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 via 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 quick access to a 24/7 line of communication, ‘Fly Me to The Moon’ prides itself in offering every visitor with probably 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 high administration positions within the company sector, from transport to finance to chemical manufacturing. Whereas pursuing a profession in a really demanding enterprise atmosphere, touring for particular person {and professional} functions offered 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 house nation, Greece, with well-travelled individuals on the lookout for life altering experiences that may reward 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 and monitoring constantly and dealing with magnificence, authenticity, creativeness and a focus to element, is what defines us and makes us distinctive.
What’s the profile of your typical shoppers? What particular & customised experiences are they on the lookout for?
Our shoppers are well-travelled, culturally curious and complicated, discerning individuals with restricted time to spare on analysis and journey preparations. People and firms that know why they journey and search an expert who understands their particular wants and needs; alleviates any dangers of unhealthy decisions and handles any points earlier than and through journey, to ensure that them to get one of the best out of their journey seamlessly and meaningfully. Most significantly, our shoppers know that we are going to all the time embrace parts which might be unexplored, genuine with a way of place, in any other case unimaginable to know.
You might be coping with each personal shoppers in addition to company ones, how totally different are the requests?
Having been a traveler in each camps, I feel that the last word request is similar. On the floor, company journey requires extra assembly preparations and offsite travels, whereas people want enjoyable, 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 recognize all about Greece secret locations and unequalled experiences. With out revealing all, may 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 frame, it is vitally laborious to select simply three favourites however in my high record 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. Aside from the selection of location, we love showcasing Greece’s distinctive parts, particularly its indigenous wine tradition, historic and prehistoric civilisations, up to date craftsmen and designers, nationwide and worldwide festivals, scenic driving routes and a lot extra.
Give us one instance of a request you’ve gotten obtained which appeared like “Mission Not possible” which you lastly managed to ship?
Staying true to our mission and keenness, nothing is unimaginable so long as there’s respect to nature and folks. It’s exterior our philosophy to craft fragmented experiences primarily based on showcase and extremities, only for the sake of it. As we design the entire journey expertise from begin to end, we incorporate particular parts that mix and complement one another seemingly. Normally our shoppers inform us why they journey and depart the remainder to us e.g. a shock birthday celebration in an previous monastery on a desert island, a 4×4 highway 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 high experiences we provide. We now have a terrific record of yachts that we constitution for our shoppers 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 seashore golf equipment. Aside from the breath-taking sunsets and spectacular full moons you’ll virtually actually spot dolphins and sea monks swimming alongside.
How can your visitors recognize extra of the Greek wealthy tradition and genuine parts of the native “Artwork de Vivre”?
We are able to take pleasure at Fly Me To The Moon to all the time introduce and immerse our visitors with Greek tradition, arts, gastronomy and the Greek lifestyle — that’s itself the “joie de vivre”. We all the time stress the topicity factor in our itineraries. We temporary our visitors concerning the historical past and traits of the areas they go to; we take them to fulfill native artisans and craftsmen and introduce them to genuine gastronomy and PDO merchandise. We advise they observe conventional festivals, use one of the best specialists to information them to the websites and perceive the continuity from the previous to the current; we community individuals which will have comparable pursuits (in archaeology, gastronomy, nature actions, and so forth) over house dinners and rather more.
Three phrases to explain the values Fly Me to The Moon all the time places ahead?
Ardour, Individuality, Respect.
When is one of the best time to go to Greece?
There may be such quite a lot of areas and experiences excellent for on a regular basis of the yr. All of it is dependent upon what persons are trying 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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