#Outbound to Athens | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

apexart-journal · 15 days ago

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We have each other.

Hello, journal, I'm back here after taking a break from writing. Truth be told, I have been conflicted about how to proceed in this forum. My couple days retreat into the quietude of the islands was nourishing, and coming back to Athens has felt like a return to reality.

I did my first volunteer shift at the Khora Free Shop that provides donated clothing and, when available, sanitary items, toys, and household goods to the migrant populations here (any anyone in need). Spending the day with one of the founders and main volunteer workers at Khora and serving the visitors with him was a privilege, but also a sobering experience, reminding me of how challenging and even painful it can be to show up day after day in the face of the relentless brokenness and confusion of society. I saw and shared in his joys, exchanging bright, genuine affection with people, exclaiming at the cuteness of their young children as we helped them find clothing. Here's a truth to take with you: everyone needs new socks and is glad to get them. I also learned and shared in his frustration. Another truth: the allure of free things can become it's own obsession and there are people who will try as hard as they can to game the system, to take more than they need without understanding how much effort goes into acquiring and distributing resources and how much profound need others have. Human beings who devote themselves to helping others can be like drivers who keep going as long as they can with the fuel indicator of their vehicle pointing to "empty" - it's a risky game. Unforeseen circumstances might come along at any moment to deplete you, or likewise a wonderful occurrence might fill you up again.

The best thing about this fellowship for me has been to connect with people in Athens over our shared humanity. I can really thank Nia back in New York and my two artist hosts here, Tind and Alexandra, for guiding me with care. I've learned about the people of this city directly from them, in context with the last hundred years of history, and found a place so different from the image of Greece I had in my mind before I came here. Conversations get real here very quickly once I show people that I'm open to going there. Just in the past couple of days folks have opened up about their daily struggles with caring for ailing parents, about their fears for the future of their livelihoods and housing security, about their sorrow for how political life here has changed, and about what they do to cope. As I've been told, Greece is an Eastern European country trying to be a Western European country. Western countries might hold a grip on global power, but Eastern countries have something valuable too - the primacy of people's bonds with each other. There might not be confidence in the government to be there to catch people when they fall, but the people share everything they have with each other without reservation. This well of joy produces an energy that I see animating the eyes of Athenians as they speak. I think about the way these bonds have been strategically broken in my own country and it makes me sad. It's never too late though to learn the strength of banding together.

As I write this, we are a week into the second term of Donald Trump's presidency. By all accounts, it's going even worse than feared. His greatest supporter and the richest man in the world gave a Nazi salute to his inauguration on the world stage. Yesterday, Trump announced that he would freeze all federal funding. It's felt almost otherworldly to be so far away from my loved ones and my community while this unfolds. I am, we are, scared. We don't yet know what this terrorization from the highest levels will mean for us. What and where is safety and who is it for anymore?

#Alison Kuo #Outbound to Athens

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brookstonalmanac · 8 months ago

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Events 7.9 (after 1870)

1875 – The Herzegovina Uprising against Ottoman rule begins, which would last until 1878 and have far-reaching implications throughout the Balkans. 1877 – The inaugural Wimbledon Championships begins. 1893 – Daniel Hale Williams, American heart surgeon, performs the first successful open-heart surgery in United States without anesthesia. 1896 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetallism at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. 1900 – The Federation of Australia is given royal assent. 1900 – The Governor of Shanxi province in North China orders the execution of 45 foreign Christian missionaries and local church members, including children. 1918 – In Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express, killing 101 and injuring 171 people, making it the deadliest rail accident in United States history. 1922 – Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds breaking the world swimming record and the 'minute barrier'. 1926 – Chiang Kai-shek accepts the post of commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, marking the beginning of the Northern Expedition to unite China under the rule of the Nationalist government. 1932 – The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian Federal Government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution. 1937 – The silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation are destroyed by the 1937 Fox vault fire. 1943 – World War II: The Allied invasion of Sicily begins, leading to the downfall of Mussolini and forcing Hitler to break off the Battle of Kursk. 1944 – World War II: American forces take Saipan, bringing the Japanese archipelago within range of B-29 raids, and causing the downfall of the Tojo government. 1944 – World War II: Continuation War: Finland wins the Battle of Tali–Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in northern Europe. The Red Army withdraws its troops from Ihantala and digs into a defensive position, thus ending the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive. 1955 – The Russell–Einstein Manifesto calls for a reduction of the risk of nuclear warfare. 1958 – A 7.8 Mw  strike-slip earthquake in Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reached 525 m (1,722 ft) on the rim of Lituya Bay; five people were killed. 1961 – Greece becomes the first member state to join the European Economic Community by signing the Athens Agreement, which was suspended in 1967 during the Greek junta. 1962 – Starfish Prime tests the effects of a nuclear test at orbital altitudes. 1977 – The Pinochet dictatorship in Chile organises the youth event of Acto de Chacarillas, a ritualised act reminiscent of Francoist Spain. 1979 – A car bomb destroys a Renault motor car owned by "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld outside their home in France in an unsuccessful assassination attempt. 1982 – Pan Am Flight 759 crashes in Kenner, Louisiana, killing all 145 people on board and eight others on the ground. 1986 – The New Zealand Parliament passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act legalising homosexuality in New Zealand. 1993 – The Parliament of Canada passes the Nunavut Act leading to the 1999 creation of Nunavut, dividing the Northwest Territories into arctic (Inuit) and sub-arctic (Dene) lands based on a plebiscite. 1995 – The Navaly church bombing is carried out by the Sri Lanka Air Force killing 125 Tamil civilian refugees. 2002 – The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, replacing the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The organization's first chairman is Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa. 2004 – The Senate Report on Iraqi WMD Intelligence is released by the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, casting doubt on the rationale for the Iraq War. 2011 – South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan.

#Events

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ippworld · 3 years ago

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Unprecedented Numbers Of Chinese Predicted To Be Visiting Greece!

China – The Largest Source of Inbound Tourists for Greece… and for The World

At the recently concluded annual China Outbound Travel and Tourism Market (COTTM) event in Beijing held during April 2018, it was evident that China is THE largest source market for inbound tourists. China National Tourism Administration revealed that Chinese tourists last year made over 130 million trips overseas and spent US$115.29 billion during their travels. Their spending numbers are expected to exceed US$163 billion by 2024. China's government statistics account for about 120 million Chinese currently registered with passports.

This is just 9 percent of the country's total population as compared to the 36 percent of USA's population that are registered with passports. With this comparison, it is certain that the Chinese outbound tourism market will continue to flourish with highly sustainable growth numbers in the years to come.

Chinese tourists are expected to be coming to Greece in big numbers. Last year, over 170,000 visited the country in group tours or as individuals. Their arrivals are expected to rise even more rapidly. Surveys on the more significant push–pull factors for visiting Greece are; its history and archeological sites, cultural knowledge, relaxation, escape from the routine, prestige, the blue and white colors of Cyclades, quality service of hotels and last but not least, Greek food and the good organization of events. It was observed in a hotel in Athens that Chinese visitors represent a quarter of their guests. But despite minor issues that concern meals (they prefer food from their own country), their numbers are definitely on the rise. In recent times, hoteliers have been trying to adapt, some are already offering Chinese food, while more and more Chinese restaurants are opening up in Athens as well as in other key cities of Greece.

