Dalene and Pete Heck

Needless to say these masses of people were not what I was looking for and fortunately there are ways to avoid them: travel in shoulder season, find lesser-visited areas, and book something offbeat, or as I did, find an operator who offers carefully-considered tours that allow you to get a taste of a few islands. White sand beaches against aqua waters, ragged peaks and rolling hills dotted with white orthodox churches, rows upon rows of ancient olive and lemon trees, and sea cliffs that triggered chills down any spine as waves crashed into them far below. Promotional savings are valid on new bookings with a deposit for Club Adventures powered by AAA Exclusive Vacations for trips scheduled to depart in 2019 or 2020. AAA Exclusive Vacations and Club Adventures powered by AAA Exclusive Vacations are both a dba of Member Select Vacations LLC.

Our journey is barely dissimilar from Matt’s (except for his on-the-road romances while instead, we navigated new “travel roles” in our marriage), and to devour his book was to relive so much of our own journey. My new book is called Ten Years a Nomad and, unlike my previous book and my blog, it focuses on my ten years traveling around the world, the lessons I learned from traveling, and my advice on being a better traveler. I spent almost 2 years writing, expanding on the content I’ve already written as well as going through my travel journals to put together new stories and reflections. As for writing tips, I think the most important thing for a new writer is to actually spend time writing.

The crowds were not large, and even though I have seen plenty of ancient buildings with a stature that easily rivals that Temple, the dusky coastal views and atmosphere were what made this experience stand out. It’s an unmistakable treasure of dozens of centuries past, standing as a testament to a powerful civilization, and offers a perspective over the area like none other. It’s an unmistakable treasure of dozens of centuries past, standing as a testament to a powerful civilization, and offers a perspective over the area like none other. Pete’s rampant enthusiasm for cooking paired with our travels have allowed us to relive fantastic memories right in our kitchen, but after just one morning with The Greek Kitchen, I have henceforth declared this cuisine to be my domain

And I can’t think of one other group trip I’ve been on where such a moment was even possible, but this was the single greatest benefit of the flexible itinerary on my Greece island tour with Club Adventures. I made my visit what I wanted it to be on top of an itinerary that included a tour of Athens and the unforgettable Acropolis, a stop on the island of Naxos which is known as a mecca for Greek food, another trek to see the tomb of the poet Homer on the island of Ios, and finally a remarkable walk along a volcanic rim on the island of Santorini. I’ll never forget feeling the wind that morning and when we caught our first glimpse of the town of Fira from above, at our starting point for a 10 kilometre hike along the sea cliffs to another town called Ia. As our tour group all sat around on the last night, watching the sunset behind Santorini, we toasted our glasses and talked about the whirlwind of the previous nine days.