The trip I have waiting for almost all summer is FINALLY there... islandhopping in Greece!
It's going to be a very special trip, since it's not only vacation BUT also a very important project in my studying carreer in an animal shelter on Paros. It's kinda going to show me how I can use the past 3 years of college in real terms.
Though, since flights to Paros are quite expensive and tend to go through Crete or Athens anyway, I decided to do the road by sea, and see some other awesome islands on the way. The concrete plan is to visit 5 islands, and end up in Athens for the return flight. Of course, most of the time I will spend at the project, but before and after I wanted to visit some nieghboured islands. The start is in Crete, where Ryanair flies in, and then the path goes via Santorini and Ios to the main destination - Paros. After that, the road to Athens will lead me via Mykonos.
I am secretly quite proud of myself since I did all the planning and research myself (therefore, if anyone is planning something similar I can give you about ALL the info you might need, and 3 tons more that you will probably NOT need :) ), and tried to find the cheapest ways possible, even if this is involving 5 hour boattrips and appartements with only a bed, a bathroom... and yeah, that's about it! :) Though, thanks to some awesome promotions and a lot of searching, I can say that this trip is definetely going to be a very well budgeted one!
So, to put a pricetag on my work... for flights, boats AND accomodation for 3 weeks, I have paid less than 500 Euro. Of course, that doesn't count the food, the scooter rent and all kinds of other expenses, but most of the time, especially during the project, I will be living in a studio with a kitchen where I can cook, so the price will be about the same of cooking food at home.
The project will consist of helping a local animal shelter, not only physical, but also with an economic analysis of the situation, and making a business plan to try to make it more efficient. One of the main goals is to make the fundsrising more efficient.
For the islandhopping part, I am mostly interested in seeing some ancient Greek culture, like Knossos in Crete and the Acropolis in Athens. If anyone has any tips about what to visit on this trip, any information is more than welcome!!! I have been waiting a LONG time for this trip, and I am very excited about it...
Can't wait to be in Gypsyland again! :)