Related Content:

See Now: How Chinese Tourists Are Going To Bulgaria

To tap into China's enormous travel market, Greek authorities are making visa processing much easier for Chinese nationals as well as increasing on the connectivity between China and Greece. For example, Air China which used to fly to Athens via Munich has launched direct services since 30 September 2017. There are also plenty of scheduled flights from 30 cities in China and flying to Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Crete, Mykonos, Santorini, etc. Chinese holidaymakers planning their travel getaway to Greece have been using Fliggy (formerly known as Alitrip, the online travel platform of China's Alibaba ecosystem). Fliggy is an OTP (OpenTripPlanner) that offers direct connections between the airline and their customers. It has over 200 million registered users.

Customized Travel – A New Norm

At another recently concluded event, the Customized Travel Summit, held in Budapest, Hungary during April 2018, which is the first Business Summit of Ctrip. At the Summit, a report on the customized travel patterns of Chinese visitors to Europe was jointly released by Ctrip and the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute. It cited that Customized Travel is the new norm of outbound tourism where the Chinese traveller is more willing to spend on unique local experiences and with higher demand and taste for more refined, self-coordinated and individualized tours.

Ctrip's Customized Travel website has seen increase of over 120,000 users per month. Through its platform, travel and hospitality chains as well as agencies from around the world are coming together to provide unique travel experiences that are customized, personalized, and transparent for the ever-growing Chinese outbound travel market.

The Writing Is Certainly On The wall

During the first two months of 2018, tourist visas for Greece issued in China increased by 53.5%. The Greek National Tourism Organization Office in China, following its participation in the Guangzhou International Travel Fair 2018 with an impressive 99 m2 pavilion, had announced an increase of 30-40% in travel package signings by travel agents and tour operators in China. Chinese influence gathered momentum through a 67% profile with Piraeus, a home port for cruise liners. COSCO, China's state-owned shipping giant now manages Piraeus Port Authority (PPA). With cruise vacations becoming extremely popular in China, the deal with China Eastern Airlines will provide chartered flights to facilitate the journey from China to Greece. "We want to become a bridge linking Chinese tourists to Greece, to enjoy cruise vacations here", says Fu Chengqiu the CEO of PPA.

Indeed, based on China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi's indication, Greece can expect to welcome 1.5 million Chinese travellers within the next five years – a hefty multi-fold increase from last year!

Chinese Content - A Must-have For Hoteliers & Hospitality Establishments

To vie for a slice of the potentially gigantic influx of Chinese travellers coming to Greece, hoteliers and hospitality business owners intending to engage with the Chinese, or with any other travellers from multi-ethnic markets for that matter, should bear in mind on the age-old adage - ‘Can't read, won't buy' (watch video). It is a natural perception that everybody would want to read and understand product labels or directions, in order to make informed decisions.

As China is known to be Mobile-first, meaning that the Chinese are doing everything on their mobile phones (research, plan, transact, etc.), it is imperative that websites and booking portals are equally optimised and provided with content and instructions in their preferred language. In other words, mobile-friendly websites with Chinese content enjoy higher prominence with keyword searches amongst China's outbound tourists, hence a much better chance to engage for a CTA. Because with content in Chinese, would-be travellers have instant access to a hotel's or hospitality establishment's branding or marketing content.

Consider there are vital information that we want the Chinese audience to be able to comfortably read and understand enticing messages such as, ‘attractive deals', ‘privileges', ‘in-bound tours', ‘where to go', ‘what to eat', ‘what's new', etc. It is a fact no longer are most people relying on printed books or brochures as many of which are soon outdated after publication. While the cost to implement websites with multiple languages is mostly a one-time investment, the returns from the wider reach on social media platforms, from winning more customers in multi-ethnic markets and the financial benefits, are indeed manyfold. https://www.ippworld.com/blog/chinese-tourists-visiting-greece-to-rise-10-fold.html

#transcreation #business translations

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thebeautifulshirtsbloger · 4 years ago

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Mainly the food and booze. Also the internet service. Some have showers although I’ve not needed them as I’ve only really used them outbound. Usually on a layover I visit the city. Schipol in Amsterdam on Christmas Eve is a notable. Wanderering through the Red Light district was great. Ended up in Athens at 1:30 in the morning. On Christmas Day. Glancing up I noticed we were going 110mph from the airport but was too jetlagged to even care. Great trip. The lounge on the way out was nonexistent. Same in Hyderabad. I had reheated French fries at five in the morning because that’s all they had. Don’t even get me going about Panama.

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travelonlinetips-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://travelonlinetips.com/why-summer-holiday-flights-are-always-at-antisocial-times/

Why summer holiday flights are always at antisocial times

Why, asks Carol L, do all the flights this summer to the Canary Islands or Greece either leave the UK or arrive back at antisocial times? They all seem to depart outrageously early or get back extremely late.

“I was looking for a holiday in September 2019 in the Canaries or Halkidiki,” she says. “All the return flight times seem to be landing in the UK after midnight. It is difficult enough with a young family without getting home at 3am.

“Have they stopped doing daytime flights that arrive in the UK early evening, or have all the civilised flights been sold out?”

We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.

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For September holidays, there is no possibility that flights will have sold out. To understand why some flights are at antisocial times, you need to look at the challenges from the airline’s point of view.

Today, the vast majority of holiday flights from the UK originate in the UK. A decade or two ago there were a lot more European players, but formerly significant carriers like Spanair and Olympic’s offshoot Macedonian Airlines have disappeared.

British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, Thomas Cook Airlines and TUI have the outbound holiday market to the Med and beyond almost to themselves. The only significant foreign airline is the Irish low-cost giant, Ryanair, which incidentally now flies about one in four holidaymakers from the UK to Spain – including the Canaries.

In summer, airlines like to fit in as many hours of flying for their planes, pilots and cabin crew as they reasonably can. Between May and October, and especially late July and August, is when they make all their profit. They typically lose money for the rest of the year. Consequently that means starting early and finishing late. But there are limits.

At the back end of the 20th century, I recall taking too many sleepless flights to and from the Mediterranean in the middle of the night. Airlines would typically do something like Alicante and back, then Faro and back during the day.

Then for the graveyard shift they would add a late departure to Athens or Istanbul with departure about 9pm arriving at the destination in the early hours, then turning around to land back in Britain at about 6am, ready for the next day’s activity.

But passengers, it seems, have become less tolerant of flights that get you in to some dismal fluorescent-lit foreign airport at 3am on day one of your holiday, and are waiting at 4am on day seven to take you home.

Overnight flights are also a strain for the extremely hardworking cabin crew and pilots. And with even more intense air-traffic control and weather delays forecast for this summer, it helps to have five or six hours’ buffer to catch up if staff shortage at Karlsruhe control centre or storms over Biscay cause delays.

