Category Archives: Trip Reports

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Use Uber in Athens, Greece to Request & Pay for Local Taxis

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  This is my last post from Athens, Greece, before I head to the Radisson Blu Beach Resort in Milatos, Crete.  If you missed my post yesterday, be sure to read Heading to Athens, Greece? Book the Small-Group Culinary Walking Tour.  In today’s post, I will explain how Uber works in Athens (the only part of Greece that has Uber).  If you are not an Uber rider, join for free (thanks for using my referral link).

Technically, Uber doesn’t exist in Greece, but you can request and pay for taxis with the Uber app (the taxi drivers use the Uber app like all other Uber drivers).  The only thing that is strange is that you cannot see the total price of your Uber ride until after the ride is over.  All the taxis have a set price schedule for rides, so your rides will always be priced right.  Unfortunately, I could not use my Uber credits in Athens, so I paid for all my rides with my Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card (my referral link) since I earn 3x Chase Ultimate Rewards Points on Uber and it has no foreign transaction fees.

We used the Uber app to request a ride from the Athens International Airport (ATH) to our hotel, the InterContinental Athenaeum Athens.  The Uber pickup was a bit tricky, since our ride was in a taxi and there were many taxis waiting at the airport.  Our driver told us where to meet him, but it was still very difficult to find him (he ended up finding us).  Our ride to the hotel took 45 minutes and cost 40.70 Euros ($47.43).  As of June 25, the exchange rate is 1 Euro = 1.16 US Dollars and I will use that exchange rate throughout this post.  In comparison, a shuttle van to/from the airport and the hotel would have cost 100 Euros ($116).

a screenshot of a trip

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Heading to Athens, Greece? Book the Small-Group Culinary Walking Tour

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Good morning from Athens, Greece (or as the Greeks would say “Καλημέρα από Αθήνα, Ελλάδα).  I am writing to you from the InterContinental Athenaeum Athens (35,000 IHG points/night).  If you are heading to Athens, Greece, I highly recommend the Athens Small-Group Culinary Walking Tour, where you walk around the city, lead by a local, English-speaking tour guide and try some of the best, most authentic Greek food in the world.

I am not going to cover everything we saw, ate, smelled or learned on the tour, but here some of my favorite photos.  Our tour guide handed us a piece of paper showing us which foods we would be experiencing on this tour (I will reference names and restaurants throughout the post).  At the beginning of the tour, we stopped by a local street vendor selling Koulouri, the “Greek breakfast” that is a round piece of bread covered in sesame seeds.  You can find Koulouri all around Athens, at any time of day, and the price is only 0.5 Euros.  I ate a few of these around Athens :)

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Trip Report: Kimpton Glover Park Hotel in Washington DC

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I had a one night stay during a work trip to Washington DC, and decided to try out something new since it was less expensive than my usual hotel, the Kimpton Glover Park Hotel.

Location: The hotel is located on Wisconsin Avenue near the Naval Observatory, across from the Russian Embassy. It’s about a 20 minute walk to either Georgetown or my alma mater of American University, and a 10-20 minute drive from downtown DC depending on traffic. Unfortunately it’s not particularly transit-accessible, but they offer a shuttle to the Woodley Park Metro Station and other destinations in a 1-mile radius.

View out the window

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Trip Report: JTB Tour from Tokyo to Hitachi Seaside Park and Ashikaga Flower Park

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Buenos dias everyone! I recently found this article gathering dust in the vault, and decided to clean it up and share it with you all.

When we started talking about going to Japan last year, it was originally intended to be a trip with friends to see the wisteria tunnels in Fukuoka. That plan eventually fell apart, partially due to the short duration of our own time in Japan, but then my friend E from demflyers pointed out that you can get a similar experience just a couple of hours outside Tokyo at Ashikaga Flower Park.

We were originally going to just go to the park on our own via train, but then E discovered a day trip on Japanican.com that included a trip to Ashikaga as well as a visit to Hitachi Seaside Park and a half hour of all-you-can-eat strawberry picking. She went on her tour the day before we arrived in Japan and said it was worth it, so after arriving at my hotel, I went ahead and booked a spot for the next day – the last day the trip was available.

Google Maps screenshot showing driving directions from Tokyo to Hitachi Seaside Park, Itigo no Sago farm, and Ashikaga Flower Park. Continue reading →

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Copenhagen to Stockholm: How Would You Get There?

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Cousins ask me the darnedest questions. And they seem to think I’ve been everywhere. One recent question stumped me, so I did some research, but I’m still not sure which option to suggest. The question was how to go from Copenhagen, Denmark to Stockholm, Sweden. My research reminded me of one of the funniest movies ever Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and in this case, there’s even a bus option.

Turns out getting from Copenhagen to Stockholm is pretty easy, so let’s take a look at the options I discovered. It’s not a trip I’ve done, so I’m curious what you’d all suggest. Seems like each option comes with its pros and cons.

Planes: Copenhagen to Stockholm by Air

There are daily direct flights from Copenhagen to Stockholm. The flight is about 75 minutes. Depending on the time of year, flights can be inexpensive. This option is fast, but you’d have to also add in the cost of getting to and from the airports and also add in some time for the usual airport transit experience.

a map of the united states

Great Circle Mapper: http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=CPH-ARN

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