My First Contiki Experience

Ahhh, I am starting to get the traveling itch! I have been doing so well these past couple of months at home and at work, not thinking about how I am going to get away from the realities of life, but I am definitely looking forward to discovering new places this year! With that said, last year towards the end of September I traveled to Greece through the Contiki tours company.

This post here is just to provide my own personal experience with the tour company, giving positive, negative, and neutral comments about the trip, and my own advice for those who are considering on using Contiki for their next vacation. :)

1. Booking
The Greek Island Hopping trip I booked was for September 24 to October 6, 2015. I booked my trip way back in April. Since I booked it pretty early, I received a 10% early bird discount. All I had to do was pay a down payment. A month before my trip, I just had a small billing issue - my account statement on the Contiki website was different from the billing statement that I received in the email. It was resolved by talking to a Contiki rep on the phone who said I had clicked on the 'confirm' button three times when I first booked the tour. Oops, my bad haha. But they were very courteous about it and I don't think I spent any more than 15 minutes on the phone with them trying to get the billing resolved. So, just a tip, don't click on the 'confirm' button more than once! haha

2. Flights
Flight fare is not included in the booking price that you see on the website. Although, you can book a flight through a Contiki rep if you choose to do so. Otherwise, you can book your flight on your own. I decided to book my own flight, so that's as far as I can state about booking flights through Contiki, unfortunately. I booked my flight to Greece a month before the trip so I didn't really get a great deal (US$900 round trip from EWR to YYZ to Athens - yikessss). Definitely book your flights as soon as possible!

3. Tour Manager
I had an AWESOME tour manager. A great tour manager is someone who can do their job efficiently yet can still have fun with the group. Nicole Cecil was our Greek Island Hopping tour manager, and without her - ugh - I just can't imagine having our trip being run as smoothly as it was. The tour manager has a lot of responsibilities - they have to book all of the accommodations, buy the tickets to all the attractions and transportation fares, write down preferred food for every Contiki-er for the included meals, have knowledge of each attraction that the group goes to, attend every ME time optional, wake up early to get everything situated for the rest of the day, stay out late to make sure everyone gets back to the hotel safely after drinking, and much more! Mind you, I was in a very large group of fifty travelers, and Nicole had to set up everything for each and every one of us. It's like being a single mother to fifty children. So despite our large group, everything went smoothly. At the same time though, she was super fun. Nicole went out with us to the bars on most of the nights and she always kept her cool. She was never drunk enough to not be able to take us back to our hotel safely, but she was still fun nonetheless. I have heard of one tour manager by a fellow groupmate whose TM was so wasted he had to be carried back to the bus to the hotel. So to have a balanced tour manager like Nicole was definitely a blessing.

4. Transportation
The Greek Island Hopping tour is not the same as most of the Contiki tours. This one was different because it is a 13-day long tour in one country, and the only way to get to each destination was by ferry. In contrast, most Contiki tours travel to more than one country at a time and everyone travels by coach. While we were in Athens, we traveled around the city by coach. Ferry was the mode of transportation to each of the islands. The tour manager books all of the ferry tickets. We all had assigned seats which was good because there were a lot of  non-Contiki people who had to stand or sit on the boat because their ticket didn't have an assigned seat. Around the islands, we traveled by coach as well, but we didn't use it that much - only if we had an itinerary around the main part of town. We pretty much stayed in one spot though, and if we decided to explore the islands on our own, there were ATV's readily available. There really is not much that Contiki or the tour manager can do if the ferry or coach is not running on time, which happened once while we were at Mykonos. Our coach driver was running late because he forgot about us, but that was on him and not on our tour manager.

5. Attractions
We definitely hit the main spots of tourism in the places we went to, and I feel like we spent just enough time to learn about each sight and to take a good amount of photos. This should be expected when going on a Contiki tour - you see a bunch of attractions with your group all at once, and when you have free time later, you can explore the places you want on your own.

6. Accommodations
Since Contiki is a budget tour (and not all 20-somethings can afford to stay at a Hilton hotel for 13 days straight), the hotels we stayed at were economically-priced and very humble. I would consider the hotels we stayed at between a two- or three- star in American standards. I did not expect to stay at a hotel that was flawless, so don't be surprised if the elevators at your hotel look like they're from the 80's, or the water from the shower floods the entire bathroom floor, or that housekeeping doesn't supply your bathroom with toothpaste, razors, etc. They cleaned the rooms and replaced towels everyday and try their best to make you comfortable with what they have, which was just fine with me. Although, the best thing about each hotel we stayed at was their pool/pool area, in my personal opinion. It was always kept immaculate in and around the pool, and pools are quite annoying to maintain. I did however, write on my end-of-tour survey to Contiki to consider looking for another accommodation for Santorini (we stayed at Thalassa hotel) because of the bathroom flooding issue.

