Planning a trip to Greece?

Two travel writers offer advice on avoiding the fallout from the country’s current woes By Nelly Abravanel "If you’ve been to Greece before, you know that the unexpected is the one thing you can expect here...” This is the advice to travelers from Sherry Marker on the website of the Frommer’s travel guide series (www.frommers.com) in a July 6 article titled “Travel Safety: The Economic Situation in Greece.” Marker, like Chris Deliso at Lonely Planet (www.lonelyplanet.com), is honest with her readers and delivers a cool-headed presentation with neither hype nor hysteria. They do not mince their words about the situation in Greece and the problems hundreds of thousands of travelers have faced this year due to events such as taxi and public transport strikes and riots in central Athens. But they prefer to focus on something else: advising their readers how to avoid such nuisances with proper planning, by keeping informed of developments, by being flexible and by filtering the noise from the media. Marker and Deliso were both in Greece this year working on the upcoming editions on Greece by their respective publishers. Next year, many visitors to this country will be turning to their articles as they search for a more comprehensive presentation than that found on user-generated guides like TripAdvisor.com. Given the situation in Greece today, Kathimerini asked the two travel writers to provide some insights into their 2012 guides. “The present situation has not affected my suggestions, given that the main destination, the restaurants, hotels etc, continue to operate as usual,” said Deliso. “It has, however, influenced my practical advice. After many years of experience in Greece, I have become accustomed to the controlled chaos of life in Greece. The only difference today, so far, at least, is the size of the protests -- there have always been strikes and protests but now they are obviously on a much greater scale.” According to an e-mailed response from Marker, this means that a traveler needs to have a strategy. “Now, with the unusually large number of strikes, it is unusually important for travelers to have their eyes and ears open for changes and to be as flexible as possible in regard to their plans.” Marker added that with a little bit of research and luck, visitors can find information about ferry strikes or city protests. “I also urge people to decide what they want to see most as soon as they arrive, for example in Athens. If this is the Acropolis, then they should go right away because tomorrow it may be closed... I also remind people that protest rallies are not that frequent a phenomenon, and when they do happen, they are announced well in advance.” Coverage of the situation in Athens by foreign news media is something that has caused concern for both travel writers and they often go to pains to present their own points of view. “I have always supported the country and its people, even when it’s Greeks themselves complaining about its flaws,” said Deliso. “Greeks have unique spirit and they have managed to salvage their culture a lot more successfully than other European nations. I honestly hope that they will be able to continue to do so, because I think it is extremely important for someone to be able to maintain a place like, for example, Mount Athos, at a time when the ephemeral and whimsical predominate. And I think that tourists who visit the country, at least independent travelers, want to discover something unique.” The spirit with which people who love Greece for all its faults embrace the current situation is best summed up by a phrase in Marker’s e-mail: “If you’ve spent as much time in Greece as I have, you often just shake your head and say, ‘That’s Greece’ or ‘That’s life’ or ‘Whatcha gonna do?’”