Independent Tour Group
 

Has anyone ever used Gate 1 Travel. My husband and I are in the planning stages of a trip to Greece next May. Gate 1 offers a trip to Athens, Mykonos, Santorini and Crete. It's an independent tour that includes hotels and all transportation to hotels, ferries, etc. We thought this would make the trip a little easier and still let us have our freedom when it came to sightseeing and dinners.

Any suggestions would be apprecited. We've used Fodorites for our trip to Italy and were so grateful for all recommendations.

Thanks.

Any interest in making this a &quot;Fodorites' trip&quot; (a <i>true</i> <b>independent</b> group tour)?

I might be interested in helping to see it come together. Others are more expert with regard to Greece than I (I was last there in 1969, at age 15), but I have a LOT of experience in putting an independent group trip together.

No intention of charging anything for my time or efforts, nor paying one penny less than any other participant. Hopefully my wife would be interested. May would be a very appealing time.

Best wishes,

Rex Bickers
Floyds Knobs, Indiana

Hi. We did the same thing but used Fantasy Travel in Greece. We altered there &quot;honeymoon package&quot; and visited Athens, Santorini (Perivolas is the best place to stay), and Crete. They made the trip incredibly easy and took us from airport to hotel to ferry etc without a hitch. I highly recommend them. JWH.

topping?

Me too, me too!!! Was planning a trip to Germany/Austria until I started reading these threads on Greece, now salivating over the prospect of Greece. Not too much into big cities, rather see and stay in small towns and villages. Out of two weeks in Italy only spent 2 days in Rome and it was PLENTY! In Japan we were based in Osaka and couldn't WAIT to get out of there and into the countryside - best places were Nara and the island of Miyajima (still working on that trip report...ahem)

Anyhoo, the idea of flying into Athens, seeing the obligatory sites there for a few days then heading to the islands and eating, drinking and photographing our way through 3 or 4 of them sounds maaaaaahvelous!!!

I'd be happy to help with planning, researching, info gathering, etc. as I'm sure others would too - then we could pool our info and have an awesome trip...

Whadyathink fodies?

What month would appeal to you most, hightide? Would you be one, two, or more?

Early to mid May, 2 people for sure, maybe 4

Hijacking this thread further does not serve the purpose(s) of the original poster, nor &quot;announce&quot; the desire to see if there is sufficient interest in doing this, hightide.

I'll talk to my wife tonight, and see if it's a realistic plan, and then construct a separate posting.

I might be relatively unprepared to commit until closer to early January. If that is a monkey wrench for you, then other possibilities might be more apropos.

Hijacking? I thought the gist of this thread was exploring independent tour / travel options, which we were doing... did I miss something? I've yet to see a Fodor thread that stuck exactly to the original topic - sheesh, that's half the fun... Dianamc, did we hijack your thread?

You're right - - the thread isn't exactly hijacked, but its message header does not adequately convey the message that a trip might be coming together, and that we are seeking other interested prospective participants.

I'm in no hurry to make a big broadcast of the idea. More nibbles, or some off-forum exchange of e-mail info would be helpful to help move this idea forward a bit.

depending on time/place etc., I might be interested.

I may be interested also - depending on dates etc. Rex, I'll send you an email.

Excellent. My wife and I discussed it over lunch, and she thinks it could fit her schedule (in this case, I might be the one less certain about my schedule until near the first of the year).

If anyone chooses to write to me, please let me know your Fodors screen name, if there is not an obvious connection to your real name or e-mail address name.

sounds good - won't pack my backs yet but am doing LOTS of reading on the different islands, etc.!!!!

oops - make that bags (skipped the 'preview/edit' option - silly me)... although have had trips where backs were packed too....

We also might be interested in Greece. We were planning on going beginning of June. May be to late for the rest of you. We were thinking of spending 2 days athens, 3 days santorini and 3 days crete.

Defining the true destination interest(s) and flexibility/inflexibility - - and the style of the travel adds clarity and concreteness to an dea like this.

Maybe a shortened game of 20 questions?

1. Is the interest solely Greece? or Greece plus one other similar (or contrasting country)? or maybe Greece, but equally interested in other destination combos as well or instead?

2. If Greece (and even if not) - - mroe interested in recreational/scenic Greece (specifically beaches and islands, for example) or historic/cultural Greece?

3. More interested in an extende &quot;base stay&quot;? (where?) villa or other self-catering? or no way? or more interested in &quot;normal moving around&quot; to &quot;survey&quot; various destinations? Move around by sea? by car? other?

4. High budget? (&gt; $300/person/day) or low (&lt; $100/person/day) or somewhere in between? or ultra-low or high?

That woul help get the ball rolling a little further perhaps.

I'll keep my answers to myself for right now.

I would like just greece and on the lower cost of things.

thanks, rf... write to me?

1. Just Greece

2. all - but mostly recreation / scenic, some hist / culture

3. 3 weeks - move around (3 days Athens, 3 days Mykonos, 3-4 days Naxos/Paros, 6 days Santorini, back to Athens for 1 day for return flight, 2 days on each end for travel to-from US) some full service - some self catering (mostly like to eat out, but love to cook in new places with their local foods) Prefer to move around by sea / air

4. High end (Would rather clip coupons, shop walmart, etc. when at home and do the low-end thing on fishing/camping so we can blow it out on big trips like this)