Frequently Asked Questions
I get several questions from my readers and the most common are the ones below. If in the meantime you have something more to ask that I haven’t answered, please comment on this page and I will add it in for you.
Q. Are you so well off to have travelled to so many countries?
A. No, I am not that well off, but I do it through budget-conscious choices. Instead of spending on clothes & accessories, I spend on travelling, and I always try to travel the smart way. Traveling can look very glamorous from an outside perspective but I work hard to make choices that are not always the most glamorous. I sacrifice things for experiences, and believe me I don’t regret it.
Q. How do you afford to travel so much?
A. I have several invitations from different businesses, and out of the traffic I bring to these establishments, I am invited back. From here on we start a collaboration but I am very picky about my choices. There are businesses I keep going back for 5 or 6 consecutive years.
Q. When did you realize your passion for travelling?
A. I consider myself a bon vivant lover of life and world traveller and I discovered this passion for travel when I visited Cairo on a family trip at the age of eleven. My eyes were opened and the travel bug has been with me ever since. After that experience I got into stamp-collecting, – I loved the foreign images that peeked my curiosity even more. I was a teen when I created my own Pen Pal Club editing my own magazine named “Cosmos.”
From very young I remember myself travelling with my parents at first, later on with my own wonderful family. Having the opportunity to travel even more with my husband after our children grew up, we visited exotic destinations and met wonderful people. As the years went by I unleashed my inner potential. Nowadays, I am not even home, and I am planning my next trip!
Q. What is your style of travelling?
A. I travel smart and as light as possible!
Travelling as a local has become my preferred style the last couple of years and I aim to socialize with locals when abroad in an attempt to gain a local perspective. I believe if I manage to have a knowledgeable local along, the trip experience will be more interesting. When out visiting a new place, I prefer to walk a lot to get as much from the surroundings and enjoy the atmosphere of what the place offers. On the other hand, when staying in Luxury Hotels and visiting places I have already explored, I prefer to remain in the grounds of the resorts and enjoy at its full every facility and service provided. In such cases, I travel as light as possible carrying along only what I believe I will need during the stay. By doing this I can enjoy more economic flights and travel more frequently.
Q. What is your opinion on the All-inclusive hotels and hotel stays in general?
A. I believe that the all-inclusive nature of some 5* hotels, the way that everyone is made welcomed whether the stay is short or long is somewhere I feel comfortable being. The different design aesthetics, the historic buildings that hotels or resorts have crept into, the ability to create something in every 100 sq. ft. of a hotel enchants me. Coming across different cuisines and the ability to check all in such luxury hotels under one roof with no effort to search outdoors makes the stay even more relaxing.
Hotels in general …..and I do enjoy boutique hotels a lot, can transport you to a different world, curate your travels, offer you world-class food and cocktails, encourage you to party your pants off, pamper you with spa treatments, tempt you to try new things, guide you to the best spots in town and if you like, help you step into a new character.
Q. Why did you choose to call your travel magazine ‘Smart Travelling’?
A. Only because it reflects the way I travel the last several years.
Q. What is the real goal of Smart Traveling Blog Magazine?
A. It is to share my privileged knowledge on Hotel life and Food & Wine and all the details that go into creating that perfect guest experience. I focus my efforts on featuring only the best of best but I warn at the same time my readers to avoid possible traps I come across once in a while. The hotels I recommend are marked by character, charm, friendliness, history, style and beauty. The recommended restaurants, on the other hand, are marked by their exceptional quality and taste, top notch service and atmosphere.
Q. Where have you travelled recently and where are you going next?
A. 2017 was the year with the fewer trips but of course, there was a good reason behind this. I visited Sofia twice, spent a total of 5 weeks on a business trip to Cyprus, back to Greece invited by several businesses, and finally, I was on another business trip to Malta. In the meantime, I knew I had to upgrade my website which I kept postponing for a year. The creation of Smart Travelling kept me busy for months since I had to learn everything from scratch. It was not something easy, missed the whole of summer and autumn this year with endless hours of work but with not a moment of regretting it. After months of hard work, I am ready to start travelling again.
So, my travel plans for this year is to accomplish the outstanding trip to Italy, visit a couple of other European countries, but also visit Dubai and perhaps a trip to Asia.
Q. Do you earn money from your blog?
A. Yes, enough to cover at least my trips at the moment. I am open to collaborating with different brands to promote businesses which I judge deserve to be highlighted on Smart Travelling. Be sure to check the Let’s Work Together page.
Q. Are you interested in collaborating with bloggers and in what way?
A. Yes, I do. Being extremely involved with Hotel & Restaurant reviews I am open to collaborating with passionate Bloggers who wish to contribute to my website with interesting articles, Tips & Hacks, anything other than restaurant and hotel reviews. So, if you have something interesting to share, get in touch and I will see how we could arrange this.
Q. Why do you write in English?
A. Probably Greek/Cypriot friends might misunderstand but writing in Greek was not really an option because I would only reach out to a very small crowd. Almost every Greek knows English these days quite well. I apologize in advance for this.
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