Oh
hey I'm Adrian Finch and last month I had the pleasure of embarking on an
incredible 17 day journey through grief over the duration of the trip I hit
seven cities and five islands we started in Athens and made our way down to Crete
up to Santorini yes Paris to Mykonos before returning back to Athens Greece
is a beautiful country in southeastern Europe known for its stunning cliffside
cityscapes beautiful blue beaches and luxurious party resorts often called the
cradle of Western civilization Greece is rich with history and culture that you
won't get from a textbook alone I booked this trip through EF College Break an
organized trip company known for their low prices hand-picked accommodations
and experienced team of travel expert now don't let the name fool you EF
college break is the perfect way to go when booking travel for anyone ages 18
to 28 so I had toured throughout most of Europe already I have never been to
Greece or on a group tour so when they offered to send me on their 17 day
ultimate Greek islands tour I could not say no before I get into the specifics
regarding our itinerary some packing tips and my overall review of the trip
my favorite part of booking through EF College Break was how organized and
stress-free the trip was not only is their website aesthetically pleasing and
extremely easy to navigate through but they take the time to set you up with a
personal trip consultant who will walk you through any questions and concerns
you may have before even booking you can also call them anytime for those of you
considering booking remember to use my code Adrienne 100 for $100 off I'll link
all the info below and feel free to write any questions and concerns in the
comments and I'll do my best to answer all of them my biggest concern with
booking an organized tour was that I would be exhausted it wouldn't have any
downtime to get work done or just relax however that wasn't the case at all
though our itinerary was jam-packed with excursions sightseeing and plenty of
things to do we were given a lot of downtime as well as optional activities
that we could choose to opt out of if we were feeling too tired or wanted free
time to explore the city ourselves your triple consists of one tour director the
person arranges everything from hotels to transportation and they leave the
group daily they're essentially your trip superhero and we love my tour
director slash group dad older brother as he'd like to correct me with Adam
Gerard he was so great because he not only had
immense knowledge of the country but he truly seemed to enjoy every day of his
job though our group had 30 people he personally walked me to the pharmacy and
Santorini when I got sick and made sure to be there for everyone answering
questions 24/7 I was also lucky to have another awesome
EFT member on the trip Jessie he too loves his job and we all got along so
well let's get into the itinerary this particular trip is 15 days long but you
have to add two days to account for traveling everyone in the group flew
into Athens on the same day and met up for our Welcome dinner that night
everyone in our group seems so nice and I was surprised to see how many people
had been traveling alone by the end of the trip I understood why some of the
people you meet on these trips could end up being your lifelong best friends the
sightseeing in history in Athens was incredible and getting around via the
underground metro was fairly easy to get a grasp on passenger teens landmarks
including the 5th century BC Acropolis which holds the Parthenon temple and
also our hotel was the tallest building in Athens how funny is that
after Athens we set sail on an overnight ferry for Crete majority of our travel
on this trip would be a coach bus and ferry at first I was worried about
getting seasick but I was equipped with the proper medication which I'll talk
about later and all of the ferry rides were actually quite calm Tonya was our
first stop in Crete this was one of my favourite cities in all of Greece from
the cute quaint alleyways of the city to the beautiful port with amazing
authentic restaurants during our time in Crete we went on a day trip to follow us
on a beach beautiful beach on the west side of the island about an hour away
from home hands after Honea we hit her aquion another cute town and two hours
east of Chania this too had a beautiful port and the bluest water I'd seen yet
sadly we were only here for one day before departing to Santorini and we
didn't get to see the Palace of Knossos or what is known to be Europe's oldest
city I definitely recommend they add that into the tour but other than that
Crete was amazing next up Santorini I had by far the highest expectations for
this island as its blue domed churches and White Cliffs eyes cityscapes
seem to be all I see on Instagram and Pinterest we stand at a beautiful resort
like hotel which overlooked much of the city because the towns on Santorini are
so high up I had a slight case of vertigo and because we had been on so
many ferries I also have land Cygnus I would get dizzy occasionally but the
breathtaking views were worth the discomfort there are two major counts of
seeing yes and fira iya is a super high up
picturesque city where lots of locals and tourists alike gather to watch the
sunset most nights I highly recommend is it was one of the prettiest sunsets I've
ever seen Sara is a more quaint local town full of more beautiful views
restaurants and shopping we also went wine-tasting at a local winery in
