Chance opportunities for new working & life experiences can help us grow, become wiser and discover unknown life routes.
Whether these routes prove to be fortunate or not, new career encounters may lead us on the right, fulfilling path or otherwise help us realize what isn't for us after all.
When I took my first working step in the Travel-Tourism world of Greece, back in 2000, at Aphrodite Beach Hotel - Mykonos, it never crossed my mind, that I would ever have the chance to write my own blogs, on my very own website in 2021.
It truly amazes me how much the tourism environment & our travelling needs have changed over the last 25 years! The trips we book, the hotel reservations we make & the experiences we are searching for have become so detailed & specific in order to cover our every desire, that we can not really compare these times with the past.
Let's flashback & see how it all began for me, over two decades ago. How it grew & flourished into eventually co-founding in 2021 Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours.
Back in 2000, while studying Tourism Business Management & Economics, I was given the chance to work for a few months in a beach hotel & gain working experience during the Summer season, on the Island of Mykonos - or the Island of Winds, as it is better known to the locals. Simply, I couldn't turn this down. When you are young & full of energy, all chances to gain experiences matter, work-related or not, in order to build your personality & discover what attracts you the most & what doesn't.
After all, I had no expectations. All I was looking, was some money for a pleasant Winter time back home in Athens & fun. Mykonos was the right place!
With no working experience or any idea of what I would face there, I left home & headed to the port of Piraeus; destination Mykonos. Feeling strong & ready to dive into the new unknown world, I issued my ferry ticket.
After a couple days of rest, the owner-manager of the hotel, announced me, my new job: beach boy. I had to collect a fee from the guests, that were using the Hotel's facilities at Kalafatis Beach. Epic times!!
With a length of around 500ms., the longest beach in Mykonos, I had to walk up & down
every day from 10:00 to 18:00. The sun was blazing hot & the sand felt like walking on charcoal. But still, I had a distinct feeling that this was the best job I could ever ask for:
being on the beach all day & not in an office, able to swim any time I wanted to, meeting people from all over the world, hearing different ideas & collecting nice tips. It felt just great.
I was in the mecca of “anything is possible”, breathing an air of freedom. Unknown
between unknowns, I could be anybody I wanted to be. And that's exactly what I did.
Those months woke me up from a passive reality that I was living in Athens: home, studies, weekends off. My eyes & mind opened wide: tourists & travellers, a diversity of people, languages & cultures. Not to mention the huge mix of different money currencies (no EURO back then). The island of Mykonos became my new world.
Slowly but steadily, by watching my colleagues & following my instincts, I was improving myself day after day, I was sculpting my new personality, open to new adventures. Finally, self-confidence set in. It was a very pleasant period of my life. An undiscovered world was revealed to me.
These life experiences helped me understand, that I would like to continue my journey into the Travel & Tourism world and grab my chance.
Later on, my priority was to find the right business environment. I wanted to try new things & I was looking for my next step forward. I quickly realized that hotel-oriented
businesses weren't for me & that Travel Agencies & Tour Operators were calling my name.
I immediately grabbed the first chance I was given, in Mykonos again: issuing air-tickets & organizing simple transfers for a local Travel Agency. Adding these skills to my CV, I was able to move forward, handling operations for Cruise Ships' shore excursions, working for a large specialized Agency in 2003 & 2004.
A whole new side of the travel industry presented to me, consisting of tour guides, bus/transfer companies, shore excursions management, archaeological sites, museums, restaurants etc. My responsibility was orchestrating all these professionals in working together, in order to achieve the best quality services with the maximum efficiency at the minimum cost. This ia very interesting task to try. Without question, it is a job that keeps you awake & helps you create useful networks of businesses & people.
Meanwhile, my University studies faded smaller & smaller into the background until my diploma finally came years later. What I find to be an important achievement is that during my studies, I was also developing my work experience simultaneously.
My journey in Tourism & Travel continued to evolve over the years in
Rethymno 2001 & 2020, Heraklion 2005, Chania 2006-2018, Santorini 2019.
A variety of responsibilities, skills & places. I think that this was the best education I ever had.
Through this journey into the so-called "heavy industry" of Greece (which in my opinion is not a heavy industry at all, as there is not a final product produced but only services) which includes: Cruise ships companies, Travel Agencies, Overseas Tour Operators, Hotel chains & Hoteliers, Transportation companies of all kinds, Charter flights, etc., very soon realized that we better focus on the individual travellers rather than mass tourism, in order to protect our environment, our culture & grow equally economically in a long term plan.
There are many reasons for this. I'll mention a few briefly, as this will be the topic of a future blogpost (sign up for our newsletter to get it!) :
Travellers seek genuine local authentic experiences, whereas tourists seek only sun & a swimming pool.
Individual travellers are ready to invest their time & money, in order to have a non-touristy experience, that will connect them with their visiting destination.
Mass tourism pressures local economies for lower rates instead of higher quality.
Mass tourism destinations see landscapes sacrificed in the name of "development".
Local businesses are more profitable when they deal directly with individual travellers without agencies between them.
The above reasons that are only the tip of the iceberg, along with all the useful professional lessons that I took all these years, finally led me to my latest enterprise:
co-founding in April 2021 our Travel Agency: Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours
Our philosophy is:
- More people loving Greece, Travel, Life and the Sea.
- Paving new roads in the modern travel world, with eco-responsibility at the core.
- Promoting Crete's authentic character through alternative tours.
- Creating life moments, always with a human approach & friendly attitude.
-We are focus & specialized in non-touristy, craft beer & food tours
We were soon proudly nominated by the
Let's keep going forward while embracing new life experiences.
Grab your chance. See you out there.
- Clyde