Instead airlines plan for summer operations with departures starting about 6am, and inbound flights designed to touch down at a time when most people (who tend to have their own cars) can get home in time to have something resembling a night’s sleep. This also has the bonus of making all arrivals at, and departures from, the overseas airports to be at a civilised time.

So, how do these fundamentals work out in practice? Holiday flights from the UK to the Canary Islands and Greek destinations are longer than average. For example, Bristol to Lanzarote and Edinburgh to Thessaloniki (the airport serving Halkidiki) are both about 1,600 miles, which means a flying time of about four hours. (For comparison Bournemouth to Girona is less than half the distance, and just two hours.)

Suppose an airline made the times as civilised as it could for those longer journeys. Can we agree on an 11am departure from the UK and a 8pm arrival back (allowing for an hour on the ground at the far end for unloading, loading and refuelling)? Lovely. That would enable someone living an hour from the airport to leave at perhaps 8am before the outbound flight, and be home by 10pm after the inbound leg.

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But such a comfortable schedule would trash the experience for passengers on the same aircraft during the rest of the day. To squeeze in a “rotation” to somewhere like Alicante or Palma at either end would require a 5am departure from the UK or a 4am arrival back.

Better for the airline to use the same aircraft for a couple of long sectors in a single day, which means something like a 7am departure for either the Canaries or Greek destinations, and getting back at 1am for the other location.

Hence from the average Canary island or Greek airport, there are two waves of UK-bound flights: one around lunchtime and another in mid-evening. While there are some airport combinations with only late arrivals home, such as Fuerteventura to Liverpool and Thessaloniki to Birmingham, for most other locations you can generally find an early morning out/mid-afternoon back option.

Honourable mentions, though, for Jet2’s links from Birmingham, Leeds Bradford and Manchester to Paphos in Cyprus – out at roughly 9am, back at 8pm. But don’t be surprised if you pay a premium for humane flight times.

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ratiram · 6 years ago

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Development of financial infrastructure, introduction of supportive government policies, change in business model of various remitting companies & increased marketing expenditure have been the key factors driving growth in South Africa remittance market.

South Africa domestic and international remittance Market is highly competitive and concentrated. It includes both formal and informal payment services providers. The market has declined in terms of value and volume of transactions however it has seen a rise in terms of average transaction size for outbound business. The decline can be supported by the high transaction fee involved in the remittance business which serves as a dissidence for customers.

High Emigration Population: Number of South Africans leaving the country showcased a positive last 5 year CAGR of almost 3% owing to the compelling job opportunities and prospects in the developed countries. An increase in the emigrant population is indicative of a prosperous remittance business. Emigrants from South Africa have majorly migrated to the developed economies including United Kingdom, Australia, United States, New Zealand, Canada, Angola Botswana and other SADC countries. Few emigrants migrate to the SADC corridor since these economies are highly lagging as compared to South Africa.

Majority of migrants into South Africa are from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and other SADC countries. The trend observed in inbound migration is the result of increased economical opportunities in South Africa compared to the SADC region.

Customer Analysis: The outbound population consists of an almost equal gender ratio in 2018. The maximum number of emigrants falls in the age bracket of 25-29 years followed by 30-34 year population in 2018. The age group of 70-79 years accounts for the lowest emigrants showcasing a share of less than 1% of the population.

Declining Costs: South Africa continues to remain one of the costliest countries to remit money from across the world. The average cost to remit money for 2017 was around 18% of transaction amount which are representative of a decline from a peak of 2013. The increased competition in the market with escalating market share of ADLAs has largely affected the fee structure across the country. ADLAs charge minimal fees of not more than 5% of the transaction amount, making them a market leader in terms of pricing.

Increased Digitalization: The South African market is adopting digitalization at a rapid pace in all aspects including the remittance market. The smart phone users in South Africa have increased to almost 40% in 2018 from close to 11% in 2013. This increased penetration of technologically advanced mobile phones showcases the adoption of mobile wallets, e-wallets and other electronic modes of remittance services across South Africa. This has driven the market considerably during 2013-2018.

Government Support Policies: South Africa Government has been liberalizing their policies and regulatory frameworks for remittance service providers including all entities. The documentation, fee structure and business compliance guidelines have been improvised by the regulators leading to a higher remittance business. The flexibility being adopted by the government is serving as an incentive for both the service providers as well as the customers availing the services.

The report titled “South Africa Domestic and International Remittance Market Outlook to 2023 - By Channels Used (Banking Channels, Retailers, ADLAs & MTOs and Others), Remittance Corridors (Inbound-Outbound and Rural-Urban)” suggests that market will grow at a CAGR of close to 6% in terms of transaction value during the year 2018-2023.

Key Segments Covered in South Africa International Remittance Market:-

By Channels used (Value of Transactions)

Banking channels

ADLAs & MTOs

Retailers

Others

By International Inbound Remittance Flow Corridor (Value of Transactions)

United Kingdom

New Zealand

Australia

Angola

Others

By International Outbound Remittance Flow Corridor (Value of Transactions)

Zimbabwe

Lesotho

Mozambique

Others

By Work Profile (Value of Transactions)

Key Segments Covered in South Africa Domestic Remittance Market

By Channels used (Value of Transactions)

Banking channels

ADLAs & MTOs

Retailers

Others

By Domestic Remittance Flow Corridor (Value of Transactions)

Urban to Rural

Urban to Urban

Rural to Urban

By Work Profile (Value of Transactions)

Key Target Audience

Banks

Money Transfer Operators

ADLAs

M-Wallet Companies

Hawalas

Convenience and Retail Stores

Supermarket Chains

South Africa Reserve Bank

Bills and Payments Companies

Investors & Venture Capital Firms

Time Period Captured in the Report:-

2013-2018 – Historical Period

2019-2023 – Future Forecast

Companies Covered: ABSA Bank Limited, Albaraka Bank Limited, Bidvest Bank Limited, BNP Paribas SA – South Africa Branch, Capitec Bank Limited, China Construction Bank-Johannesburg Branch, Citibank-South Africa, Deutsche Bank AG-Johannesburg Branch, FirstRand Bank Limited, Habib Overseas Bank Limited, HBZ Bank Limited, HSBC Bank PLC–Johannesburg Branch, Investec Bank Limited, JPMorgan Chase Bank-Johannesburg Branch, Mercantile Bank Limited, Nedbank Limited, Sasfin Bank Limited, Société Générale, Standard Chartered Bank–Johannesburg Branch, State Bank of India, The South African Bank of Athens Limited, The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, First National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Bank of China, Bank of Taiwan, Western Union , Money Gram, Hello Paisa, Mama Money, Mukuru, Exchange4Free, Imali Express (Pty), Ace Currency Exchange (Pty), Forex World (Pty) Limited, Global Foreign Exchange (Pty) Limited, Inter Africa Bureau de Change (Pty) Limited, Interchange RSA (Pty) Limited, Master Currency (Pty) Limited, Sikhona Forex (Pty) Limited, Tourvest Financial Services (Pty) Limited, American Express Foreign Exchange Services, Tower Bureau de Change (Pty) Limited, Travelex Africa Foreign Exchange (Pty) Limited, Southeast Exchange Company (South Africa), Terra Payment Services South Africa (RF) (Pty), WorldRemit South Africa (Pty) Limited, Shoprite, Pep Stores, Pick n Pay, Checkers, Spar, Ackermans and Boxers.

