The Art of Slow Travel in the Era of Corona Virus

Spring is normally the time of the year when our team of passionate travelers and advisors travel to MAMAKITA selected destinations, meet with our local partners, renew our travel notes and itineraries and expand our services preparing to respond to all and any of our customers expectations. This spring, however, marked by the Corona Virus pandemic is so different!  COVID-19 has affected our everyday lives and our travel habits so deeply…. But, really, can our traveling souls actually rest?

It is true that humanity is faced with a great challenge and confronted with great pain and suffering. Unquestionably, the corona virus caught us by surprise; scared us; altered our everyday lives for the worse to an extent that we never thought was possible.  But are there any lessons to be learned from this?  Is there any good news we can extract, derive strength from and pull through?

There seems to be! It seems that the abrupt stop imposed on humanity by COVID-19 forced us into the quiet realm of introspection. We have been given time to reflect upon our lives, our families, our principles, our way of life, our effect on the environment!  And isn’t this the start of a New Journey?

Greek poet Cavafy shared with us in his poem Ithaca his very important insight, that the destination of every journey is “our own Ithaca,” a place of inner peace and fulfillment, and that this realization is every journey’s real goal. If COVID-19 brought us a step closer to reconnecting with ourselves away from the hectic rhythms of our lives and appreciating the journey itself, the knowledge and understanding gained, isn’t this a present of great value?  Aren’t we now returning home richer, just as Cavafy advises, forever ready and thirsty for more journeys?

#TouristsWithKids Travel in Greece during the Corona Virus lockdown

Aside of all the difficulties, sadness and frustration or even because of them all, we realize that COVID-19 is teaching us the hard way, how to deal with unprecedented situations and how to see the bright side of things.  To stress this point, we would like to share with you a short story:

Before complete lockdown was implemented in Greece, a lovely family of six from Luxembourg had been traveling the world in their camper and found themselves in Greece under the guidance of MAMAKITA. Together we had created a trip itinerary that would allow them to explore Greece’s rich history, fertile land and local communities, complete with hands-on experience and activities in nature.

Corona virus, though, had other plans…They ended up stranded in our beautiful country, in constant search for remote places and beaches to spend their day or night. MAMAKITA now became their partner and guide, not in traveling, but in physical distancing!  Following Greece’s complete lockdown, they had to stay at one place. This place in the Peloponnese became their quarantine paradise and from there, they keep sharing with us amazing images from our country that keep reminding us of the beauty awaiting us out there!

  https://youtu.be/XXHm3W9Okog

Travel Ideas During the Quarantine

When in the first weeks of March the first restrictions in circulation were implemented in Greece, and informed as we were of the experience of our neighboring countries, Italy in particular, we realized that we would not be able to travel anytime soon; that our plans for Crete, Thessaloniki and Kavala, the Peloponnese, the islands of Lemnos and Ai Stratis had to be postponed for another time.

The first thing we instinctively did was to take imaginary trips on maps, kindle guides and travel e-books.  We ended up traveling back in time through pictures and travel notes to places we had visited in the past. We rearranged our travel photos and created albums, we read our travel diaries and updated our travel bucket lists. Here is a short list of our Greece’s Seven Wonders to Discover Before your Kids are Too Old!

Meanwhile, the Greek National Tourism Organization and Marketing Greece, with the support of Google launched the campaign “Greece from Home”, a platform that we all use to stay connected with our country and each other during the pandemic.

We also discovered a way to travel virtually to the Acropolis Hill, the Ancient Agora, Plaka, the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, and in our favorite archaeological sites Mycenae, Delphi, Olympia and Knossos through the amusing and enlightening self-guided virtual experience that Clio Muse designed for us, so as to stay at home and stay safe. You can use the MAMAKITA coupon code “mamakita2020” to get a discount and gain a first insight of the places you were hoping to visit this summer.

Greece’s beauty is out there waiting for you; Greek Hospitality is here to welcome you when the time is right. Till then, stay safe, plan future travels now that you have the time and gather as much information as you can, which, anyway, is actually the first step of every journey!

Find all MAMAKITA tried and tested family friendly vacation itineraries here to plan your trip in Greece with your kids here.