This is my first post so please treat me gently.
I've been looking through the various topics - great forum! 
I'm just in the process of planning a backpacking island hopping holiday for myself, wife and 2 adult daughters. Unfortunately both my wife and my eldest daughter are in education so the only time we can get away is late July / August. 
I island hopped a little bit about 20 years ago, my wife about 25 years ago and both of my daughters have backpacked around the world so we're going into it with our eyes open and are looking forward to roughing it a bit in budget priced pensions, zimmers, rooms or whatever they're called now. I'm hoping that this will let us see the more personable side of cottage industry tourism.
What I'm wondering is how much it has changed since the 80's in terms of price (and availabilty) of rooms, food and ferries. I've heard that the demise of the drachma has inflated prices to on a par with the UK and that the ferries aren't so state subsidised. So how much is a typical simple room with shared bathroom at this time of year? I've heard that facilities have generally improved and that rooms with private bathroom and kitchenette are commonplace now - how much are these? What is availability like? Generally I used to ignore the ferry greeting hagglers and wander the backstreets at my leisure looking for a zimmer/pension/room etc. Is that still a good plan? How much is say a typical 2 hour ferry crossing? And how much would a typical evening meal and drinks cost if we wandered through some of the back streets to find a taverna frequented by locals?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Many thanks,
Chris