Keywords:-

South Africa Remittance Market

South Africa Remittance Industry

South Africa Remittance

South Africa Remittance Report

Remittance Services Competition

Remittance Income South Africa

Major Players South Africa Remittance Market

SWOT South Africa Remittance

Remittance Industry South Africa

Major Players South Africa Remittance

Mama Money Remittance South Africa

Mukuru Remittance South Africa

Exchange4Free Remittance South Africa

Shoprite Remittance South Africa

PEP Stores Remittance South Africa

To Know More About This Report Follow This Link:-

South Africa Domestic and International Remittance Market Outlook to 2023 - By Channels Used (Banking Channels, Retailers, ADLAs & MTOs and Others), Remittance Corridors (Inbound-Outbound and Rural-Urban)

Related Reports by Ken Research:-

Egypt Remittance Market Outlook to 2023 - By Inbound and Outbound Remittance, By Transfer Mode (Bank Transfer, Through Friends or Relatives, Through Agent or Courier, Carried Money on Their Visits, and Others), By Banking and Non-Banking Transfer, By Bill Payment Type (Mobile Services, Internet Services, Utilities, and Others), By Bill Payment Mode (Cash Payments, Card Payments, and Fund Transfers)

Kuwait Remittance Market By Inbound and Outbound International Remittance, By Mode Of Transfer (Electronic And Cash), By Channel (Bank And Non-Bank), By Bill Payment Methods (Cash, Credit/Debit Card/E-Wallet And Electronic Transfers), By Types Of Payment (Grocery Bills, Utility Bills, Fuel Bills, DTH And Broadband Bills And Mobile Recharge Bills) And By Regions – Outlook To 2022

Philippines Money Transfer And Bill Payments Market Outlook To 2023 - By Domestic Remittance Banking And Non Banking (Pawnshops, MTO) Channels, International Remittance Flow Corridors And Channel; Bill Payment Segment

Nigeria Remittance And Bill Payments Market Outlook By Inbound And Outbound International Remittance, By Mode Of Transfer (Cash Or Electronic Transfers), By Channel (Bank And Non-Bank) - Outlook To 2022

Ken Research

Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications

[email protected]

+91-9015378249

#zimbabwe-south africa remittance market

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touristguidebuzz · 7 years ago

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Hong Kong Is Top City For International Visitors Despite China Tensions

Hong Kong is still the top city for international visits despite tensions with mainland China. Pictured are competitors swimming during the annual one-kilometer (0.6-mile) harbor race at the Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong last month. Vincent Yu / Associated Press

Skift Take: Hong Kong has the benefit of being located next to mainland China, the world's largest outbound travel market. But Greece and Italy, benefiting from turmoil in Tunisia and Egypt, are among the more interesting findings, especially since Greece and Italy were already having trouble managing tourism growth.

— Dan Peltier

Hong Kong remains the world’s most visited city by international travelers in spite of strained relations with neighboring China, industry experts said Tuesday.

In a report on the top 100 city destinations that highlights the growth in Asian tourism, market research firm Euromonitor International said 25.7 million arrivals are expected in Hong Kong this year.

The figure is down 3.2 percent compared with 2016, largely because tensions with China have grown this year as Beijing has sought to exercise more control over the territory.

Euromonitor expects the downturn to be short-lived and that growth will pick up again from next year and that arrivals to Hong Kong will reach a massive 45 million by 2025.

Unlike Hong Kong, the Thai capital of Bangkok posted further increases in arrivals this year largely linked to tour packages targeted at first-time travelers from China. Its arrivals in 2017 are expected to be 9.5 percent higher at 21.3 million, a rise that’s pushed it further ahead of London, which remains in the third spot with 19.8 million arrivals.

Visits to London rose 3.4 percent in 2017, largely due to the 15 percent fall in the value of the pound since the country’s vote last year to leave the European Union. That has helped shift perceptions about Britain being an expensive place to visit.

“The currency depreciation has been a boon for inbound tourism into Britain,” said Caroline Bremner, Euromonitor’s head of travel. “It’s now deemed value for money.”

However, Euromonitor warned that the “Brexit bounce” may soon end if the country’s departure from the EU in March 2019 undermines London’s dominant position in the financial industry and its status as a hub for start-up businesses.

The research firm said London is set to slip down to sixth in the rankings in the coming seven years as a result of a rise in travel to Asian cities. Euromonitor expects 47 Asian cities to be in the top 100 by 2025, against 41 now and just 34 in 2010.

“The impact of inter-Asian travel, predominantly from China, in particular, cannot be underestimated,” said Wouter Geerts, Euromonitor’s senior travel analyst and author of the report, which was prepared for the World Travel Market, the industry’s top event. “Asia Pacific is the standout region that has driven change in the travel landscape over the past decade and is expected to continue doing so in the coming decade.”

Elsewhere, the survey found that extremist attacks have had diverging effects in cities. While Istanbul has seen a 5.8 percent decline in arrivals this year to 9.2 million, cities like London, Paris and Barcelona have seen little long-lasting impact.

The report shows that much of the tourism that went to Istanbul and other Mediterranean destinations affected by attacks, like Tunisia and Egypt, have gone to Greece and Italy, which are considered “relatively quiet and stable.”

Greece is set for a record-breaking year, with the Cretan city of Heraklion the fastest-growing in Europe in the top 100, with arrivals up 11.2 percent this year to more than 3 million. Athens, the Greek capital, is also enjoying a boom, with numbers up 10 percent, lifting its position by one to 47th.

For Greece, the surge in visits is particularly important as tourism accounts for a fifth of the economy, which has shrunk by a quarter during its debt crisis of recent years. The World Travel & Tourism Council estimates that tourism in 2017 will help boost the Greek economy by 6.9 percent, supporting nearly a million jobs.

The top U.S. city on the list is New York, which retains the eighth spot after a 3.6 percent increase in arrivals in 2017 to 13.1 million. Miami was the second most-visited U.S. city with 8.1 million arrivals, up 3.1 percent.

This article was written by Pan Pylas from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].

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rollinbrigittenv8 · 7 years ago

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Hong Kong Is Top City For International Visitors Despite China Tensions

— Dan Peltier

Hong Kong remains the world’s most visited city by international travelers in spite of strained relations with neighboring China, industry experts said Tuesday.

The figure is down 3.2 percent compared with 2016, largely because tensions with China have grown this year as Beijing has sought to exercise more control over the territory.

Euromonitor expects the downturn to be short-lived and that growth will pick up again from next year and that arrivals to Hong Kong will reach a massive 45 million by 2025.

“The currency depreciation has been a boon for inbound tourism into Britain,” said Caroline Bremner, Euromonitor’s head of travel. “It’s now deemed value for money.”

This article was written by Pan Pylas from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].

