kja

@ Tralfaz: Thank you so much for your kind words! I agree that Greece is a really special place, and can easily understand why it left an indelible impression on you. I hope that you are able to visit it again soon.

@ travelerjan: What a wonderful way to return to Greece so many times – I bet every one of the people you showed around not only saw wonderful things, but found your delight in that country infectious. And I’m so glad that you were willing to share your knowledge with me, too! I sincerely hope you manage your 2018 trip, and that you can return even after that.

@ billbarr: I’m glad that you enjoyed my trip and am very pleased that it brought back some fond memories. Anafiotika looks absolutely charming – I hope to see it one day! In the meantime, please give a nod to the Acropolis and the Parthenon for me when you next return.

@ thursdaysd: My planning worked out quite well! Of course, with all the wonderful help I got, it would be hard to have gone wrong. I’m glad you enjoyed my report and that it reminded you of your enjoyment of glorious Greece.

@ joannyc: I’m glad you joined along, and oh my, it was, indeed, a wonderful trip! I think, though, I’ll leave the pics to those who, like you, have the eye for it.

dreamon

Kja, thank you for sharing your wonderful holiday with us. Nice to see someone else who punctuates their travelling days with a glass of wine in a relaxing cafe.

After many trips, I will be travelling solo next year for the first time and wonder how it will change the experience and whether I'll be inclined to pack more in than otherwise. I feel a mixture of trepidation and excitement at the prospect.

kja

@ dreamon: I definitely punctuated my travelling days with a glass of wine now and again, and oh my, I tasted some very nice Greek wines!

FWIW, I am firmly commited to solo travel – I find it an incredible self-indulgence, as I can do exactly what I want, when I want. Too, no matter what I see, I’m seeing it without the “distraction” of anyone else – I often think about how this or that friend might see whatever, but I can keep the focus on my own experience. Too, I like letting the images and experiences sink in a bit before verbalizing them, and I think it’s hard to do that when traveling with someone – but those immediate conversations, as delightful as they might be, have a way of reifying an experience, at least for me. Please understand that I’m not saying there aren’t great reasons to travel with someone else – I’m just commenting on some of the advantages I find in being solo when on a journey. I suspect that one reason I fit so much into my trips is that I am traveling solo – no need to find quality time with a traveling companion, no need to stop for a break when I’m ready to keep going, etc. BUT, of course, there’s no reason why you would need to do so – you can just as easily sit at a pleasant café all day, without someone pulling you off to do or see something. ;-)

You might go with some idea of your priorities, and also some idea of what you will do if you find that you want to keep exploring once you’ve seen the things you most want to see. If you haven’t seen it, you might find some inspiration on this thread, which is basically a compilation of Fodorite’s solo trip reports.
http://www.fodors.com/community/trav...collection.cfm

gertie3751

Absolutely agree with you kja. I travel frequently with other people... Husband, friends, groups, but there is nothing like travelling alone for the freedom and independence and, yes, self-indulgence. It is my biggest treat to myself too!

travelerjan

Kja, I know EXACTLY what you mean... i have enjoyed my returns to Greece with "newbies" because it gives me pleasure when I show them a favorite place, or view, and they say Aaaaaaah. However, I can experience things most intensely when on my own. I always have my little spiral-notebook journal beside my wineglass in a cafe. And most of my most rewarding interactions with Greeks have been during solo times. One good routine of mine -- on each of my "group adventures" I came 1-2 days early, just to check on things & see Athens friends, and that gave alone-time. Then after I waved off the homebound Travel Pals after 17 days or so, I would take a whole week on my own to "decompress" .. and also that's the time when I'd explore a new place. There's nothing like boarding a bus, or a ferry, to the unknown ... the thrill of not knowing exactly what's next. For some people, that brings anxiety; for me, the shiver of anticipation. You too, I think.

dreamon

guys, you've made me look forward to my travels next year even more! Barring anything going completely pear shaped, I will have some time with a friend and the rest by myself, which will be a perfect balance.

kja

@ gertie: To solo travel! ☺

@ travelerjan: To the anticipation of new experiences! ☺

@ dreamon: Be careful – solo travel can be addictive! ;-)

Heimdall

Another solo traveller here! I love the independence, but it's even nicer when you can meet up with friends at the destination.

Tralfaz77

Solo's the way to go IMHO. I sometimes feel selfish for saying so, but honestly, generally speaking, my best times were had on solo vacations. Good travel companions are hard to come by, even a close friend doesn't always cut it because you're with that person all day, every day and you're just going to have different habits. Neither one is right or wrong, just different. And you may go off and do your own thing here and there, but in the end you're still beholden to your friend.


One of the best things for me in going it alone is how many more people I meet. Folks are more likely to approach me and I them. I've gotten so many invitations to join others for drinks, dinner, etc. that never happened when traveling with someone else.


I can take things in better too, just observe more. I'll never forget, while in Madrid, when a rather frazzled-looking woman on vacation with family, came up to my table and whispered 'How I envy you, just being able to sit in peace with a glass of wine.' I felt lucky indeed.

travelerjan:

I hear you with that 'shiver of anticipation.' I'm like a child when I travel, up at the crack of dawn ready for the adventures of a new day. And dammit if I'm with someone else they better be ready too!

yestravel

Thank you for sharing this wonderful TR. Where to next?

kja

@ heimdall: In that case, allow me to amend my previously stated wish for you: I hope you are finding some absolutely wonderful places to relax, places where you can have some time on your own and also meet up with friends.

