Fiji or Greek Islands?

Ken Ibold

Ken Ibold

Final Approach
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Display name:
Ken Ibold
As luck would have it, we recently received an unexpected windfall (no death involved) and are thinking of taking a nice trip with part of the funds. My wife and I are trying to decide whether to go to Fiji or the Greek Islands, both of which we've always wanted to visit but never have. We are sort of adventurous travelers, preferring to ride zip lines through the jungles of Costa Rica rather than sit in a tour bus full of europeans watching birds -- as long as there are nice lodgings to sleep in. (I have been through Sudan and Kenya and I believe that's a little too extreme for my wife's tastes.)

Anyway, anyone who's been to Fiji or the Greek Islands want to fill in their impressions?
 
The Greek islands are wonderful, if:

* You like to stay up late
* You like eating late
* You like good, simple food
* You like enjoying a drink at 2:00 am in the street with other like-minded people
* You like slow, easy days
* You like warm, sunny days
* You like incredibly blue water

If you are looking for crazy, busy, urban sorts of times, the Greek islands are not the place to go. For me, though, I think they're a little bit of heaven on Earth. :)
 
A couple of pictures from Greece:
 

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Fiji is like going to Hawaii IMHO.

If I could find the time I would do a Greek Islands cruise. On top of everything that Brian said another thing to consider is the history of Greece and the western world that oyu would get to visit. I recently returned from Athens and to walk the Acropolis was one of the greatest places I have been.
 
If everything in Europe is so great why did so many people leave to come here? :D
 
Sounds like quite an adventure awaits you.

A good idea is to narrow down your priorities. Are you out for adventure or relaxation. From there, do some research and find out what is available. Each place will still have the basic resorts and swimming but if you're out for swinging through the trees, it'd be a good idea to find out if it's even an option.
 
Sound like either would be great Ken, congrats! Greece would allow you to make a couple other nice stops on the way there or back.

Best,

Dave
 
smigaldi said:
Fiji is like going to Hawaii IMHO.

If I could find the time I would do a Greek Islands cruise. On top of everything that Brian said another thing to consider is the history of Greece and the western world that oyu would get to visit. I recently returned from Athens and to walk the Acropolis was one of the greatest places I have been.
Click to expand...

Scott, I totally agree. If I were to do the Greek islands, I'd want to spend two or three days in Athens. I wouldn't spend more because the islands are so great, but Athens is a world treasure.

The first time I saw the Acropolis (Acro=high, polis=city), I was amazed at how, well, high it is! :rolleyes: I'd studied it many times but just didn't get how high up it is until I stood under it looking up. One more pic, of the Acropolis at night, taking from a rooftop restaurant that we enjoyed.

The Plaka (the old area of the city beneath the Acropolis) is a delightful place to shop and wander and sit and have a glass of Ouzo. :)

You guys are making me want to go back to Greece. :D
 

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qbynewbie said:
Scott, I totally agree. If I were to do the Greek islands, I'd want to spend two or three days in Athens. I wouldn't spend more because the islands are so great, but Athens is a world treasure.

The first time I saw the Acropolis (Acro=high, polis=city), I was amazed at how, well, high it is! :rolleyes: I'd studied it many times but just didn't get how high up it is until I stood under it looking up. One more pic, of the Acropolis at night, taking from a rooftop restaurant that we enjoyed.

The Plaka (the old area of the city beneath the Acropolis) is a delightful place to shop and wander and sit and have a glass of Ouzo. :)

You guys are making me want to go back to Greece. :D
Click to expand...

Link to my pics of Athens, mostly of the acropolis.
http://picasaweb.google.com/N8116B/AthensGreece
 
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I have not been to Fiji, so FWIW: I am told it is the most humid place on earth, or it at least feels like it. It is also full of rich tourists and honeymooners. I hope you can find an off-the-beaten-track kind of place there, because the beaten-track kind of places have no interest for me.

-Skip
 
Greek islands + summer = drunken US college kids and drunken sunburned Brits.

Pretty and scenic though.

I've always wanted to do French Polynesia, and I've already done Greece (and will continue to do so, since my wife has family there) so my biased vote is for the South Pacific. Bali Hai, may call you......
 
smigaldi said:
Europe has been experiencing a huge amount of people emigrating into it. So your info is woefully out of date.
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Really? I was just having a discussion with someone last weekend, and they said that Europe is actually experiencing a population decline right now. I didn't bother to verify their data as I've never had them feed me bogus information before.
 
