Hi from Greece, and welcome to my next trip report series!
Continue reading: I’m Taking My Mom To Greece!
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
We flew from NYC to Greece on Air Serbia. They don’t have flights every day, but only 2 hours connection in Belgrade and no tests were needed besides vaccination card. And Air Serbia is an awesome airline and so is the Belgrade lounge.
The issue I had when I went earlier in the month was there was no inter island hopping around. Since we started in Athens we couldn't travel days later to Mykonos. There was still lockdown and restrictions though.
Has this changed ?
Look like Anericans is on the track back to normal meantime Asians just stuck on the illusion of zero cases.So who beat the virus eventually?
I've just decided that international travel isn't worth it right now. I'm fully vaccinated and had planned a week-long international trip over Fourth of July. But then when I dug in, I realized that it would require 4 different Covid tests at different times at my own expense. And any delayed results or false positives (or asymptomatic infection) would at best cause me to miss a flight and screw up my whole schedule, and at worst would cause a 10-day hotel quarantine also done at my own expense. And all this to go to a place that still has restrictions in place when I get there and where much of the local population has not had the opportunity to be vaccinated yet.
So I cancelled my trip and I'll hold off on international travel for now. Still looking forward to hearing exactly what the experience is like, and whether Greece is overcrowded due to being one of the first places to re-open for travelers.
It seems your trip to Turkey last year was easier.
It will be interesting to read your detailed reviews!
Is British Airways operating from TPA right now? I see that they have resumed their service to Orlando from Heathrow now for the time being (instead of Gatwick).
It would be awesome for TPA to get LHR service!
Domes Zeen? Enjoy! Not sure if you're planning on doing Domes Noruz too, but the views from there are even better, IMO. I had a great COVID-19 era stay at Domes Zeen last year, all staff are absurdly friendly.
To be honest I'd rather you not publicise Domes as a group too much as I would rather not have to compete for the best rooms :). Here's hoping some Greek Islands makes the UK green list ASAP.
Mazel tov! I'm so happy you are able to travel with your mom. Your trip reports with family are my favorites.
I am looking into VeriFLY at your recommendation, as we are hoping to go to France in late July. (It is a direct flight, IAD-CDG!)
Is it too late to ask you to travel to Meteora and review it with pandemic comments?
misleading Ben - its hardly "open to the world", national of EU/Schengen/UK/ and a handful of other countries......so for example a brazilian in Ireland, UK etc for 2 months will still not be admitted.
@ Jon H -- Back in April it only opened to select countries, but as of mid-May it opened to basically the entire world, unless I'm missing something.
Really looking forward to this series. I arrive in Greece 2 weeks from today! We are taking direct flights from the US to Athens, though. Curious to hear firsthand accounts of entering Greece, going to the islands, etc.
Arrived in Athens yesterday. Acropolis this morning had barely 20 people along with us. Staying at New Hotel, member of Design Hotels (Marriott). Best location as most historic sightseeing is within walking distance. Not fancy but I love its location.
Don't forget to submit Greece plf (1 form per family) at least day before arrival, UK plf (check deadlines) 1 per passenger. Entry in Greece very easy. Cdc card sufficient.
Have fun at LHR if that is one of your connections. I just flew IAD-LHR-VIE-TGD. Those folks at LHR could have cared less about masks, social distancing, etc. There was one transit security line open. No spacing, no mask enforcement. And apparently a small tube of lip balm (a solid) is now considered a liquid because it is 'soft'. Transit security pulled 2 out of every 3 bags (I counted for a bit) for hand inspection! Enjoy your time with your mom and safe travels!
I've also decided to push all international travel into 2022 at this point given the patchy COVID recovery/testing (and the fact that I'm moving this year as well), but am especially interested in these trip reports because I have some less experienced family members doing a similar trip in a few weeks.
And @Alon, agreed on the Belgrade lounge!
Enjoy the Greece.
Careful on your routes. You did blog about someone who blogs about someone who controls military jets and isn't afraid to use them.
Ben I got into Mykonos from LHR 3 days ago - just be warned the check in process with BA (in the club Europe line) took over an hour with all the checks - arrival into Mykonos was smooth but expect another hour of checks at immigration (I got stuck behind an incoming Lufthansa) so you may be lucky - but once all that’s over I promise you Greece is open! I’d suggest trying the smaller islands like amorgos and koufonisia as they currently don’t have curfews like Mykonos has (midnight) and things are much more chilled here
Ben, what's your source for entry guidelines - Im using the greek gov sites and IATA and unless you want to quarantine for 7 days, its a handful of countries outside EU/Schengen - please correct me if Im wrong - you would make my day!!
- The countries from which entry is allowed, under the aforementioned conditions, without the requirement for subsequent self-isolation are: EU & Schengen Area countries, USA, UK, Israel, Serbia, UAE, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Rwanda, Singapore, the Russian Federation, North Macedonia, Canada, Belarus, Bahrein, Qatar, China, Kuwait, Ukraine, and Saudi Arabia.
