Grecian Yearn #3 - It's All About the Islands!

Did you know that Greece has more than 6,000 islands, of which 227 are inhabited? Each island has it's own unique flavor, culture and landscape. Prior to moving here in January, I had visited the usual Mykonos and Santorini on various trips over the past 40 years. While both of these islands are beautiful and unique in their own right, there's so much more variety to be experienced. One of the things I love about living in Greece for the next five years is that there's so much to discover within this beautiful country. This past weekend I caught a 30-minute flight westward to the Ionian island of Zakynthos. It was such an interesting contrast to the arid Cycladic islands. The Ionian islands (Zakynthos, Kefalonia, Corfu, etc.) all display heavy Italian influence, from the architecture to the cuisine and the regional dialects. These islands are much more green and lush compared to the islands in the Aegean sea as they get much higher rainfall on an annual basis.

My personal goal is to have visited at least one island in each of Greece's six island regions: Ionian, North Aegean, Northern Sporades, Saronic, Cyclades and Dodecanese. Below is a map of these regions:

In early July, I plan to take Schatzie on a daytrip to the island of Hydra (Saronic), involving a one-hour speed ferry ride from Piraeus. In late July I'm flying over to Lesbos (North Aegean) to have lunch with a friend who will be there on a day stopover on a cruise. In mid-August, I'll be on a one-week cruise myself that includes a stop in Rhodes (Dodecanese) and in early September I've planned a planespotting visit to the island of Skiathos, with its own Maho Beach (St. Maarten) syle landing approach.

Athens is great for its archeological, cultural and culinary offerings (albeit a city with extremely poor urban planning/layout!). However, if you really want to experience the heart and soul of Greece, you need to head to the islands!

So if you're planning a trip to Greece, think outside the box and do your research. Do a bit of island hopping that doesn't include the usual suspects. I'm excited to see what I'll discover over the next few years on additional domestic adventures here in beautiful Greece.

Happy Travels!

p.s. below are some pics from the weekend in Zakynthos:

Grecian Yearn #2 - The First Couple of Months

Hi All - I had intended to publish this blog on a monthly basis, but then... life happened. It's all good. The past couple of months have just been very busy. A few highlights from my side: - I received my EU Blue Card in early February, authorizing me to live/work not only in Greece, but anywhere in the EU; renewable every two years. Can apply for permanent residency after 5 years. - I received my Greek tax ID number in mid-March. I was able to open a bank account the following week. In the past couple of weeks I also received my Greek social healthcare number and applied for supplemental private health insurance through my employer. - I flew home to LA on March 20 to pickup Schatzie and bring her back to live with me in Greece. All her pet importation paperwork was in order (thanks for your help, dad) and we arrived back in Athens on March 25 (incidentally Greek Independence Day). So Schatzie officially became Greek essentially on the Greek Fourth of July! I also secured an EU pet visa for Schatzie, so she is now free to roam around the continent!

On March 29, we moved apartments to provide a better environment for Schatzie. I'm now just a 3-minute walk from the office. We're on the 4th floor with a western view balcony, overlooking a small park below where I take Schatzie to do her business. It's an ideal setup. This apartment is currently leased through the end of October.

I also found a 3-bedroom apartment in Crete in the town I had been targeting - Kato Gouves. It's 200m from the beach and situated in an ideal location 10 minutes east of downtown Heraklion and 15 minutes north of the new airport construction site. Perfect. I'm having my personal goods delivered to the new apartment next Friday and will use it as a weekend getaway between now and when Schatzie and I relocate to live fulltime in Crete (probably later this fall).

I'm in the process of securing a company leased car to be based in Crete. I've chosen the Nissan Qashqai (sold as the Nissan Rogue in the US). It's a mild hybrid and should go up to 500mi/800km on a tank of gas. It should serve me well for island life.

I now feel like all the basic details for life in Greece going forward are settled. I'm really happy with the homes I've found in Athens and Crete and look forward to settling into a regular routine. I have a couple of fun weekend trips lined up in the next few months, so I'm sure that more tales of adventure will follow. Happy Travels!