7. ME Time Optionals
The ME time optionals are basically Contiki's term for excursion. These excursions are not part of the tour price. I did most of the ME time optionals and enjoyed all of them. For the Greek Island hopping trip, the optionals were priced between 25 to 47 euros. This is quite cheap compared to the optionals on other European trips. I wish I had done all of the optionals since they were all under fifty euros (I just missed out on two out of eight optionals). They were all well worth the price paid. My favorite ME time optional was Sunset in Oia. It was the cheapest optional and for twenty-five euros, our group had private, peaceful seating at a bar that was closed off to the public. We had finger food, soda, and liquor/champagne included in the price. I would highly suggest this ME time optional to be done so that you can enjoy the Santorini sunset in peace with your tourmates without some random tourist's camera in your face or people trying to get in front of you to see the sunset better. I would suggest to do all of the optionals if you have the budget for it. Otherwise, save your money for the optionals that you want to go to the most, then see if you have room in your budget for other ones that do not sound as appealing to you.

8. Food/Meals
How could I not mention food? We all know Greek food is awesome in general, but I will talking more about what was provided in the tour price. Twelve continental breakfasts (basically the whole trip), two regional, and two three-course dinners are included in the price. Basically, you don't have to worry about food when you wake up, however dinner is provided only four times out of the thirteen days, and lunch is completely on your own. It is not as bad as it sounds, as you will have your chance go out and explore the tavernas nearby, but it's just another cost to think about when creating your budget for your trip. Let's also not forget about the ME time optionals - many of them include a meal in their price. As far as how the breakfast was, it was different for each place we stayed at. Nonetheless, there were a good amount of options for breakfast at the hotels, so it's not just a piece of toast and butter.  I obviously wished that more dinners were included in the tour price, and that was something I pointed out in the survey as well. However, I could honestly say I did not have one bad meal in Greece, price of food at the tavernas is quite cheap, and my stomach was well taken care of.

9. Cost/Budget
To be honest, I thought the amount I paid for the tour did not live up to just a few things. It should have been around two hundred dollars less than the firm tour price. It was just because of the bathroom issue in Santorini which I personally thought was gross, and we could have had a few more meals included in the price.
As far as your own personal budget, you will still have to consider several things that are not included in your tour price.
- Flight fare
- Transfer fares to/from the airport
- Lunch, dinner, and other meals not included
- Drinks
- Souvenirs/shopping
- Local services i.e. car or ATV rentals
- ME time optionals
- Tips for your tour manager

Luckily, hotel tips, local taxes, and services charges are included in your tour price so you do not have to worry about that. If you think your tour manager did an awesome job during the trip, you are more than welcome to tip them and leave them a thank-you note as well. At the beginning of my trip, I took out 500 euros and thought that would be enough for thirteen days... nope. I ended up having to withdraw another 500 euros after the eighth day, and I ended up coming home with roughly around fifteen euros left. Plan your budget well and save enough money to spend before you go on your trip.

10. Tourmates
There were fifty of us during this tour. When I first started researching what type of people would be going to these types of tours, I was concerned about all of the hooking up that a few people posted about on various forums. I didn't want to be part of a mega swingers party for thirteen days - which is not the case at all! Most of the people on my trip were pretty much there to party, make friends, and visit new places (in that order). But I liked my group because there were so many different personalities and different reasons that people were doing the tour for. Like I said earlier, many of them were people my age who were looking to get drunk everyday, but we also had people on the trip for work (all expenses paid!), some just to get away from home, and even couples on their honeymoon. You are going to have your cliques with that big of a group, so there were your loud, young, drunk group; the floaters; the couples; and the here-for-work group. During nights when we had dinner and drank, groups didn't matter - we all enjoyed each other's company. It's just that sometimes people like to do their own thing even though they are on a group tour. There were people who wanted to just be on the beach and tan by themselves and those who preferred to not end their night at the bars. Another thing I would like to point out is how many Australians were on the tour. And I think it is safe to say Australians are the majority who go on the Contiki trips. I expected this and was really hoping that I wasn't going to be the only American there. Luckily, we had three other people from the U.S. (New York, Atlanta, San Francisco), as well as eight Canadians. We also had one Brazilian, a couple from Malaysia, and two local Greeks on our tour. I think the fact that there are so many Australians on the tour is a great advantage for them as they can strengthen their new friendships when they get back home as well.

11. Drinking
Drinking was a huge thing while on this trip. The majority of the people on the group went out every night to the bars to party and drink. Even during the days while we were in Mykonos and Ios, we had a huge group drinking and dancing at the hotel bars. I know I'm going to sound like an overprotective mother, but it is super important to handle your liquor when you're in a foreign country around people you barely know. Sure, you became besties with your Contiki roommates and your tour manager is there to look after everyone, but don't get wasted to the point where you pass out in the bar or on the street, making it difficult to get you home. In addition, you never know what type of people are observing you and your group, making you a potential victim to crimes.
However, if you don't drink alcohol (or drink to the point of inebriation), that is completely fine. No one is going to (or should) judge you for it in any way. We had quite a few people call it a night after dinner instead of following the group to the bars.


I am not quite sure if I'm missing a topic or not, but if one does happen to pop into my mind after I post this, I'll be sure to add it on. All in all, it was a great experience. I can't wait to do another tour sometime this year or next year. I traveled alone on the Greek Island Hopping tour, but hopefully next time I can bring at least one of my friends from home to join me in having fun through Contiki. I definitely suggest every young person to do at least one Contiki tour. It's a great opportunity to see new places and faces from worldwide. Just arrive with an open mind and a hunger to have fun and you are set. #noregrets

Leave a comment if you have any further questions - I'd be happy to help as much as I can!