Crete, as Told by a Package Holiday Virgin.

Sitting back into the moderately comfortable seat on the pleasantly air conditioned coach I finally began to relax after a long, drawn out day of travelling, pleased to finally be in Crete, content that this holiday was a good choice. The serenity grasped was suddenly interrupted by the loud crash of bass screeching from a phone behind me and what can only be described as the monkey cry of ‘Oooh Aaaah Malia, Oh Ah Malia’. I turned to Jack to be greeted by a look of despair mirroring my own on his face. What the hell have we let ourselves in for…

I know it’s bad, but honestly I’ve always been a bit of a snob when it comes to package holidays. Ever since packing up by bags after finishing college 3 years ago and exploring the World without the company of my parents, travel has become one of my passions and there’s nothing I love more than planning my next adventure and exploring a new city or unwinding on a foreign beach. Therefore the idea of having your hard earned vacation mapped out and decided upon by a money focused corporate business has never appealed to me. What’s more I’ve always associated the type of trips that companies such as Thomas Cook and First Choice offer to be purely for people whose notion of a holiday consists of being glued to the sunbed that they eagerly placed their towel upon at god knows what time in the morning for the duration of their holiday, not that there’s anything wrong with this (but really, why not just go on an electronic sunbed in your home town? what a waste of an opportunity to embrace a new culture). However, approaching the end of my second year of university, I was worn out, tired of the crap British weather and needing to spend some quality time with my boyfriend Jack. A holiday was definitely in order, initially we wanted to travel through Slovenia into Croatia, however neither of our student bank balances were really fit for a trip of that nature. Instead we decided to book a last minute package holiday, with neither of us experiencing one before, we thought why not? At the end of the day if it was shit at least the weather would be good, we’d be in a new place that we had never explored and we’d have each other’s company. So in the heat of a moment of excitement we booked a week’s holiday in Stalis, Crete with Thomas Cook for £360, covering flights, hotel and our breakfast and evening meals. As you can probably guess I wasn’t expecting much at all, if I’m honest I doubted whether it was a mistake from the day I booked it, yet I wasn’t discouraged as I was purely excited to spend a week with Jack, just the two of us.

This is where I swallow my words.

I actually really enjoyed my first package holiday.

Arriving in Crete late in the evening after a four hour flight, I was relieved not to be scrambling around the airport with a mountain of luggage trying to locate the nearest train or bus station in order to start yet another trek to find a hostel (this is normally stress central for me.) Instead we were met at the exit by a rep and escorted straight onto a coach to our hotel. With our resort neighbouring Crete’s own little, slightly crapper, Ibiza (Malia) we did unfortunately have to share our coach journey with its incoming party goers, however after a while watching and listening to the ‘lads’ became quite entertaining. Our hotel was simple yet comfortable, the warm welcome from the staff which matched the pleasant evening heat, made me feel as if I was a returning friend rather than a foreign guest, a lot more personal than I would have expected from a package break (I think I was envisaging some sort of Greek Travel Lodge). 

A typical breakfast at Hotel Anastasia

We were quickly shown to the restaurant to enjoy one of our first meals of the week.

This is where I really was astonished. In all honesty I was expecting each night’s offerings to consist of unexciting pasta’s, children’s burgers and mountains of chips, with the token bland attempt at a Greek dish. How wrong I was (I’m starting to realise just how cynical I can be). Each night the hotel provided an extensive, diverse and delicious range of Greek dishes and European meals, introducing me to a number of gorgeous new dishes that I had never tried (Baklava, a sweet pastry desert served with honey, and chicken filled Souvlaki pitta breads.) Another feature of the package holiday which I found off putting was the commitment made to eating all your meals in one place, as when I’m away, trying a range of different restaurants throughout the week is a highlight for me. However as the menu changed each night at the hotel, I was surprised that my customary evening restaurant visit wasn’t too sorely missed. Nevertheless on our final evening in Crete we did treat ourselves to a meal out at a little authentic Greek restaurant in the town where we sampled an amazing Mezze which included octopus, tzatziki and pork meatballs, along with a range of other local specialities (and a couple of customary shots of the Greek spirit Raki.) This was a real treat and only spending one night dining out in a restaurant made it even more special (and saved us a lot of money!)

Traditional Greek Mezze

Although this trip was planned for some well-earned relaxation after two very long semesters, Jack and I both knew that after a couple of days lying on a beach and reading we would start to get an itch. Jack, being a fan of anything involved with classical history (or truthfully anything involving ‘300’ style fighting) wanted to visit a few of the archaeological sites around the Greek island, and I quite wanted to see some of the history of Crete too. I was dubious before the trip that our ‘in-hotel’ Thomas Cook representative would purely be interested in selling us their over-expensive, coach laden day trip, however once again I was proven wrong. The rep to my surprise was not a ditzy, orange twenty something as I had expected, but an approachable middle aged gentlemen. He was truly helpful and gave us some advice on which attractions were worth a visit and which had become too ‘touristy’. We chose to visit the Herakleion Archaeological Museum, which was well worth the hour long bus ride to the capital, as it turned out to be one of the best museums that I had ever visited. Instead of elements of history from all corners of the World being chucked together under one roof, with no sense of theme or relevance that you come across in many museums, Crete’s biggest museum toured us through the fascinating history of the island. This included many of the artefacts which had been collected from the various archaeological sites, with many being in astoundingly good condition for their age (many of the pieces are believed to be from between 100-300 BC).

We also chose to hire a quad bike for the day, our excuse being the bike gave us the freedom toexplore the island without having to rely on the Greek bus service, but in many ways we were fuelling our inner children (and reaffirming Jack’s masculinity as he was still sour from me Veeting his chest.) I would definitely recommend hiring a quad bike to anyone who travels to Crete as it’s such a fun and cheap way to explore the island, as the bike was only €25 to hire and the petrol cost us less than €8!  It also enables you to visit parts of the island you were formerly restricted from, we found deserted coastal paths which boasted beautiful views of the coastline, we also travelled to Malia Palace, however sadly it was closed (we didn’t do our research there!)

This little trip has definitely taught me to try before I make a judgement in the future. Previously I did assume that package holidays were for lazy family’s that just wanted to bake themselves in the heat and get pissed in a resort with all the home comforts of England, the only addition being the sun. However I admit I was very wrong, a package holiday is a great way for an individual on a budget to enjoy a break, as so much is included (e.g food, flights, transfers) elements which would be difficult and time consuming to arrange yourself for the same price. What’s more it definitely doesn’t restrict you from indulging in your inner explorer and immersing yourself in a different culture, if anything a package holiday is a great starting base to mould the holiday you desire, whether that is unwinding on the beach, or discovering exciting new places. 

Mountains between Malia & Sissi