Its all Greek to me.

There's something that has to be said with visiting a city where you actually know someone that lives there. Its a completely different experience. Its more real, less touristy. You get an "inside" view of the true culture.

This was my experience when visiting Greece. I had a colleague that was there for holiday already, visiting her family, and we simply met up with her.

Visiting someone's home country and having them as your tour guide is priceless and there are many benefits.

1. The benefit of a personal translator
2. Tasting the country's "real" food
3. You get to see places that are not "in a book."
4. Learn the language!
5. Less stress!

These are just a few!

Personal Translator
One of the most challenging things in visiting a new country is obviously communication. The only Greek I knew was from Maths and some lines I could feed some women if I thought they were beautiful. But if you are with someone of the native tongue, all you have to do is sit and smile and let them do all the talking!

"Real" food
There's no better person to know a country's cuisine than someone of that ethnicity! What was real fun about going out with someone that is Greek is that you don't have to do any ordering or have to make any decisions when it comes to food! They'll give their recommendations, and if you aren't too picky, you simply agree to everything they recommend! In other countries I've visited without a native accompanying us, I've found myself staring at the menu and blindly picking a dish that could either hit or miss!

On Easter, we were lucky enough to eat spit roasted lamb or "arni" including "kokoretsi" or lamb intestines! Mmm....

Hey this isn't in the book!
There's no better person than a native to show you around their country! When you think of Athens, you immediately think of the Acropolis and ruins. But to be honest, that was literally the last thing we did on our visit! We got to see other unique things like the village of Delphi where the Oracle resided, a small ski town called Arahova, crashed in a summer home in a town called Desfina, drinking home made wine, going to a monestary called Osios Loukas, and taking shots called Tsikoudia!

Not only that, but what better person to take you a club by the beach overlooking the sea than a local!

Learn the language!
SKOULIKO MIRMIGKO TRIPA - That means worm-ant hole in Greek. =)
Throughout all the holiday we kept asking our greek friends how to say certain phrases, and then we would repeat them to ourselves, but then when we wanted to actually use it, we'd forget!

But I couldn't forget the Greek phrases:

"Eisai polu glukia matia mou" and "Eisai polu omorfi"

Critical phrases I needed for the woman. I practised these phrases on a few Greek woman and they smiled.

Less stress
Not that I get stressed during holidays, but having someone take you around and showing you all the right places is definitely less stressful than trying to figure it out all yourself! Trying to search through a guide book vs. a personal tour guide.. I think I'll take the personal tour guide every time!

Overall, an unforgettable experience. Mainly because of the personal touch of our Greek tour guide. I don't think I'd have it any other way!