Grecian Yearn - Reflections on Expat Life in Greece

01Feb2025 - My first full month in Greece

In November 2024 I moved to Greece to assume the role of Chief Commercial Officer with a brand new airport being built in Heraklion, Crete. The airport is scheduled to open in February 2027 and will replace the current overcrowded and obsolete airport adjacent to Heraklion. I was back in the States during December 2024 and returned to Greece to fully settle-in on Jan 1, 2025. I've decided that I'd like to keep a monthly blog of my reflections as an expat American living in Greece. I'm here on a 5-year contract, and assuming that I enjoy my lifestyle here, I may well choose to remain longer than that.

Settling-in

Arrangements had been made for me to occupy a fully-furnished apartment on an initial 3-month lease in Athens. The property is a convenient 10-15 min walk to the office, located close the metro line that goes out to the airport in 35-40 min. I purposely wanted to keep things easy and practical during my initial stay. The first weekend in January I signed up for a 6-month gym membership at Holmes Place near Syntagma Square (very central) as they offer convenient daily aquafit aerobics classes and I desired to establish a regular routine to aid in adjusting to my new life in Greece. I've had fun reconnecting with a few Greek friends whom I've known over the years now that I'm local in Athens. Great to refortify those friendships and provides a healthy balance outside of work.

Worklife

First of all, I must say that my team of six direct reports is fantastic. The other colleagues in the company have been amazing as well. They've been very warm and welcoming from day 1 on the job. They appreciate and respect the perspective, experience and exptertise that I bring to the table, and likewise I greatly value their experience given the broadened scope of my job responsibilities compared with previous positions. In my role as Chief Commercial Officer or Chief Business Development Officer, I am responsible for managing the following functions: route and market air service development, marketing/branding, aeronautical revenue generation and non-aeronautical revenue generation. In practical terms, that means that I'm responsible for expanding air service at the new airport in existing/new markets with incumbent/prospective airlines, overseeing branding (revamp and rollout), stakeholder engagement, establishing aeronautical charges (cost per passenger that airlines will pay to use our new airport), establishing non-aeronautical policy and charges (creating/coordinating the RFP process for concessionaires including Food & Beverage, retail shops, duty free, ground handling, fuel farm, onsite commercial development (FBO/MRO/general aviation) and ground transportation hub. It's a broad set of responsibilities and I will surely rely on the strengths/experience of my team members as I come up to speed on best practices/policies for us to implement at the new airport. Ours is the only greenfield airport site currently under construction in Europe, so it is naturally receiving a lot of attention, both withiun Greece as well as Europe-wide. It's an exciting, amazing project and I am thrilled and humbleed to have been appointed to lead the commercial development effort at the new facility. While the transition to living in Athens has been a relatively smooth one, it is not yet defined how long I will be working out of our Athens office before relocating to Crete. My team has been based in Athens for the past couple of years. My best guess at this point is that I will spend several months working in Athens before commencing island life.

Personal Life

As mentioned above, I don't know how long my stay in Athens will last, so life is somewhat tentative here until there's a clear directive. My personal goods will be delivered to Crete in late February following a transatlantic cargo ship crossing, so I look forward to having access to them so that I can swap out some clothes, shoes, etc. to complement what I currently have. I quickly found that I miss Schatzie desperately, and am taking steps to fly back to LA in late March to pick her up and move her to Greece to be with me. Thankfully no quarrantine is needed, so that should be a relatively smooth process. A few friends have expressed a desire to come visit me in Athens in March/April, so I'm glad I have this furnished 2-bedroom apartment so I can easily accommodate guests. The winter weather here in Athens has been amazingly mild. A few rainy days, but overall relatively similar to SoCal (slightly cooler), but far warmer than a majority of continental Europe. Weather in Crete is even more mild as moderated by the surrounding Mediterranean Sea. The food in Greece is incredible. Am easily adjusting the the healthy Mediterranean diet and between that, walking to work and aquafit aerobics, am continuing to lose weight at a slow and steady rate (best method). I'm also pleased that I signed up with NordVPN for rotating VPN service so that I can watch some favorite TV shows/movies and SiriusXM satellite radio. My progress in learning Greek continues through daily Duolingo lessons.

Overall, I'm thrilled with my new life in Greece and feel very fortunate to have been granted this opportunity at this point in my life. I'll continue to add monthly updates to Grecian Yearn as I enjoy all things Hellenic!