@ Tralfaz: Great story about that mother! We are lucky to be able to travel as we do.

@ yestravel: Thanks for sharing the journey! I haven’t decided on my next trip yet, probably somewhere in the Orient, maybe Taiwan and some parts of China that I haven’t seen yet…. The world is so full of places I want to see!

ToujoursVoyager

Thank you kja!!

I followed all your adventures! I especially loved reading about Meteora. I had to skip it last time I was staying in Naplio. We are leaving in two weeks to go to Greece and this time we are renting a sailboat to explore the Cyclades for a week.

Thank you again for such an amazing detailed itinerary.

Heimdall

Kja, thanks for your thoughts! Next destination Cape Town, sort of a South African San Francisco, with great restaurants, beautiful beaches, and Western Cape winelands. Just been invited for October by Capetonian friends.

cherie2125

Glad you visited Vergina and saw the tombs and had such a great visit to Greece.

kja

@ ToujoursVoyager: Thank you for following my adventures! I hope you are able to visit Meteora some day, and I have no doubt that you will have a wonderful time sailing the Cyclades. Bon voyage!

@ Heimdall: I’ll look forward to hearing your thoughts about Cape Town! South Africa is definitely on my radar – it sounds like a place with much to offer. Enjoy!

@ cherie2125: I I had a great visit to Greece, and I’m very glad that I included a stop in Vergina – thanks for encouraging it! I found even the portals to the tombs at Vergina mesmerizing. And the artifacts, along with those from other Macedonian tombs that were in the archeological museum in Thessaloniki, were truly stunning. One of the few things I bought for myself on this trip was a reproduction of one of the carved ivory faces that had adorned a chest found in Phillip II’s tomb – such exquisite workmanship!

Heimdall

Kja, I can already tell you about Cape Town (CT), because I was there for Christmas and New Year two years ago. I was surprised to be invited for October, because I already have another trip to CT planned for next April (there goes my trips to Greece!) My first three trips to Africa were safaris and church aid work in Rwanda (with a side-trip for gorilla tracking), so it was fun to see a completely different aspect of the continent, including penguins and seals on some of the beaches.

CT is a foodies paradise, because there are many excellent restaurants, and prices are very low, especially now with the Rand exchange rate about 13 to the US dollar. The Western Cape wineland is about an hour's drive from CT, and we went on several wine tastings while I was there. Each tasting included five different wines for 50 rand (about $4).

CT has lots of history dating back to the 1600s when the Dutch used it as a way-station for their voyages to the East Indies, and you can still visit the castle and company gardens where they grew vegetables to resupply the ships. The view from Table Mountain is breathtaking, but you need to choose your day carefully, because sometimes the top of the mountain is covered with cloud (nicknamed the tablecloth).

Modern Cape Town has divided highways and shopping malls, so it's not what one would expect of Africa. The main tourist centre is V&A Waterfront, where you can take boats to visit Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated.

You can see photos of my trip to CT at https://www.flickr.com/photos/heimda...57650084680066

kja

@ Heimdall: Thanks so much for confirming that a trip to Cape Town / South Africa should be high on my priority list! And thanks for the link to your stunning photographs. ☺

MinnBeef

@kja: Have started reading through and have gotten as far as your likes and dislikes for the trip. Looking forward to reading your site details coming up. I spent 7 days in Greece in 2011 as part of an 11-day trip to Greece and Istanbul. I was not that impressed with Athens other than the Parthenon and the New Acropolis Museum (that I saw while horribly jet lagged my first day). Did a day trip to Delphi which was fine enough but then LOVED my 3 nights on Santorini. What an incredible, one of a kind place. If I read correctly, you only gave it one night. Any particular reason.

I hope to make it back to Greece within the next 5 years to visit Crete, Mykonos, Meteora and Thessaloniki.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

kja

@ MinnBeef: Thanks for joining in! Even with a month, there was NO way I could see everything I wanted to see in Greece, so – like most of us -- I did my best to select destinations with care and to time my stays to match my interests as well as I could. I can imagine having enjoyed a second night on Santorini, but my prior experience with places that get multiple cruise ships each day convinced me that I would not likely find Santorini an unequivocal delight – and I was right. I’m very glad I visited it – I loved the views from “my” terrace, and I treasured my time at Akrotiri and in the Museum of Prehistoric Thira. I was less enamored of other aspects of my experiences with Santorini. As you will discover, I was very happy to visit Crete, Meteora, and Thessaloniki; I hope my comments prove useful to you when you are ready to plan your time there. And I hope you enjoy the rest of my report!

Janetd5

I just finished this report and want to let you know that I found it very interesting, and I appreciate that you provide details which is so helpful to fellow travelers. Your writing style had me tagging along on your journey, enough so that I now know I want to revisit Greece in the future ... my last visit was in the mid 80's ... much too long ago! And much more to see beyond Athens, Delphi, and a few islands. (Loved Rhodes and Crete; Mykonos wasn't crammed with visitors back then, so not a problem to be stranded a few extra days due to high winds!)

I came to this Greece report after first reading your China trip report as I'm researching a planned solo trip in Spring 2018 to the Yunnan area, plus Guilin and Shanghai (possibly starting in Hanoi before Kunming). While your trip did not cover the areas I plan to visit, your report was a joy to read, and brought back great memories of my earlier visits to some of the more well traveled locations. (However, you are a much more intrepid traveler than I!) After your China report, I started the Spain report. Yep, I need to consider a revisit! So thank you for posting such thoughtful and helpful trip reports!