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apexart-journal · 15 days ago

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To Hydra

Hello journal, I'm back from my ferry journeys with tales to tell about a Greek island where people live somewhere in between 100 years in the past and the present. Early Tuesday morning I rode the metro to the ferry terminal (near where I'd just gone to look at the sea), and after some searching around found the ferry that would take me to Hydra. After an uneventful two hour journey, we arrived on this small island. Hydra is remarkable because it adheres to strict rules meant to preserver the integrity of the village. No cars, tractors, or even bicycles are allowed with the exception of vehicles used by the sanitation department. Construction must be done in the old way. People use donkeys to haul goods from the port up to homes and worksites that stack up the side of the steeply sloping landscape. January is the peak of the winter off season and so locals happily take back possession of their town, which is elbow to elbow with tourists in the summer. Many of the restaurants and boutiques that cater to visitors are closed, and it's also when more of the infrastructure work gets done. The most popular coffee shop, right by the ferry drop off point, seemed no less in vogue despite the workers jackhammering into cobblestone streets to install a new sewer line a few feet away from the cafe tables.

Somehow, Hydra has more cats, or at least more density of street cats, than Athens. There seem to be extra efforts to feed and care for them - many are very healthy, but equally many are sick. It's tempting to romanticize cultures that coexist more gracefully with street cats than we do in the US, but behind every photo op of a cute cat is a greater societal issue. I bought some cat treats from one of the pet stores on the island so that I could try out interacting with some of these solicitous and fluffy inhabitants. What I learned is that feeding one cat out in the open will lead to a couple more, then a few more cats running up to you. My best success was feeding a sweet cat who found me on my hike later in the day.

My hotel was in an older building with very high ceilings and a balcony overlooking the town's clocktower - a bit out of some European fantasy that also felt contrasted to the architecture of Athens. I rested a bit and then headed out for my afternoon hike. As much as I attempted to follow the trail suggested by my Apexart guides, the markers in the terrain seemed to have shifted a bit with the addition of a new road, which I wandered down for a good while. At the beginning I passed a giant Jeff Koons sculpture of a golden sun - more on that later. On the outer edges of the town I saw bigger walled off properties, then an empty beach tourism area, then a small farmyard with chickens and ducks that sort of connected to a gravel yard that was supplying the construction. In the distance I could see military forts that I thought I was supposed to hike to, but the trail no longer went there. All along I only saw a few other people. Doubling back, I came to a spot where there was a very clear trail marked. There was a path up the side of a rocky, green hill that pointed back towards town. So, I decided to take it. This ended up being a lot more challenging than the "walk" I thought I was doing. At a few moments I wondered if I should turn back, not knowing what would be next after reaching the top of the hill, which seemed dauntingly far away, but I wanted to see it through. The payoff was pretty magnificent. The view down into the valley and of the town of Hydra was breathtaking. I found a perch and sat for a while, feeling content and proud of myself for getting there, and watching a pair of crows that were flying back and forth. I made my way down carefully, and made a tentative friendship with a donkey as I got back to the outskirts of town, before walking back through the homes.

That night I had a meal in a small, inviting restaurant that seemed to attract a lot of the outsiders in town. It felt a little like being invited into someone's mildly chaotic living room, and the food was good. I ended up chatting with two women, friends, one Scottish and one Belgian, who met after retiring to Hydra. They were in a sort of fun girls clique with the quirky proprietress of the restaurant and their relationship made me think about how small towns can feel both suffocating and genuinely interconnected. I took a walk after dinner to really soak in the quiet of the island and enjoy the stars. It was more of the Milky Way than I'd seen in a long time. I don't think I'd realized how much the urban noise and smog of Athens was getting to me until I got to experience the profound quietness of Hydra at night. All was very still until six in the morning when the bells of the town clocktower started ringing again.

Before leaving the island, I met up with Sotiris, the owner of the English school for local children on Hydra. He filled me in on what drew him to living there and the challenges facing the community. As the population who are accustomed to the specific way of making a living there raise their children, there's a debate over whether it's best to encourage those children to get educations which would probably then attract them to careers away from Hydra, then necessitating that they'd hire immigrants to fill these roles. With the increase of wealthy outsiders buying homes there, it's becoming impossible for regular people, school teachers and police posted there by the government, to afford a place to live. It's a familiar problem, but one made even more obvious by the lack of transportation options. We also dished about the Koons sculpture - apparently a wealthy collector owns a home and an exhibition space on the island which is now becoming part of the art fair circuit. He gave Jeff Koons a solo show last year and the sculpture was produced for that. Koons then sold it to a collector and it remains on the island without any input from the locals on what kind of public art they might like to have. So while everything about the way the place looks is highly regulated, the art world is already finding its loopholes.

This is where I must confess that I went a little rogue on my program and decided that I needed another night away from downtown Athens. Having a clear schedule until the next evening, I booked a hotel room on the island of Poros, the ferry stop between Hydra and Athens. Poros is not unlike Hydra in some ways but it's bigger and allows cars and motorbikes, although most vehicles can't pass up the sides of the hill where the traditional homes are. I found that Poros has the same system of trail maps which allowed me to take another memorable hike through the town and up along the crest of the hill. I found a taverna, maybe the only real restaurant open on the island in winter, for dinner and people watching, and then I had a glorious night of sleep in the quiet of my hotel.

The next day I returned to Athens in time to meet with Nia for our weekly check in, a conversation that I always really enjoy. She's the puzzle-master, the schedule builder, the curriculum maker, and I am here on the ground doing the things, and it's nice for both of us to connect the dots together afterwards. After that, I went to capoiera class in a dance studio in the center of downtown. Surprise! I actually used to study capoeira long ago when I was in college. I've never done it in Athens though, and this class was definitely not for beginners. I really liked the ethos of the group and their commitment to the art form. They were very patient and kind with me as I tried to keep up with them. The thing about capoiera is that you do your best and don't get hung up on the ego of not being able to perform moves the way you'd want to (or the ego of being skilled), but you always push yourself as hard as possible out of respect for the training. Just as you have to learn to sing for when people are playing, engaged in a match, and contribute to that energy, even if your voice isn't great or you don't know all the words. I'm so glad I got to reconnect with that practice, and I am very sore now.

#Alison Kuo #Outbound to Athens

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apexart-journal · 15 days ago

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Finally, the Sea

It was my day off on Saturday, and after a nice coffee and people watching at the farmer's market in the morning, I took the metro to the end of the line so that I could look at the sea. After being here for about two weeks it felt overdue to get close to the water.

Walking and talking (this time on the phone) is one of my favorite things to do in Athens, and somehow I logged over 12 miles without really noticing it.

Sunday morning I tried to rest in the apartment and got some light chores done. I find the stretches of down time during this program, which I usually approach with optimism about "rest" to be some of the most challenging moments. I've grappled with this feeling at home for years, but without the endless available tasks of life, or a studio available to me here, it's starker. In the afternoon, I met up with Alexandra to go to our women's self defense class at a Bruce Lee themed martial arts studio. I'm meant to be trying all new things in this fellowship, but I'm also full of surprises myself. Back home I co-founded a self defense training group for Asian American femmes called Sisters in Self Defense. This class was very different from what we do, and taught in Greek, so it was still a novel experience. Alexandra told me about attacks on women in areas where she's lived and how that's affected her life, and we had a lot of fun training together. And, I learned a new move I really liked that I might teach when I lead my next class.

