Hey fellow Steemians! This is my second week on Steemit. I noticed quite a few travelers have gained freedom to travel as they wish by fully engaging on Steemit. This is my first attempt to do the same. Please comment on what I should focus on to make the dream happen! 🚀 Here goes:

My brother and I recently decided to see Greece. We set a goal to organize the whole trip for ourselves, even though we have never been in Europe. What could go wrong? 🙈

This is our mission

1. No travel agents. 🚫
2. No hotels. 🚫
3. Avoid tourist traps. 🚫
4. Explore all the places. 🕍
5. Try all the local dishes and drinks. 🍴🍷

The actual destination within Greece is first up… We want to see Athens and at least two islands. Greece has many islands to choose from. We have two weeks of travel time, but prefer quality over a whirlwind tour of all the islands. The most visited islands are Mykonos and Santorini. 5 minutes of research showed these are both very touristy and overpriced. We decided to skip that and check out islands on the other side of the mainland: The lesser known Ionian Islands. We were sold after seeing one photo of Shipwreck beach.

Not visible, but I am shaking from acrophobia in this photo.

Actually, the Ionian Islands of Kefalonia and Zante are quite well known by nearby European tourists. Many Europeans pop over and bask in the sun of these beautiful Greek island beaches. The Ionian Islands are just lesser known by faraway tourists who prefer packaged trips from travel agents. The weather on the western islands is usually a bit warmer, which makes them ideal during spring, early summer and fall. It can get really hot and humid in peak summer. We decide to travel from Athens to Patras by train and then ferry to the islands. Here is a map of our plan:

Original from worldtravels.com. Blue path indicates our planned route.

1st leg of the trip

A massive 14-hour layover in Doha! My brother did some homework and found that the airline pays for hotel accommodation if a layover is over 7 hours, BUT YOU HAVE TO REQUEST IT BEFORE YOUR TRIP. Other travelers did not know and tried to sleep in the crowded airport. We received 24-hour visas and were shuttled to a local hotel to shower and sleep. We also got some entertainment and meal vouchers out of Qatar Airways.

Qatar is hot and humid most of the year. We were in the middle of Doha for one night and decided to walk to the closest interesting restaurant. It was a busy cafe filled with shisha smoke and backgammon games. A long day of flying ended with great food in this lively environment.

I will write tomorrow about our experiences in Athens 😎.

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