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Travel à la carte Stefanos Papadatos on Corfu Stefanos is our Corfu agent and the familiar and reassuring face of welcome both for our Corfu clients and for all those passing through Corfu on their way to neighbouring Paxos. But he is also much more than that, being a director of the company since its earliest days and Travel a la carte’s agent for the whole of Greece. Stefanos has been with the company from the very beginning. In the late 1970s, when his sister Mary in England set up a business to send holidaymakers to her native island, he became the head of operations for the Greek side of things. As the business grew, so Stefanos’s responsibilities grew with it, extending to other islands and the location of suitable properties and business partners there. Throughout the company’s history, Stefanos has been the lynchpin of our relations with our Greek owners and staff and with local authorities and organisations. His many years of experience in tourism in Greece have furnished him with an incomparable knowledge of local arrangements and people. Anyone who has visited Greece knows that hiccups can occur – delayed flights, unexpected winds that interfere with sailing schedules, lightning strikes by seamen – and it’s at such times the experience and local know-how of people like Stefanos really pays off. With his extraordinarily fluent English, warm Greek sense of hospitality and great sense of humour, it’s hard to think of anyone better suited to welcome you to his sunny and life-loving homeland. Chris Griffiths on Paxos Chris Griffiths is our Sales & Marketing Director and has been working for Travel à la carte as a consultant for 15 years. Seven years ago he moved to the idyllic island of Paxos, where he acts as our manager during the holiday season. Chris is the face of the company on Paxos and has recently become a director, taking on responsibility for sales and marketing in addition to continuing the work he does in Paxos looking after our customers. Chris fell in love with Greece on his first holiday to the country forty years ago and has since travelled around the country a great deal. Further holidays there in the 1980s kindled the desire to return permanently and, after years working in the UK, he has now achieved his ambition, putting down permanent roots in Paxos with his wife and daughter. Daughter Natasha is being educated at the island school in Greek and is enjoying it greatly. Christine, Chris’s wife (makes life simpler!) is helping him on Paxos and working for Travel à la carte in the summers. Her help is much needed, as the company looks to expand its programme on the island while retaining a strong personal feel to the business. Naturally, as he has chosen to live there, Chris loves the island of Paxos. He also knows it like the back of his hand, so is perfectly placed to give clients seeking advice about the island the benefit of this personal knowledge. He is now starting a Paxos ‘Blog’ on life on the island after much request for this following the Paxos News venture of a few years ago. Melanie Sharp on Symi Melanie writes: I first visited Symi in 1991, on holiday from my heavy responsibilities as an administrator at Nottingham City Hospital. A colleague who visited the island for seven or eight weeks every year had recommended it. My partner Paul and I had never travelled independently before and found the whole prospect quite daunting – and we were right! After a journey that was memorable for all the wrong reasons, we arrived in Symi harbour at the hottest time of day and eventually identified the local agent our friend had recommended. He greeted us by throwing his hands in the air and exclaiming, “Who on earth told you to come to Symi in September without booking accommodation in advance? I have nothing!!' Luckily he did find us somewhere, in a handy position in the harbour, with not too many steps. Even though we had always said that we would never visit the same place twice, we simply fell in love with the surroundings, the people and the lifestyle. Over the next few years, we 'lived and breathed' Symi and moving there permanently became our goal in life. Finally, by April 2000, we were able to make it a reality - arriving during Easter week, to be greeted by the dynamite and loud bangs that are still part of the celebrations each year. Had we made a mistake? No. Things may have changed in the nine years since we first put down roots, some of them regrettable, but we would never consider going back to the UK permanently. We bought a house in need of renovation (another character-building exercise) which was completed in December 2005. Designed by ourselves, it suits our every need both summer and winter and we are very happy there. After nearly nine years Paul and I feel that whilst we are still “the foreigners” we have been generally accepted into the Symi community, important in a place so small. I first joined Travel à la carte in 2005, when the previous rep suggested that I took over from her as she wanted to explore pastures new. Inexperienced as I was, I quickly adjusted from patient-care to travel-care - in fact, there can be many similarities! I love the work, the house owners I deal with and my wonderful clients (many of whom are repeaters which must be sign that I'm doing okay!)
I have been secretary
of Symi Animal Welfare for several years now. This occupies quite a lot of
my time but our work and fund-raising efforts are so important. |
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Travel à la carte |
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