After self defense, I went on to the Megaron Concert Hall to a screening of a documentary about Greece in the interwar period between 1922-1940. Readers of this blog will know that I've been learning a lot about this time period! It was an unusual context to watch a historical documentary with the well dressed upper crust attendees in a packed-out massive theater. The film presented a lot of primary source photos and moving images of Athens from that time period of great societal change. As I write this, Donald Trump is being inaugurated as president of the United States again. Thinking about political polarization and societal unrest from the distance of time and so many miles from home, in some ways makes everything we are going through now seems like a normal, if still harrowing part of humans doing what we do, and in some ways makes me feel like we are inching closer and closer to the edge of a precipice that we've been flirting with for centuries.

Today I had another helpful therapy session, and then walked over to a shop near Tind's silkscreening studio to buy some ingredients for our lunch: feta cheese, capers, and olives. We met up and hiked to the farthest point on Philopappos Hill where he taught me how to make a field worker's style meal. You first rehydrate a special kind of dried bread, then add crushed tomato, feta, olive oil, and if you're fancy, some dill, rocket greens, capers, and foraged wild green onion. Mix it and let it marinate for a bit but not so much that the bread loses its crunch, and then enjoy. Since my flamenco class tonight was cancelled at the last minute, I'll leave you with some photos of our meal. I'm getting ready to leave early tomorrow morning to catch the ferry to Hydra.

#Alison Kuo #Outbound to Athens

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apexart-journal · 15 days ago

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Catching Up

Hi journal, I have some catching up to do from my last writing. I've been feeling a little under the weather the past few days and not up for putting down anything coherent here.

Tuesday night I went to a language exchange meetup. Since I'm going to activities held in English it's a gamble every time if I'll get to interact with Greek people, so it was nice to find some Athenians and a friendly guy on vacation from Belgium at the event. I also met an American who had been an expat in Athens for many years and was reminded of a certain type of pedantry about the US that people like that can assume. As a former English language teacher I can smell one of my own who has gotten a little to high on their own supply. It's interesting how being in another culture far from home can give one perspective while also introducing the temptation to oversimplify complex matters in which one is no longer immersed. There's something there about running away from pain, or fear, or maybe the burden of empathy. It's probably true too that most people are more interested in dwelling on their local problems, which makes it less rewarding to have a nuanced conversation about American issues, but let's just say that I can't tolerate people joking about things like the LA fires. In any case, I enjoyed the way one of my Greek speaking partners would ask a question of me or someone else and then follow it up with a sort of multiple choice verbal challenge - giving us clear and playful options of how we would feel most comfortable interacting. I think I might use that one.

Wednesday I walked in the National Garden and visited the Zappeion building, which is a part of modern Olympic history here. There are green parrots living all over the gardens, loudly making their presence known and building nests the size of exercise balls, weighing down the branches of the trees. According to my online research, the parrots arrived here in the 1990s, probably as exotic pets that were released into the city, and while they are normally found in hotter climates it's temperate enough here for them to thrive. Given that the gardens themselves are made of a collection of plants and trees from all over the world by Queen Amalia of the Greeks, it seemed almost appropriate for the parrots to be there, sort of blurring the lines between "invasive species" and "exotic collection" in a festively annoying way. There were also some humans quietly making their homes in the park in tents. Who belongs where is a sort of theme of this trip for me, and of current events.

I then went over to the First Cemetery of Athens and wandered through the narrow pathways between the crypts. The landscape felt like visiting a miniature, solemn version of the city. I was surprised to smell the oil of the lamps that burn in from of some of the markers. Of the other scattered people visiting the cemetery I suspect that some of them were there to feel the cat colonies.

I got some lunch afterwards, and when the cashier joked with me that I couldn't pay for my food with my bus card (oops, I could have sworn I was handing him my debit card), I realized that I really wasn't feeling 100% and that it was time to go back to the apartment early and rest.

Thursday morning I watched a lecture of what happened to the Jews of Greece during the Holocaust by Professor Davin Naar. The story really starts with the Greek city of Salonika which was a majority Jewish population for hundreds of years. Again, we link up to the Christian Greek refugees from Smyrna. There was a devastating fire in Salonika in 1917 that paved the way for the city to be used as a relocation site for displaced Christians after 1922. I really recommend listening to the lecture to hear all the facts, but one thing that stuck with me was that the largest Jewish cemetery in the world was once there, and Greeks demolished it to build a university on the site, re-using graves markers for paving stones and even as liners for a swimming pool. Towards the end of World War II, almost all Greek Jews were handed over to the Nazis and sent to concentration camps where they suffered immensely before they were killed. Only one island refused to give up their Jewish population.

As a learn more about the history of this time period, there's a sort of constant unfolding of what parts of the story are being told or purposely omitted. I have yet to learn about what happened to the Muslims living in Greece who were expelled from homes they'd been in for countless generations during the "population exchange."

With a lot of heavy feelings, I went to my first activity of the day, meeting with a couple who owns a really lovely shop called Flaneur. They are situated in the midst of a very touristy area of souvenir shops, but they have a completely different approach to their work. They sell all kinds of items with designs from local Greek artists, posters, t-shirts, stickers, almost all printed here in Athens. We talked about the logistics of how they run their business, the joy they take in building their network of artists and interacting with their customers, and how they area also managing to raise a small child while they do it all.

After that, I took myself on a long walk through the old wholesale section of downtown, which is a mix of old school shops and gentrified businesses, until I found an area where the Chinese dollar stores and wholesalers have their stores. I spend a lot of time in places like this at home, and so I was enraptured to find one after the other in Athens. This eventually led me to an area where they blended with Pakistani and Indian wholesale shops. I noted that there weren't any businesses, like restaurants, groceries, or hair salons, specifically catering to the Chinese workers, but that the Pakistani businesses seem to have adopted to include things that Chinese people would want. At least, I saw the evidence in the produce.

I had my weekly check in with Nia on the phone while I was still walking because I was near enough to my next activity, and when we finished up I checked the map to learn that I was in what some Athenians consider to be the sketchy part of town. The edge of the immigrant area is often like that. All was totally fine though, and I went to the Theater of NO for my joke writing workshop. The students were just me and a very enthusiastic middle aged French woman, who while she could barely contain herself to focus on the writing part had amazing energy onstage. The teacher was a stand up comic originally from San Francisco. She taught us about the structure of jokes needed for a basic stand up routine. I was feeling lost and in an unfunny headspace, but she quickly picked my brain for material, helped me craft it into some efficient one-liners, and got me up on stage to try them out. In the space of an hour, I tried something I'd alway been curious about and found the barrier to entry to be much less intimidating than I'd thought. Liberating!

I decided to stick around for the comedy night. The comedians where good but seemed disappointed that there were initially only about the same number of people in the audience as there were performing, one of whom was a 14 year old boy from Israel. They all agonized onstage about needing to change their dirtier material so as not to harm him, and in the process he almost became a part of the show. He and his mother said they were in Athens because their people were on the wrong side of history. By the end of the performance I was starting to get a little weary of these awkward in-between English speaking spaces, but at the same time the awkwardness and the trying to understand one another seems like part of the project.

