Greece, Macedonia & Turkey with Kutrubes Travel

My wife, Jeanne, and I enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime customized travel adventure to all of Greece’s great historic mainland and island sites plus Istanbul (Turkey), Lake Ohrid and the capital of Macedonia, thanks to the effort of Kutrubes Travel (Boston, MA; 800/878-8566, www.kutrubestravel.com), a terrific small travel firm we found through an ad in ITN.

Our personalized October ’07 itinerary, crafted by the company’s owner, saved us time and money, with hotels carefully chosen for their locations and competitive prices. For two, the cost of our 27-day tour totaled $5,500, including round-trip air from New York’s JFK, in-country airfare and transfers.

The guides we had along the way were excellent, and we met several couples with whom we remain in contact.

Thanks to the tips we were given, we successfully traveled all over Athens on our own. The tourist-geared Blue Bus route was a welcome foot saver.

We did experience one glitch, when we flew on a Saturday from Athens to Thessaloniki, from where we were to be driven to Macedonia since the Greek and Macedonian governments don’t allow flights between their countries due to political issues. When we arrived in Thessaloniki, we found no driver and no limo, due to a mixup on the part of the local subcontracting agency.

We managed to find an English-speaking cab driver with the proper credentials and he drove us to Skopje. Once we were able to contact the owner, Kutrubes provided excellent follow-up, which included reimbursement for unexpected expenses.

We learned these lessons:

• Never travel over weekends without a way to immediately obtain help from your tour agent.

• Be sure to have emergency phone numbers plus knowledge of how to use out-of-country phones to reach an international operator.

• Set up a relay so that a relative can be the weekend go-between for you and your agent.

We received full compensation from Delta for a bag lost en route to New York from Phoenix. Swissair service From Skopje back to New York via Zürich was outstanding.

NICHOLAS THOMAS

Scottsdale, AZ