Star Award Winner's Trip to Greece (Athens & Mykonos) - May 2018

[NatsyNoo]

I wanted to share my recent trip to Greece with you all. I’ve never been to Greece before so this was my first time, and I travelled with a group of people from work, as part of our recognition programme, as back in November, I was selected as one of the top performers in the organisation, so they whisked us away for 6 nights in Athens and Mykonos. We travelled with 130 people in total, including colleagues from the UK, South Africa and the USA.

Day 1

It was a very early start today, as we were picked up from our homes at 4.30am, taken to our office and boarded an executive coach to Heathrow airport. We left the office at 5am and made it to Heathrow in good time, arriving at 6.30am.

IMG_9577 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

Once we were all checked in, suitcases were dropped off and we were all through security, we split up to do our own thing before we departed. I knew I wanted to some duty free, so I picked up a bottle of Coco Mademoiselle and a new purse from Ted Baker. I think they were about £60 and £75 respectively. I also picked up a meal deal from WHSmith as our flight was over lunchtime and I wasn’t sure what would be on offer on board and on the other side.

After I had finished my shopping, I headed to the Aspire Lounge to meet the rest of the group. Here we enjoyed some drinks and breakfast, before catching our flight.

QVQW1532 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_9191 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

We were on the 9.05am flight out of Heathrow to Athens, flying with BA. Boarding began at 9am, so of course we were slightly delayed, but we managed to make up most of this time once in the air.

I spent most of the flight reading and watching some stuff on my tablet.

We landed at 3.15pm, collected our luggage, and were all on the coach to the hotel by 4am, where our guide told us about the history of Athens, how the city is structured, and pointed out some of the sights.

We pulled up at our hotel, the Grand Bretagne, at 4.30am, where we checked in in one of the conference rooms. We were greeted by some Greek Goddesses, and offered some feta and Ouzo. We were also presented with leather travel wallets filled with the various bits and pieces we’d need throughout the trip.

IMG_9389 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_9388 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_9387 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

I headed up to my room and just pottered for a while, when a message came through on my phone to let me know that some of the UK group were by the pool having some drinks, so I decided to mosey over there. I ordered a Sprite which was 5 Euros and sat and chatted with the girls for a while.

I'm afraid I can't find the rest of the photos of my room - but please trust me when I say it was so gorgeous and luxurious!

IMG_9199 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_9200 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_9203 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_9208 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

At 6pm, I headed back to my room to see if my luggage had arrived and to get ready for the evening ahead. We had to meet in the lobby at 7am ready for transfers to dinner, so we boarded the coaches which took us to a restaurant called Dionysos, which was based at the foot of the Acropolis overlooking the Parthenon. The view was absolutely breathtaking.

WRKM6361 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_9579 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_9218 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_9223 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

I was a little nervous as I’m not particularly keen on Greek food, but I tried everything and quite enjoyed a lot of it, surprisingly including the moussaka!

IMG_9213 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_9214 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_9215 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_9220 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_9224 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

At 10.30pm, we were transferred back to the hotel, and I was in bed just after 11pm after a long travel day.