OKAY. We made it to today. My late night comedy jaunt set me back and I was kind of feverish today. I didn't want to miss the day's plans and bed rot in the apartment though, so I rallied and made it to the volunteer orientation and an organization in my neighborhood called Khora that provides services to refugees. The meeting was at their free store and when I arrived they were serving their final clients of the day, which included a mom and her two small boys picking up clothes. The orientation was given by a member of the group who explained their non hierarchical structure and consensus based decision making process. We - an exchange student from India and I - were asked to agree to their community guidelines and safety procedures, which I found to be very well thought out. Sadly, the group, which does not accept any government or EU money, is having funding issues and just decided not to renew the lease on their soup kitchen. I do admire the way they arrived at such a hard decision and prioritized the survival of the organization. All in all, the attitude of the place was about doing what you can and treating others with respect while facing the massive injustices of the world with a good humored smile. I'll be going back there for my volunteer shift next week.

My next stop was supposed to be the chess club of Athens, but when I arrived no one was there to answer the door. This may have been an example of "Greek time" - I wonder if they opened later in the evening. Then tonight I went to an English language AA meeting very close to my apartment. It was in a small building dedicated to AA, tucked underneath a staircase in the residential neighborhood. I had never been to an AA meeting before, and admittedly, I'd always been curious about them. There have been other activities I've been to in this program where I was clearly not a part of the target audience, but this was the first time that I felt I really shouldn't have been present. The meeting starts with an explicit statement that it's only for people who are trying not to drink alcohol. Everyone is asked to introduce themselves as alcoholics and share a story of their own experiences. It was emotional and eye-opening, and people were very kind to each other. When it was my turn I said that I didn't feel I could share anything, but that I appreciated the way they cared for each other, and they were very accepting of that.

#Alison Kuo #Outbound to Athens

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apexart-journal · 15 days ago

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Planting and Watering

I was very excited today to go to a "Seed-podding & Planting Walk" in Kypseli, a sweet, multicultural neighborhood not far from where I'm staying. It was hosted as part of a pop up festival put on by a community group called Green Kypseli that aims to help local residents understand the benefits of public green spaces and to inspire them to come up with ideas for what they want to see in their neighborhood. We gathered in a small square and were taught about the seed bombs and plant propagations that they provided and what kind of conditions would be ideal for planting each of them. Then we set out in groups, stopping at empty lots, tree beds, and other opportune spots to add our plants into the landscape, all the while talking about how neighbors were reacting to the project, contested spaces, and ideas that teens from the area had about wanting to start a playground. I found the whole thing to be gentle and effective, and a lot of the participants seemed like they'd be back to help more in the future.

This may have been the last unseasonably sunny and warm January day for a while. It was perfect for the walk, and the rain that started in the evening would be perfect for nurturing the new plantings.

Afterwards, I went to a cafe with one of the other participants, a young British woman who moved in with her Greek grandmother a year and a half ago to strengthen her connection with the language and culture here. She told me she felt adrift in London and has been finding a more purposeful life in Athens. A Greek friend of hers met up with us and they regaled me with some stories of queer mid-twenty-something life: their jobs in social services, going out to clubs with themes like "washing machine," and "formerly owned by Lindsey Lohan," and their pride in doing "unhinged" things.

We parted ways, and I meandered over to my next destination, Catholic Cathedral Basilica of St Dionysius the Areopagite, for their English language Mass. Since I arrived here, I've been curious about how East Asian Greeks live in Athens, who they are and how they're treated here. There's apparently a sizable new Chinese population since the Greek government started issuing passports to foreigners who buy property above a certain value, but there's not really a center of East Asian cultural life. As a mixed race person, I'm pretty aware of the curiosity that other people have about my identity depending on where I am in the world. In Athens I've noticed that people almost always try to speak to me in Greek first, which is flattering, before I apologize and ask for English, and it's a toss up as to whether someone intuits that I'm Asian or not. All to say, I miss the feeling of recognition from strangers on the street, and have had to restrain myself a couple times from talking to random East Asian women I see in public. Well, I have found where at least some of them hang out, and it's at the English language Mass service.

Outside the cathedral I was chatted up by a lovely lady who started speaking to me in Tagalog because she thought I was also Filipino. It was great. I went inside and found that there were pretty much exclusively Filipino people there. I sat in a pew and just enjoyed being in an Asian space. I thought a lot about colonialism and religious conversion - the church has been a wedge for disrupting society in so much of the world and then it comes around to providing spaces of support for people of the global majority living in the diaspora. I haven't been to many Catholic services in my life, and wasn't sure what to expect of this one. As it turns out, the Filipino community there are super enthusiastic volunteers and had showed up an hour early to prepare for the service and lead some prayers. By the time the British priest came out, the church had filled up with a somewhat more mixed group of people and I was already feeling ready to leave. I stayed though for a good while. The theme of the day was the baptism of Christ and the sacred cleansing power of water. At moments I was almost on board with the sermon, but then the smug assertions about how superior baptized people are would throw me off. I had enough of that growing up in Texas. I left as they were preparing to do the communion, giving some final looks to all my temporary Filipino friends.

Back at the apartment, I watched a documentary on the 1922 burning of the city of Smyrna (now Izmikr) and the American Reverend Asa K. Jennings who helped to evacuate an estimated 250,000 Greek and Armenian Christians from the port there. Before the escape, many were brutalized by the Turkish army, and the fire itself was thought to be set on purpose to destroy their homes. While most of the foreign powers who had ships in the port refused to take refugees on board, Jennings was able to negotiate a miraculous deal to get parties on all sides to cooperate. I had never known about this event before, and my reflections on it are multilayered and still vastly under-informed. I can say that it made me think of the current migrant crisis in Europe and the fearful attitudes of many people in Athens have taken to the new refugees here, and of course I think about the genocide unfolding in Gaza over a much longer period of time than the Smyrna fire as the world watches. I also think about the Boxer Rebellion in China where common people took out their rage at imperialist interference into the country on European Christian missionaries and Chinese Christian converts - yes it was violent and horrible but also a real reaction to being forcibly "modernized" by outside countries who had no limit to their greedy ambitions. Human beings are capable of terrible atrocities, and usually there's no American hero to come and save everyone.

#Alison Kuo #Outbound to Athens

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apexart-journal · 15 days ago

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The 230 Bus, Friend or Foe?

Mention to an Athenian that you would like to take the bus and you will get a wistful, sort of darkly comical warning to avoid buses at all costs. This is too bad because I like taking the city bus when I'm traveling - it helps me to orient myself while the metro keeps everything so mysterious. It's also a bit of a hike from my place to the nearest metro station while the bus routes on the map apps tantalize me with near door to door service. But alas, of my many attempts to catch the specific bus I want, which just so happens to be the 230 bus, I've only gotten lucky once so far.

Today I hopped on the 230 and went to hike the Philopappos Hill. I was treated to sunny weather and a gorgeous view of Athens.

