Established by Elena Papanicolaou, in Athens in 2014, ‘Fly Me to The Moon’ is a Vacation spot Administration Firm — specialising in bespoke journey design — serving each personal and company buyer requests. Rising completely by way of phrase of mouth, the corporate is revered for its native experience, intensive community of contacts, unparalleled consideration to element and a personalised method to every endeavour. With bespoke itineraries and easy accessibility to a 24/7 line of communication, ‘Fly Me to The Moon’ prides itself in offering every visitor with essentially the most genuine journey expertise.
You established Fly Me to the Moon in Athens in 2014, how distinctive is the Firm on the Greek bespoke journey scene?
I consider we’re distinctive due to who we’re, why we began the corporate and what our mission is. I’ve spent a few years in prime administration positions within the company sector, from transport to finance to chemical manufacturing. Whereas pursuing a profession in a really demanding enterprise setting, touring for particular person {and professional} functions supplied me with a profound pleasure for all of the senses, enrichment and steadiness. I began Fly Me To The Moon out of ardour with a transparent mission of sharing these emotions for my residence nation, Greece, with well-travelled individuals in search of life altering experiences that may present them with a footprint on their soul — experiences that actually matter. Crafting on a clean canvas, with out limiting ourselves to the sector mechanics, focusing solely on creating out of the field itineraries removed from the standard trade practices and should dos, looking out and monitoring constantly and dealing with class, authenticity, creativeness and a focus to element, is what defines us and makes us distinctive.
What’s the profile of your typical purchasers? What particular & customised experiences are they in search of?
Our purchasers are well-travelled, culturally curious and complicated, discerning individuals with restricted time to spare on analysis and journey preparations. People and corporations that know why they journey and search knowledgeable who understands their particular wants and needs; alleviates any dangers of dangerous decisions and handles any points earlier than and through journey, to ensure that them to get the most effective out of their journey seamlessly and meaningfully. Most significantly, our purchasers know that we are going to at all times embody components which might be unexplored, genuine with a way of place, in any other case unimaginable to know.
You might be coping with each personal purchasers in addition to company ones, how totally different are the requests?
Having been a traveler in each camps, I feel that the final word request is identical. On the floor, company journey requires extra assembly preparations and offsite travels, whereas people want stress-free, thematic experiences, celebrations, and so forth. Nevertheless, all of it boils right down to satisfying the fundamental human wants of physique and soul. Enjoyable, rejuvenating, enriching, giving again, connecting, are all emotions that are helpful to our personal lives that consequently mirror our enterprise lives.
You understand all about Greece secret locations and unequalled experiences. With out revealing all, might you let our readers know of your three favourite unique journey spots?
We’re fortunate to be on this small however extraordinarily particular a part of the world. Although Greece is stereotyped for its greater than 6,000 islands out of which solely 227 are inhabited, wonderful as they could be, the mainland additionally provides an immense number of exhilarating experiences starting from ski resorts, gorges and creeks, to fishing villages, cities with a deep previous and the longest shoreline in all of the Mediterranean basin. Add historical past, tradition, wealthy gastronomy, distinctive customs and the real Greek “Filoxenia” aka hospitality, actually that means “pleasant to strangers” carried strongly all through the centuries from historical Greeks, the selection is limitless. As there’s a proper place for everybody and at any time period, it is vitally arduous to choose simply three favourites however in my prime listing I would come with the tiny island of Paxos within the Ionian Sea, Santorini’s little sister island of Folegandros and the area of Laconia within the Peloponnese. Other than the selection of location, we love showcasing Greece’s distinctive components, particularly its indigenous wine tradition, historic and prehistoric civilisations, modern craftsmen and designers, nationwide and worldwide festivals, scenic driving routes and a lot extra.
Give us one instance of a request you may have acquired which gave the impression of “Mission Unimaginable” which you lastly managed to ship?
Staying true to our mission and fervour, nothing is unimaginable so long as there may be respect to nature and folks. It’s exterior our philosophy to craft fragmented experiences based mostly on showcase and extremities, only for the sake of it. As we design the entire journey expertise from begin to end, we incorporate particular components that mix and complement one another seemingly. Often our purchasers inform us why they journey and go away the remaining to us e.g. a shock birthday celebration in an outdated monastery on a desert island, a 4×4 street journey deep within the Natura area of Pindos, a senior companions and BoD offsite in a distant historical settlement, an ancestry journey of diaspora Greeks, whose household left Greece within the 1800 ’s.
You even have the power to organise customised yacht charters for sea-lovers and households, is that appropriate?
Sure, completely and personal yacht cruises are one of many prime experiences we provide. Now we have a terrific listing of yachts that we constitution for our purchasers each motor yachts and motorsailers. The Greek seas are incomparable in comparison with the entire Mediterranean and the choices are limitless. From cosmopolitan islands like Mykonos, Corfu and Santorini to secluded desert-like islets, sea caves, fish taverns on the water and classy seaside golf equipment. Other than the breath-taking sunsets and spectacular full moons you’ll nearly actually spot dolphins and sea monks swimming alongside.
How can your visitors recognize extra of the Greek wealthy tradition and genuine components of the native “Artwork de Vivre”?
We will take pleasure at Fly Me To The Moon to at all times introduce and immerse our visitors with Greek tradition, arts, gastronomy and the Greek lifestyle — that’s itself the “joie de vivre”. We at all times stress the topicity ingredient in our itineraries. We temporary our visitors concerning the historical past and traits of the places they go to; we take them to fulfill native artisans and craftsmen and introduce them to genuine gastronomy and PDO merchandise. We recommend they observe conventional festivals, use the most effective consultants to information them to the websites and perceive the continuity from the previous to the current; we community individuals which will have related pursuits (in archaeology, gastronomy, nature actions, and so forth) over residence dinners and far more.
Three phrases to explain the values Fly Me to The Moon at all times places ahead?
Ardour, Individuality, Respect.
When is the most effective time to go to Greece?
There’s such quite a lot of places and experiences excellent for on a regular basis of the 12 months. All of it is determined by what persons are wanting for.
Would you want to call a Greek historic determine who has impressed you and continues to encourage you in your life?
One other troublesome alternative with such an enormous historic heritage however I’ll go to pre-history: Achilles – for his bravery and empathy, uncompromising stance in life and staying true to his values.
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