EdFred said:
Really? I was just having a discussion with someone last weekend, and they said that Europe is actually experiencing a population decline right now. I didn't bother to verify their data as I've never had them feed me bogus information before.
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Many countries in Europe and elsewhere are experiencing or projecting declining native population as family sizes decrease. It's common for family size to decline in nations that experience prosperity and this phenomenom is not limited to Europe or, indeed, seen in every European country. Some nations expecting a decline in population are taking steps to persuade families to have more children.

At the same time, many countries in the European Union remain a very attractive magnet for immigrants, as does the US. In some cases, immigration is offsetting projected declines in the native population but, at the same time, likely to produce some shifts in culture. This is not that far removed from the US's own experience over time.

More to the point, Europe remains a culturally vital destination for an American traveler. It offers many, many options for wonderful trips, from great scenic beauty to vibrant cities and history from over 2,000 years of the development of western civilization. Much of what we hold dear as American ideals came from the Europeans who settled here.

Dismissing the entire continent of Europe as a destination would be as silly as dismissing all of the US and Canada. There is terrific variety for the traveler here in North America and the same is true in Europe.
 
Ghery, both have appeal.

I'd probably make the Greek Isles my first choice, based on history, food, and location. I tried to go there a few years ago over the holidays but all the FF award tickets were taken, as were all the seats in the biz and F cabins (no upgrades). Ended up in Vienna instead.

A niece is dating a guy from a Greek family - she went to Greece with him a couple of years ago and still talks about it.

I don't think you can go wrong...
 
If I had just come into a windfall I'd use the money to take a trip to the gas station, but that's just me. :D

You guys will have fun not matter where you decide to go!
 
Ken Ibold said:
(I have been through Sudan and Kenya and I believe that's a little too extreme for my wife's tastes.)

Anyway, anyone who's been to Fiji or the Greek Islands want to fill in their impressions?
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Smart wife there, Ken. :)

You can not go wrong w/ Greece. Loved it! The post about high season young folk is correct. I went in the first week of season. Local folks are still in a good mood. :D

Haven't been to Fiji but been to Hawaii, the Caribbean, central America and the Pacific northwest. Beautiful ocean views. It's OK. For fine wine, food and culture lovers, go Greece.
 
Greece without question. Theatre, mythology, different culture, different food, etc.

Summer though, I'm more for the off season when visiting places. Less tourists, less heat, lower prices.
 
If you do decide to go to Greece, may I offer a suggestion?

Spend a little time and learn even just a little bit of the language. It seems so foreign to us because the alphabet is different and the letters themselves are also different. But you can learn the alphabet in a day or two and then you discover that Greek is phonetic: there is only one way to pronounce any Greek word and once you know the alphabet and a couple of accents, you can correctly pronounce any Greek word.

Then you discover the magic: a great deal of what you see over there in those funny Greek letters, sounded out loud, turns into something that is often familiar because so much of English is from Latin and Greek and a lot of the Latin was itself from the Greek.

A few words in Greek will go a long, long way to making the Greeks fall in love with you. Trust me, the Greeks are wonderful, friendly people who are justifiably proud of their long heritage. If you respect them and offer a smile and a "hello" in Greek, you'll find many new friends. Truly, it's a wonderful place. The Greeks have had several millennia to figure out how to live well and enjoy life and it seems to me that they've got it figured out pretty well indeed. :cheerswine:
 
Go to the Greek Isles BEFORE the war with IRAN (that's IRAN, not Iraq) begins....
 
qbynewbie said:
If you do decide to go to Greece, may I offer a suggestion?

Spend a little time and learn even just a little bit of the language. It seems so foreign to us because the alphabet is different and the letters themselves are also different. But you can learn the alphabet in a day or two and then you discover that Greek is phonetic: there is only one way to pronounce any Greek word and once you know the alphabet and a couple of accents, you can correctly pronounce any Greek word.

Then you discover the magic: a great deal of what you see over there in those funny Greek letters, sounded out loud, turns into something that is often familiar because so much of English is from Latin and Greek and a lot of the Latin was itself from the Greek.

A few words in Greek will go a long, long way to making the Greeks fall in love with you. Trust me, the Greeks are wonderful, friendly people who are justifiably proud of their long heritage. If you respect them and offer a smile and a "hello" in Greek, you'll find many new friends. Truly, it's a wonderful place. The Greeks have had several millennia to figure out how to live well and enjoy life and it seems to me that they've got it figured out pretty well indeed. :cheerswine:
Click to expand...

Just don't mention Turkey in conversation. At all. Even by accident!
 
bbchien said:
Go to the Greek Isles BEFORE the war with IRAN (that's IRAN, not Iraq) begins....
Click to expand...

ANd that may be the best reason of all.

I'm sure glad I got a business trip (with personal time) to Egypt about 8 years ago, before the middle east got into an uproar again. I wouldn't want to be going there now.
 
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