I learned what it means to "get lost on the hill" as Tind had encouraged me to do. While there are specific landmarks that one is encouraged to visit, like the "Prison of Socrates" (which is the misleading name of some ancient rooms carved into the rock of the hill), it's equally as gratifying to follow the many footpaths and meanderings that trace around the landscape. One pops up and down into vistas and little valleys carpeted in bright green clover. I navigated as much by the sound of a musician practicing on some kind of horn instrument (I never managed to see them) as my own sense of direction. There were a lot of big land turtles crawling around through the grass.

When I was ready to go back, I saw a 230 bus parked right outside the exit of the park. At first I assumed the driver was on break because he was smoking a cigarette, but after seeing other people try to board the bus and get turned away, I asked if the bus was running. He said "Yes, but not now because the politician is visiting... the buses will start again after 5 or 6, we don't know." I walked to the metro station.

Tonight I decided to walk to the therapist's office because it was in a different direction from where I've mostly been traveling so far and because all the map apps insisted on bus only routes, which seemed risky. I gave myself an hour for what google said would be a 35 minute walk, and it was good I did because I ended up climbing practically half way up the Likavitou Hill to get there. My therapist and I had a very nice conversation, and then being a little horrified that I'd walked there, asked to give me transit directions back. Even she was a bit stymied but made a suggestion, which I then fumbled, then somehow ended up on a bus going in the wrong direction. Nevermind though, because it would have just taken me to a 230 stop which my new bus app informed me had almost no vehicles in service. I decided it was enough for one night and took a 5 euro taxi home. I have an early day tomorrow and am contemplating yet again the bus question. Something in me keeps wanting to try! I feel like I'm learning something meaningful about the culture here via this transportation quest. Let's see.

#Alison Kuo #Outbound to Athens

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apexart-journal · 15 days ago

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Day One

I spent most of my day walking in Athens (about 12.6 miles!) and started to get my bearings here. I met up with one of my local hosts, Tind, so that he could help me set up all my logistical needs (phone, public transportation card, money changing). We did so much more that that though, which Tind credited to Greek hospitality but I think has everything to do with his generosity and engaging nature. I had asked about his recommendations for food shopping and was pleased to find that we share an avid interest in learning about food systems and how to buy things as directly as possible from local, ethical, and non-overpriced sources. I'm looking forward to visiting the farmers market in my area on Saturday.

After our errands, we ended up taking a rambling walk around the downtown to see some markets, including a high ceiling-ed meat and seafood hall that apparently turns into a big party some nights. We then passed through an area that exemplified the recent tourism boom in Athens with streets taken over by bougie brunch cafes and airbnbs. As if to illustrate the dystopian nature of gentrification, we stumbled on a Christmas-themed cafe that took up about two small city blocks worth of space, complete with staff in themed costumes.

We then walked through the park around the Acropolis, talking more about how people use, or don't use, public space. As with New York, there was a freer, communal interest in occupying non-commercial spaces during the pandemic that seemed like it might be the beginning of a new era but has since rolled back. We headed over to Tind's favorite sandwich shop, which I dare not name online even though the owner seems immune to selling-out. Storefront after storefront seemed to have only just transformed from an auto garage or traditional trade based establishment into an upscale restaurant or yoga studio. I shared about the anti-gentrification organizing work that goes on in Manhattan's Chinatown and it seems we have many problems in common, although I again felt grateful for all the tactics that New Yorkers have developed to oppose rapid, thoughtless development as much as we can.

As for the neighborhood where I'm staying, the mystery of the quiet boutiques and coffee shops with neon signs amongst prolific graffiti, political posters, and slapdash building renovations has been solved: if it looks and acts like gentrification then it probably is just that. This area used to be known as a sort of anarchist hub and is now undergoing its makeover.

By the way, the Acropolis is stunningly beautiful. The casual way that ancient ruins are present in this city is probably going to shock me as long as I'm here.

This evening I attended a lecture at the The Netherlands Institute at Athens on the topic of "Mining the textual sources for the economic history of crafts in Classical Athens." I learned about ancient job titles for artisans in Athens, men and women - from carpenters who specialized in building doors to felters to the makers of glass eyes for statues. While crafts people might have been able to become highly specialized and held a bit of status in society, it was interesting and a little sad to note that some had to moonlight as waiters between jobs. We were encouraged not to romanticize the lives of the laborers too much as some where enslaved people who in at least one instance left behind a testimonial about how poorly they were treated. I also learned about Greek curse tablets, which were written on sheets on lead and thrown down wells (or otherwise placed in the ground) thus preserving a quirky historical record that seems to often include descriptions of occupations. Everyone else seemed to know all about these, so I had to look them up when I got back. The audience was very engaged, and it was a bit uncanny to be in a room full of non-Greek academics.

I took a photo of a street cat on my way home because they are everywhere and cute:

#Alison Kuo #Outbound to Athens

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apexart-journal · 15 days ago

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Arrival in Athens

Hello and please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alison Kuo, and I'm an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. When not in my studio, I spend much of my time working as a community arts organizer in Manhattan's Chinatown. Until about a year ago, I was also the Director of Programs at a large international arts residency in Brooklyn where I spent my days hosting artists and curators from all over the world and organizing talks and exhibitions. Now the script is flipped and I'm taking part in the Apex Art Fellowship. My friend and former colleague Media Farzin put me up to this - apparently she knows me all too well. While I've had my share of international travel for my work and have been hosted by artists in places like Nicaragua and Bogota, this fellowship brings with it a whole new level of surrender of control in an unfamiliar city. I'm in suspense as to what will happen when the planner in me takes a backseat to the participant.

Last night/this morning I took a redeye flight from Newark to Athens, arriving here in the late afternoon. My cab driver from the airport was a friendly older man who welcomed me to the city in excellent conversational English. He told me that it's always been his dream to visit the big cities in the US that he knows from the movies, but he doesn't think it will ever happen for him. I asked if he'd travelled in Europe and he started telling me of his career as a chef, living and working in Germany, Portugal and England. He had a traditional Greek restaurant in Athens for 35 years, but that ended in 2010 after the financial collapse. This is why he now drives a cab. As he shared this, his cheerful mood dimmed, and I realized that I was in the company of a fellow artist who had lost hold of something beautiful he'd created due to circumstances far out of his control. When I asked him about his favorite place in Athens, he lit up again, saying that his home outside of the city is the place he loves the most. He finds peace and quiet there and takes great pleasure in cooking for himself and his family. I'm glad he was the first person I met here. First impression: Athens is beautiful and sprawling and smells nice, not exactly like the fragrant island smells of SE Asia but familiar in that way.

After bringing my bags up to my rental place, I went out in search of wifi and food. The neighborhood where I'm staying seems pretty trendy (but not too polished) with lots of bookshops, boutiques, health food stores, and small restaurants. It didn't seem like people were out shopping or eating yet though - I'm curious to see how this area might liven up at other times. After a 9 hour flight I was surprised I had energy to explore, but as soon I ate a sandwich in a cafe I started to feel ready to take a shower and rest. Below is the view from my balcony. I'm grateful to be here and looking forward to tomorrow.

#Alison Kuo #Outbound to Athens

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