Santorini and if you like wine at all or the culture behind it I highly recommend
doing the same after Santorini we were off the eeo with
my personal favorite island now I can't tell if the island itself was my
favorite or the place we were staying we stated a resort right on the beach that
had everything you could ever need from a giant pool amazing restaurants
convenience stores and watersports we also happen to be there during the
Sweden midsummer party which happens once a year and was one of the biggest
pool slash beach parties I had ever been to one of my favorite days on the whole
trip was an EOS where I went paddle boarding and inner tubing and a lot of
other people went snorkeling and scuba diving the possibilities were endless
next we were off to Paris unfortunately I didn't do much in Paris because I was
feeling a little under the weather the group did go on an all-day boat cruise
around the island though where they saw the bluest lagoon and had an amazing
time heroes unlike any other islands we've seen yet had a gorgeous little
town right along the coast I woke up for sunset one morning with a friend I'd
made on the trip and actually caught some incredible drone footage our last
island and probably my second favorite place with Mika this was another Island
I'd heard endless things about from the night life to okay mostly just the
nightlife we stayed at a gorgeous hotel overlooking the ocean and trekked into
the city each night to experience the true of Mykonos nightlife one night
while we were out the whole city experienced the power blackout which
wasn't ideal but was also really cool to see before we knew it it was time to get
on our last ferry of the trip and head back to Athens for our farewell dinner
and last night in Greece I couldn't believe I'd been walking these same
streets only two weeks before the trip was the perfect length as I would sad to
leave all my new friends but they're all so happy and excited to get home now
onto some packing tips as a rule of thumb I say pack your suitcase and then
take out literally half of it you are moving up and down stairs on and off
buses and ferries so the least you can take the better two weeks is not two
months and you can live without a lot of the extra clothes you think you need I
promise I checked a medium-sized bag but if I
could do it over I would just bring a carry-on here are my biggest packing
tips number one bring sandals and shoes that you don't mind trashing you're
walking so much you shouldn't bring your $200 designer sandals they will get
ruined number two if you go in the summer you don't need any jacket bring
one comfy sweater or sweatshirt for lounging around but that's it it's way
too hot number three bring only one pair of long
pants and maybe two pairs of shorts and just repeat the same shorts the whole
trip number four bring enough underwear for the whole trip you can do laundry if
you need but no one really wanted to number five leave extra room for
souvenirs seriously try number six bring all the medication you think you could
possibly need there are pharmacies but it's tough
sometimes navigating and communicating in a foreign country so bring anything
you could possibly to me number seven if you're a girl bring two to three flowy
dresses you can dress up or down there breathable and you can sweat a lot and
still be really cute and comfortable fun fact I realized about Greece number one
it's hot AF in the summer and upset number two there are stray cats and dogs
in almost every city how has no one made a cast of Greece Instagram page honestly
number three after most meals are served a shot of oz' or raki sorry about my
pronunciation it's like authentic Greek tequila if you will which they claim is
good for digestion number four it's rude to not finish your food don't worry
sometimes they serve literally way too much and you just can't most leases will
give you a to-go bag if you need number five it's rude to ask for the check
before everyone's done eating we learned this the hard way number six they
usually won't come to you with the check you need to ask for it lots of places
don't take cards so be sure to take out some cash number eight
there is no Wi-Fi I repeat the Wi-Fi is terrible everywhere and a lot of hotels
don't even have it you desperately need internet by a Wi-Fi hotspot from a local
cell phone shop I bought one from Cosmo tey one of their local cell carriers and
it worked pretty well number nine if you need to have cell service get a travel
pad most carriers have a $10 a day pull data and self-service type of package
normally I'm okay with unplugging and a lot of people did but I had to work
during this trip so it was actually really nice to have all right you guys
that is my review on EF college brakes ultimate Greek islands trip it was the
most incredible experience I absolutely 100% would do it again I really
recommend this trip as well as checking out all of their other trips if you guys
decide to both be sure to leave a comment below with any questions or
concerns and I will be sure to address them you can also follow me on Instagram
to see some of my photos from Greece and DM me with your email addresses if you
are interested in signing up so that I can connect you with a personal trip
consultant this video was by no means sponsored this is absolutely my honest
opinion EF did send me on this trip for free I
would 100% do this trip again and I highly recommend thank you so much for
watching I will see you guys in my next video hi