Travel is no longer about just booking your flight and hotel and seeing a destination’s top sights. Nowadays it’s about culture, experiences, tastes, feelings, and memories that are created along the way. Basically, today’s traveler wants more.
Customized travel is the way to go if you are no longer interested in the one size fits all itineraries. For you to get the most out of a trip however requires a lot of planning, knowledge, and experience and this is where the local travel expert (or, better, designer) steps in. A local travel designer can successfully plan the idyllic trip for you, based on your needs, interests, time, and budget. The combination of asking the right questions, having first-hand knowledge of the destinations, and having practical solutions is what makes us experts at personalized travel planning. Curiously enough, a local travel expert is not just for newbie travelers, but also for experienced travelers who will request exactly what they want adding significant value to their vacation!
Whether you are looking for a smooth family vacation, to celebrate a special occasion, to have a trip that oozes romance, to discover Greece off-the-beaten-track, or you just to make your visit different the second (or third) time around, your local expert will happily work with you and offer the type of expertise you need in order to make your trip enjoyable and truly memorable! Let’s look closer at the benefits of using a local travel designer.
There’s a get-to-know-you stage between the travel designer and the client where we get to learn about the interests, likes and dislikes, the priorities, and desired outcomes of the trip. Based on this, your travel designer will come up with various options for destinations, experience, guided tours, day trips, hotels, etc. You on the other hand will have the fun part of picking and choosing what appeals to you most! Local knowledge also means that we come up with things that you might have not even thought of or known of and incorporate them into your itinerary to make it that touch more you!
Personalized trips are in a completely different category than group tours with set itineraries, or solo travelers following the classic guidebook. Whether you are a very active traveler or more of the laid-back type, a custom plan provides you with the opportunity to set your own pace to an itinerary which is extremely important in order for a trip to be successful. You wake up when you want, visit a place when you want, stay as long as you want and even have some flexibility to change things up along the way!
Logistics of a trip can be tricky, especially when traveling abroad where each country has its way of doing things. If you are looking into going on a Greek island-hopping vacation, for example, just looking at the complicated ferry routes between the hundreds of islands can easily give anyone a headache. You then have to check on which days ferries run to the islands you want to visit, then cross-reference them to see if they fit in your schedule all while hoping to avoid public holidays which are always harder to travel on. No, it’s not that easy after all. Having a local travel designer, however, will not only throw out the stress planning this can bring but also present you with an itinerary that will fit your needs flawlessly. From the many types of accommodations per location to the various transportation methods within the destination, everything will be arranged by taking your requests and matching them with the best of what a destination has to offer.
Before traveling somewhere, we all love to do a little research on things to do while we are there, especially around things that interest us, but what about everything else we should know? Information like hotel amenities, public transport, museum hours, admission prices, things to look out for, ways to get around, the list goes on! Information is excessive and scattered, and spending 30+ hours on Google on practical stuff can be draining and confusing. It would be a pity if for example you were not allowed in one of Meteora’s breathtaking monasteries because its strict dress code didn’t come up in your research. A travel designer not only has up-to-date information at hand but will offer you the most relevant information for your trip. So, leave us the ‘dirty work’ and keep the fun part of the research for yourself!
Experienced travelers will tell you there is a delicate balance between planning and going with the flow because even with detailed preparation things will sometimes not go your way. Sometimes the flight gets canceled, your alarm doesn’t go off, the hotel is overbooked or you forget your passport at the hotel. These are common examples that can suddenly throw off your itinerary leaving you scrambling to come up with a solution on the spot. Your local expert team is there not only for the good times but also for the difficult ones. Besides double-checking and re-confirming all arrangements to avoid hiccups, we proactively keep an eye on what could throw off your vacation (such as weather conditions, strikes, schedule changes, etc) and will let you know what your best options are ahead of time. While we wish that nothing unexpected will affect your trip, we make sure to support you when you need it most. We have seen it all before and will do our best to find a real-time solution.
Going on a vacation isn’t just about laying on the beach and getting our tan on, most of us want to throw in that “something” that will make the vacation special. As each country has hundreds of things to offer, finding the right “something” for you or for the occasion can be a challenge. Sharing your interests with your local expert means they will be able not only to make suggestions you might be unaware of but also to help you choose the best time or the best way to make the most out of each experience.
From finding the authentic experience that will be a perfect match for your interests to suggesting the best spot to make a wedding proposal perfectly timed for a spectacular sunset, we are here for you. You might want to scope out a few farms, discover the city neighborhoods that match your vibe, or you might be looking for the most scenic route to hike, cycle, or drive. Even simple things like having a guide that is great with kids while you’re on your family vacation or celebrating a birthday of a loved one by sailing along the Greek coastline can really make the difference. It’s best to leave these specifics to the experts. A local travel designer, with all our insider knowledge, will work with you to create an unforgettable trip.
Coming to our final point, and one of the most important ones in our opinion is that ultimately you will have a friend on the ground. Greeks are natural-born hosts, we will want you to eat the best food, visit the most interesting places and in the end go back home with a truly fond memory of Greece. A website can’t give you personal and sincere recommendations, a friend on the other hand can. You might be the traveler that wants to cram in as many activities and excursions as possible however the travel designer will help you prioritize which are not to be missed and which can be optional. Local travel designers are real people that care about offering you a guiding hand while you are traveling. We will be there during the challenging times as well, giving you advice on what to do when you have fallen for a scam or misplaced your wallet. This no doubt will give you a sense of security, which is essential for you to be able to just focus on having the time of your life.
Our own leisure time is an exceptionally valuable asset that once is lost cannot be recovered. This makes travel a personal investment that can yield an incredible return on life. Deciding where and how to go should not be taken lightly and collaborating with a professional who will always have you covered is absolutely worth it Travel12’s travel designer considers this more of a calling than a career – and takes pride in shaping the perfect itinerary for their travelers.
Talk with our experts to see if we can help you plan your ideal trip to Greece.