“ our trip has already changed significantly due to misconnecting, ferries being canceled, etc.” That is exactly why I am not going to travel to Europe this summer. No matter what, it won’t be a normal trip and the experience won’t be the same. Not worth it.
Domes Noruz won’t be opening until 4th June having remained shut throughout last summer.
@Ben I think I saw you in the havaianas store two nights ago but I was too shy to say hello. Hope you are having a nice trip!
@Ben Your trip sounds great and I hope you and your mother continue to enjoy it. However, and I know you are not making health recommendations, I feel it important to emphasize that anyone who is immunosuppressed, whether from having had chemotherapy, an organ transplant or other health condition, should talk with their medical specialists before planning travel as it is well established that vaccines against CORONA are significantly less effective (some experts say 60-56%) with this population. It is understood that everyone makes their own decisions about risk, which is ok so long as it doesn't effect others. However, it is really important for those immunosuppressed to get the clearance to travel after consulting their specialist physician.
Ben, you're an awesome son! Can't wait to read your reviews. We are heading there in 4 wks!
Greece or Mykonos, etc? It’s a bit like Bali and Indonesia. But in these times one can appreciate the advantages of the islands, although normally it would be like going on vacation to Key West only and saying “ I’ve been to the USA”.
IE, a resort.
But it’s a good choice for Moms.
Enjoy your time with your mom!
Maybe you can continue on to Italy afterwards, since it's opening up, and you'd have a lot of cities to visit without having to cross more troublesome country borders.
Sounds like you’ve taken your mums side in the divorce. Don’t see any mention of your dad anymore
@ Santastico … Agree. Not traveling to Europe or really anywhere else till countries are in a position to remove the hurdles. Not saying they aren’t warranted. This is Ben’s job. My love for and desire to travel is equal to Ben’s, but not wasting points, miles or $ for travel that requires so much work.
Any idea if an overnight layover in Frankfurt from the US to Greece would be allowed as Germany would be the first point of entry into the EU?
“I’ll be reviewing flights, though in an abbreviated way, mainly to reflect the realities of flying on certain airlines during coronavirus“
We would like detailed flight reviews. Don’t forget to remove the foil of the main course. You’re 1 for 2 with that.
From the age of 4 (for me) our family used to travel to Europe (Greece main destination) every year or twice yearly until about 1977 (from South Africa). For many decades - until last year - I never went and fortunately I went twice last year - August and October (managed to get to but could not return after October due to Canada's rising covid cases). In any event, in Athens both times I stayed at the Electra Palace Hotel. The view from the roof garden restaurant was out of this world (new lighting of the Acropolis put in between August and October last year). Great place and much improved since the 70s.
@Sam - Some of you people are unbelievable.
Been to Europe on a few occasions, but never been to Greece. Looking forward to your review(s). Stay safe and best wishes to you, your mom and her partner for a wonderful time!
Is Ford staying behind to take care of Winston?
Looks like the harbor in Chania. I was there 7 years ago. Wanted to hike the Samaria gorge,but it was the wrong time of year. Enjoy!
Went with my wife to try and enter Greece on the 14th. We had our CDC cards but paid for pcr test just in case they wouldn't accept CDC card. Got to border from Albania and were told we couldn't enter unless we were Greek citizens or for business. We're also told that as Americans we could only drive in from Bulgaria or fly in. Had to cancel 10 days of hotel reservations. Quite bummed. Hoping to try again in the fall.
Heading to Santorini/ Crete via Zurich on SWISS with my partner in July and hoping these problems are solved by then! Looking forward to the reviews, Ben!
JB
BA has ceased flying from Gatwick sometime last year.
As for the original poster, I do hope your trip to Greece is enjoyable. Its just about my favourite country on earth for a holiday/vacation. Been there a dozen times or more. Have booked for Corfu from the UK in July. The Greek government is dividing the country up into fully vaccinated islands on one side and the mainland/Crete on the other who will be much later getting fully vaccinated. The plan is to get all the islands fully vaccinated in the next month with most of the small islands already done.
@Ben Would you please how you showed or proved your vaccination status at each transit point?
Hi,
I've saved the post about Greece PLF to read later and now it's gone with the new website layout. Can you get it back online? Thank you
Headed to Greece to 2 weeks. Did you use a copy of you CDC vaccine card or did you have to use the original in enter Greece?
You can change the format if you don't like it. I like this format as it's easy on the eyes and easy ad informative on the brain.
Can we have the old layout back please? This layout is heinous, I am really not sure I can keep reading the site anymore, it hurts my eyes!
Why is there a menu from Hawaii with a caption of "You can’t beat the views from Greece!?"
I had to cancel a family trip to Greece in 2020. Still weighing if we will try for Greece again in the near future. This was very insightful. We didn't know how good we had it before the pandemic.