We are our journeys. We are the people we meet. We are a journey ourselves. But often we look without seeing. We take pictures but don’t take the time to listen and absorb the experience. Some of us insist on looking at the buildings, others at nature and others at the food and people or all of them at once. We don’t all travel in the same way. Because we are different people and that’s the beauty of it. So if we can step outside of ourselves, even for a moment, we can see the different ways we perceive the culture of the people we encounter and that’s when our travels become journeys of experience that help us change and be.
Yannis Massas started cycling in Greece a few years ago and today his bicycle counter counts a few thousand kilometres, cycling around Europe and beyond, sleeping in fields with his tent in the European north, eating delicious soups in Slovenia and enriching himself with experiences from the locals he meets along the way.
Tina Kyriaki founded the first alternative tourism company in Greece Alternative Athens, successfully catching the tourist pulse of a city and country like Greece that is changing and that its new visitors prefer to get to know it through the tastes, aromas and eyes of the locals.
Long distance bike rider Giannis Massas and travel company owner of Alternative Athens Tina Kyriakis talk to us about all that makes travelling an authentic and rewarding experience.