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Post by petra on Aug 19, 2009 22:45:58 GMT 2
This summer I met a few new friends during our stay at Pipitsa´s: apart from Stefan(new to this forum/ Stefan: you should become a member!!) and Birgit from Germany, we also met Bob and Bobbie from Scotland and Laurence and Florence from Ireland. Pipitsa and Babis invited all of us and we had a lot of fun; 5 different nationalities together, no problem!! When Bob left, he asked me to post something on the forum for him, and I almost forgot...(sorry Bob): Bob would like to say thank you to the village of Roda / all of the people of Roda, for having such a wonderful time this summer (he was there for 4 weeks). He will be back in Roda soon because of Alex' (Smileys) wedding. On the photo: Bernard, Bob, Laurence And I can only agree with Bob, it was our first time in Roda as a family and although you might all think I have been to Roda a lot, actually it was my second holiday in the village . And just like the first visit back in '81: I loved every minute of it ! Apart from all the friends I met at the FGT's ,I also met a lot of people from the village so I can now say I have a few friends there as well ;D : The Provatas family from Loft rent-a-car, Julie and Steve of course, the Koursaris family of RodaPark, Lucy and Kosta from Holiday wash, Sarah and little Spiros from Crusoes, Stefanos and his sisters from Nemo's, and the Katechis family of Theodoros Pool ,Costa the taxidriver and many more ,not to mention all of (my son) Danny's other friends that we met as well......... It really felt like home and as you will be reading in my sons story in next month's onlinemagazine : "home is where the heart is....!!" Again: thanks Roda for a wonderful holiday!!!
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Post by petra on Aug 29, 2009 14:58:47 GMT 2
Reading back this topic, I realised I made a BIG mistake, I forgot to mention another new friend: Pipitsa Aspioti. How could I forget her . I cannot remember a holiday in Greece (and we have been to a lot of different places) we were this welcome.... As a lot of other forummembers already mentioned, nothing is too much for her to please her customers.. When we first arrived Pipitsa asked me if there was something missing in the appartment, I could only think of a pair of scissors... she went shopping and brought a lot of things to improve the apartments like a coffee maker a.s.o. ,even things we didn't even use during the holidays. She went to the shop , she told me, to buy something worth 30 euros and she ended up spending 300 euros ;D. Later on she brought some beautiful new furniture for our balcony, because she thought we were too tall ( my husband is 1.91 m) for the "old" furniture .... Of course we appreciated her effort very much!!! When we got back home we heard about what happened to her car, so I think there must be people in the village that envy her. She cannot help the fact that she can afford to upgrade her appartments...others should do the same I think. They cannot do the same as Pipitsa of course, but they should consider to have a "critical" look at their apartments and think of ways to improve their apartments as well. I am very much afraid the tourists will be thinking of going to other villages / islands if they don't. For me ,apartments don't have to be luxurious, but I think the tourists of today, MAY not like the basic greek apartments that much anymore..... or maybe they just expect something extra instead, like included airconditioning, a poolbar , wireless internet access (Pipitsa told me she will have this ready by next season) or entertainment. Might be I am right, maybe I am wrong.....but I think it would be a good idea for the people in Roda to work together to try to face the "new customers" (and I don't mean the people from the eastern part of Europe) together and ask someone to do some research about this subject.... in the end they all benefit if they work together !! I already heard the "mayor" of Roda , Dimitris, does all he can to look after the village, but his hands are "tied" because he doesn't have enough budget (money ;D) to do the things he would like to have done, to improve the village, like take measures to stop the speeding in the mainroad (from the trafficlights as far as the beach). Did you know he is doing all this work voluntarily ?? !!!! Meanwhile I am trying to get the people from Holland back to Roda ; maybe Roda and the island of Corfu should try to get the people from the northern part of Europe back first, and while they are trying, improve their apartments a bit !! And Pipitsa: Roda should be proud of you!!! The more fans you get, the less "(spare-)capacity" you have, and the others will benefit in the end as well!!
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Post by guest on Aug 30, 2009 10:39:08 GMT 2
Petra,your last post is just what i have been saying for years re updating apartments.I first went to Roda in 1978 and lived there for 15years and yet a lot of the apartments today are still the same as they were then.Even a comfy chair,a decent oven would help.Todays travellers expect more than these very basic apartments.Time they woke up!!
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Post by treece on Aug 31, 2009 1:26:31 GMT 2
Petra, totally agree with your posts........ except.... you met MEEEEEE too lol and Rob .... ok so i know it was right at the start of your holiday........... a long time ago lol (i am teasing!)
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Post by petra on Aug 31, 2009 15:15:27 GMT 2
Hi Treece, you are right of course , how could I forget. I think you were the first forummember I met (during breakfast) on our first morning in Roda !! It was so nice to meet you as well!! When are you coming over next summer, have you decided already? I didn't say a word about holidays yet, but Bernard insists we are (will be )coming over for a month again next summer... but I would like to go sometime outside the summerseason...but that will be a problem because of work.... and Kelly will have her holiday starting 5th of july I think...so maybe july again for us?! Greetings from sunny (!) holland, petra
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Post by treece on Aug 31, 2009 21:01:58 GMT 2
my sister lives in holland and she is hoping to visit Roda out of season (November time) due to work commitments and her daughter is a medical student. As soon as she has exact dates I will be asking Pipitsa about availability. Rob and I appear to have a pattern of 2/3 weeks end of June beginning of July... we were hoping to come back end of September but that will really depend on if I am fit to travel...
Weather in England ... looks out window.... windy!
Love to everyone x
xxx T
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Post by petra on Sept 1, 2009 19:36:39 GMT 2
Treece, I am very interested how your sister is going to travel to Corfu (from Holland) in the month of november! Can you please tell me if (and how) she has booked her flight?!! thanx !!
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Post by treece on Sept 2, 2009 8:34:33 GMT 2
Petra she hasn't yet... her dates are still to be confirmed by medical school... she says even if she has to fly to england to get out there she will....... i suppose before she starts planning she should really look at how she's going to get there! I will let you know if she manages it xx
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Post by auntiejean on Sept 2, 2009 9:58:25 GMT 2
I believe many people return to Roda year after year due to the fact they can escape the commercialism of many other resorts. I personally loved staying in Eftichia's Apartment for a month this summer. I enjoyed total peace and relaxation without a blaring TV and radio, in the most idyllic situation, virtually on the beach but surrounded by beautiful gardens. To me the wonderful hospitality of my host was worth much more then a few "luxuries". It should also be remembered that if you want more, you'll have to pay more. In the current economic climate Roda represents excellent value for money, which is surely what most people desire?
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Post by petra on Sept 3, 2009 16:02:36 GMT 2
Hi Auntiejean, You are right of course! For me personally, I don´t need luxury like tv a.s.o., although I very much enjoyed having a washing machine ;D ,because we were there for 1 month as well. And having a big cooker was very nice as well because we couldn't go out for dinner every night.... BUT a lot of people seem to have noticed that SOME owners of apartments (NOT ALL OF THEM of course) didn't keep in repair their rooms. Maybe they were thinking the tourists would come anyway, maybe they simply didn't have enough money to invest.....
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jacks
Roda Anorak
Posts: 3,853
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Post by jacks on Sept 15, 2009 20:02:40 GMT 2
I met Bob & Bobbie for the first time, last week too, when they were over for the wedding. Think they might be there, for another week....Not 100% sure.
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