Greece Preparations

This is the view from the 9 room small Greek hotel we are staying at on the Island of Santorini for the first three nights of the trip.  I went to Greece about 20 years ago when I was a travel agent on a Greek Island cruise.  The few hours I spent there made such an impression that I wanted to one day take my future husband there for a few days.  Fast forward 20 years and I will be taking hubby there for his 55th Birthday!  This hotel is considered 2 star but 5 star in all its reviews.  Something to take note of - the star rating for hotels is based on amenities, not on their service.  This hotel is on the side of the cliff - caldera view and hundreds less than some of the shi shi boutique hotels there.  We still have to pay up but I did loads of research and this one is priced right, has the right view and includes a massive breakfast each day and a bottle of wine and fruit on arrival.  It also has a small kitchenette.  You only get those kind of things in family run hotels - only five months left of waiting!


The Canadian dollar had its strongest day yesterday in 3 years so this morning I took the plunge and ordered all the cash currency I will need for the trip.  I also bought 60 GBP with my "money on the side" vintage Christmas reselling venture from December.  There was $100.25 in the fund and 60 GBP cost $100.35.  That will pay for our transfers for our one night London stopover plus a lunch at the 17th century pub that is within walking distance of our hotel at Heathrow.  The hotel was paid for using air miles so that means the stopover is 100% funded.  I ordered 1000 Euros and it cost $220 less than it did last year at this exact time when I ordered the same for our Spain trip.  The travel fund is now mostly drained except some money for our hotels which we will put on credit cards.  I still have a bit to save for that.  I over-save every year just in case something comes up on our trips we would really like to experience/do.  If the money is not spent the travel fund ends up having a boost on the savings for the next trip (2018 is Italy with 1 kid).

Next on the agenda is to renew my passport as it expires in August and you need to have your passport valid at least 6 mos past your return date when leaving the country.  This time I can get a 10 year passport which was not available last time.  It costs $160 but well worth it as I hope to get a lot of stamps in it in the next 10 years.

We have had a sudden increase in temperatures here, from below zero for several weeks to 8 degrees Celcius with wind and rain which melted all of the snow we got last week (3/4 foot).  Work is still extremely busy.  January/February this year will likely be our two busiest months of the year with only September likely to be nearly as busy.  It takes trips like Greece to look forward to to keep our heads straight.