36902BRF

I arrived on Sunday and flew the United IAD-ATH flight they laid on this summer. Snagged J for 120k United miles round trip right after the announced it. A saver award on United metal who would have thought? Plane was pretty close to packed. There was one empty seat in J and the other classes were pretty much packed as well. Slept pretty well on plane despite wearing an N95 mask. Was first off the plane in Athens and cleared passport and customs in 10 mins or less of clearing the plane (no checked bags). There were no lines. My PLF and vaccine card got a cursory check before passport control. Crashed at the expensive for what it is (you can save yourself a bit using Hotwire) but convenient Sofitel at the airport. Flew to Kos the next morning on a packed Dash 8 (followed by a packed bus to Kos Town). Staying here until tomorrow afternoon when I'll take the ferry to Symi where I'll be spending the next week. Overall folks are generally following the protocols. I am largely sticking to outdoor activities other than transport which are pretty low risk. Kos is a bit crowded but nothing crazy and most folks are here for the beaches but I am hiking and doing the outdoor ancient sites.

david55

[QUOTE=36902BRF;33549936 Crashed at the expensive for what it is (you can save yourself a bit using Hotwire) but convenient Sofitel at the airport..[/QUOTE]

Aren't the showers at this hotel outstanding......some of my favorite in the world. I tried to replicate it at home using the same shower heads ( yes...I looked) but I couldn't come close.

aeolos

I flew back from ATH today and did the COVID test at the airport. Easy setup on the arrivals level of the terminal. We did it later afternoon the day before our flight and there were only 2 other people in line. Even without pre-paying, the whole thing only took 15-20 mins. One recommendation for those flying Delta, take a screenshot of the test results and upload via FlyReady to be able to check in online and speed things up at the airport. Don’t try to upload the PDF though, since it’s password protected it fails validation and I couldn’t get a 2nd attempt to take.

Overall in Greece, felt pretty safe. We purposely chose islands off the beaten track that would be less busy. Rhodes and Athens were busy but still felt ok vs the US given that so much (including dining) is outdoors, masks indoors were well adhered to and case counts are much lower than my home state.

allset2travel

[QUOTE=aeolos;33550332]I flew back from ATH today and did the COVID test at the airport. Easy setup on the arrivals level of the terminal. We did it later afternoon the day before our flight and there were only 2 other people in line. Even without pre-paying, the whole thing only took 15-20 mins.

Overall in Greece, felt pretty safe. We purposely chose islands off the beaten track that would be less busy. Rhodes and Athens were busy but still felt ok vs the US given that so much (including dining) is outdoors, masks indoors were well adhered to and case counts are much lower than my home [QUOTE]

Thank you for the data point. Nice to hear confirmation of my planned Covid Test at ATH by late afternoon the day before my departure! Perfect. Did you receive the test result within those 15-20 minutes? Or they notified you by email later?

KLouis

I found something very similar at a big harware store in Heraklion (where I live). Next time you're in Greece, include a trip to such a place after visiting the local beaches and antiquities.

PS Showers at the ATH Sofitel: Perhaps one of the few things I miss from my frequent travel time before I retired 5 years ago...

aeolos

Yes, the test results came in 20 mins even though the staff said it’d take 40-60 minutes.

One other note, the Athens Airport Sofitel was quite busy. It wasn’t as nice as my stay 7 years ago. The restaurant was busy, understaffed and with rather mediocre food. Sad because 7 years ago we had a great experience at the restaurant. That said, they hotel is still the clear winner due to location.

Earthman

Spain has banned non vaccinated U.S travellers

allset2travel

Oh that's cool.
BTW, I too will be staying at the Sofitel the night before my flight. Thanks for the heads up about the restaurant. I might just dine in the airport, hope those restaurants are open.

nk15

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Warriorconcept

I'll be flying in next week but just realized my vaccine card only has one of my last names while my passport has both (not hyphenated). Anyone with recent travel experience think it might be an issue? I called my state health department and they said they can update their records and send me a pdf but idk if that would be accepted internationally...thanks all!

36902BRF

Given the cursory inspection mine got on arrival in Greece I'd guess you will be fine. At a minimum if you can get a print out of the state PDF and have it ready if it is questioned. Also you might be able to take your existing card to a pharmacy and explain the situation to them and see if they'll do up a replacement card with your full correct name.

36902BRF

I made it to Symi a couple of days ago and what a wonderful island. The ferry from Kos wasn't packed which was good because a few (mostly younger adults) weren't wearing masks. Luckily there was room to spread out and none of them were near me. My CDC card and passport were checked by a policeman who actually took a more complete look at things than when I entered the country. I didn't have to fill out the COVID ferry form since my trip was within the same island region but had one ready just in case.

Symi is lively at this point but not packed. Easy enough to social distance and all the activities are mostly outside (I have only worn a mask when grocery shopping). I hiked to a ruined Byzantine castle up and on top of the central mountainous spine yesterday. It was about six hours round trip (I got lost a few times and also took some longer rests to enjoy the peace and quiet) and for four of those hours I didn't see another human being and even the goats were giving me a wide berth. It was wonderful. The "castle" was mostly a pile of rocks but it was more about the journey than the destination. I am going to do another hike today (though one that is a little less long). A lot of this stuff is not well documented so if anybody wants to do this on Symi or another island I would get the Skai Terrain maps as they are amazing and also document suggested hikes. I lucked out that the airport in Athens had them because by the time I changed my plans it was too late to order one from Europe. Google Maps is mostly useless here.

Anyway I am really glad I changed my plans away from several heavily touristed Cyclades islands to come here. This is the perfect COVID ain't quite gone vaction. A quick shot of of the port of Symi from my hike going up the mountain yesterday morning.

Symi port (Gialos)

Warriorconcept

Thanks for the idea! I'll print out and try to go to a pharmacy this weekend.

nk15

It looks like the cost of the rapid tests drops to 10 euro from Monday, per new government regulation.

allset2travel

Amazing hike.
My kind of journey!
Thanks for sharing.