo! Wakey wakey!"

 

[swimmer]

Thank you again Haven!
Have a wonderful wedding, I will be thinking of you.

Dear lord, my students and chaperones (females all), are going to be soooooo sad to have a female guide (if we get the same one), they are all drooling over the idea of "Greek men." Yikes, sharing a ship with Contiki is madness. I won''t lose any kids, we have a 3 teacher to student ratio as we all split free spots and pay for our vacay, but that dynamic of the ship sounds insane. The hotel websites look great, the tip about the beach is great. Fantastic info.
Ah, off to the airport!
thanks and hugs and kisses to you, my FRIEND indeed!

 

[musey]

Date: 6/25/2008 9:20:59 PM
Author: swimmer

Musey that is an awesome tip, grandmothers are the best wherever you go!

LOL! I was reading this thread and got to that and thought, wait... I didn''t post in here, and I know no ''tips'' on Greece...

Mimzy, I think people might think we''re the same person! I''ve seen so many people write "mimzy" when they were addressing me, and vice versa. Too funny!

 

[mimzy]

Date: 6/27/2008 2:06:15 PM
Author: musey

Date: 6/25/2008 9:20:59 PM

Author: swimmer


Musey that is an awesome tip, grandmothers are the best wherever you go!

LOL! I was reading this thread and got to that and thought, wait... I didn''t post in here, and I know no ''tips'' on Greece...


Mimzy, I think people might think we''re the same person! I''ve seen so many people write ''mimzy'' when they were addressing me, and vice versa. Too funny!

haha i''ve noticed that too! i''d apologize cause you were musey before i was mimzy, but i think it''s helped my reputation in all honesty...

haha

 

[musey]

Date: 6/27/2008 5:05:02 PM
Author: mimzy

Mimzy, I think people might think we''re the same person! I''ve seen so many people write ''mimzy'' when they were addressing me, and vice versa. Too funny!

haha i''ve noticed that too! i''d apologize cause you were musey before i was mimzy, but i think it''s helped my reputation in all honesty...

haha[/quote]
LOL! I''m almost afraid to ask how

It''s okay, though, I don''t mind if people think of me as a grecian beauty sometimes!!

 

[mimzy]

Date: 6/27/2008 6:55:54 PM
Author: musey

Date: 6/27/2008 5:05:02 PM

Author: mimzy


Mimzy, I think people might think we''re the same person! I''ve seen so many people write ''mimzy'' when they were addressing me, and vice versa. Too funny!

haha i''ve noticed that too! i''d apologize cause you were musey before i was mimzy, but i think it''s helped my reputation in all honesty...

haha

LOL! I''m almost afraid to ask how

It''s okay, though, I don''t mind if people think of me as a grecian beauty sometimes!!

[/quote]


haha you are too sweet. i certainly don''t mind people thinking that i have gorgeous hair and skin and awesome taste in just about everything!

 

[musey]

Hehe, I think we''ve officially threadjacked

It''s like a musey/mimzy lovefest in here!

And thanks

 

[mimzy]

Date: 6/28/2008 11:55:03 PM
Author: musey
Hehe, I think we've officially threadjacked

It's like a musey/mimzy lovefest in here!


And thanks

oops! here, i'll get it back on track!

have a wonderful time swimmer!!!