Helen Charlton
thanks for your help, and sorry for the delay in replying, soooo busy.

cheers Gray

hi looney
just a thought I was talking to a couple today who bought out with them a pre-paid card and none of the restaurants took them they could only get money from the cash machines with it,maybe be an idea just to bring travellers cheques with you thats in kefalos maybe kos town or kardamena its ok.

Hi Rita
thanks for that, what about a natwest solo?cirrus/meastro card, the bank say it can be used abroad, but i cant find a machine locator for it in kos/kefalos any ideas.

i think the cirius card is now master card yo can use the atm finder on page one of the atm thread in general enquiries forum use greece for country and kos for the town it usualy brings up all avilable on the island

wizard

I think its best to bring travellers cheques and a visa/delta as maestro is a bit is not always accepted.and a credit card as back-up.

I'm just back from Kos and the airport experience was shocking.

Arrivals was fine - 2 carousels, toilets relatively clean with a short queue, baggage arrived quickly

Departures was awful. Our transfer coach arrived 3 1/2 hours before departure on Wednesday where we witnessed 3 or 4 queues that ran the length of the terminal.

Our reps managed to get us at the front of the XL Manchester queue - against a wall - excellent work Libra. But everywhere else there was chaos. reps from 10 different companies only bothered about their own flights (understandably) so many people arriving independently couldn't find the right queue.

We were led inside to queue for check in - 1 exray machine between 3 check in desks - fo some reason they were checking in later flights before us but noone told us why. Some bags were xrayed just given a sticker.

When we finally got through check in after 90 minutes (and we were only 4th in the queue) we went though security (two xrays, 2 metal detectors, 1 guard) and into the waiting lounge.

Absolutely packed - there were no seats and barely room to stand. it was obvious most of the flights were delayed but there was information about why.

The lounge is divided into 2 with duty free toilets and coffee bar on the first side with 3 gates, and on the other side of the wall - after passport control are the other 2 gates.

All UK flights have to go through passport control - but they won't let you through until your flight is called and as there are only 2 gates you have to wait for the other flights to board first.

They must have called the last passenger for the gatwick flight 12 times or more before they finally turned up.

Zebedee,
Was yours a night flight or daytime flight departing Kos?

Cheers,
Jet

It was daytime - XLA to Manchester at 3pm - I think we left about 4.30 in the end and in my opinion was no fault of excel.

We had a pretty lousy experience of Kos airport about 18 months ago and ours were night flights. Going it took about an hour and a half to get our luggage and the arrivals hall was heaving with people, all pushing and shoving and unable to move.

Coming back we were picked up from our apartment about 1.30am. We then queued for an hour and a half on the tarmac to get through the scanners and then a further 40 minutes to check in - all in the early hours when all you really wanted to do was sleep. I reckon the only reason people didn't complain was that they were half asleep!

We must have been lucky then...

We came back on 22nd June, but it was a night flight (as in 1.00am take-off) Decided just to go with the tour bus, but had absolutely no problems.

Yes, they have an abysmal checkin service, whereby only 8 were getting through at a time, but it was very quiet so we were in within 30 minutes.

Cheers,
Jinty

Hi we are visiting Manolis Studios on 23rd Sept for 1 week. It says rooms have sea views. Does anyone know if ALL the rooms have sea views, or are some just pool views?
Plus does anyone have an email address for the studios.
Thanks for your help

Not stayed there....but at a guess I would say all the 1st floor ones have sea view...unless there are any tucked at the back

I've been to Kos 20 times now....
The airport is bad but not at bad as it used to be.
Yes if flights are delayed (one person said no flights had left in 24 hours well it would be bad)
Daytime is not too bad.
We always leave 3pm ish on the Wednesday and there's queues but have to say the queue at gatwick is worse.
There is facitlities (food, drink, toilets and shop) and expensive just like UK airports.
Have to say I wouldn't like to be on the night flights out of Kos....

Thanks Status. We did request a first floor room. I will try and get their email address and write to them before we travel and request a room with a sea view.
Looking forward to Kos, We've never been. been to lots of the other Greek Islands but wanted to try Kos for a change.
Thanks again

Thinking of a last minute (reasonably cheapie! ) week to Kos in October - possibly the 2nd week - just wondering a) how hot it will be and b) how expensive/inexpensive it is likely to be ? We have found in recent years that "well known" islands like Rhodes , Kefalonia are getting a wee bit expensive and lesser known like Lesvos , Samos etc are less so - just wondered if anyone could give us any idea?
Thanks GL

There are 14 studios - 7 on each floor. There are 12 balconies along the front of the building and 2 on the side over looking the pool.

We were on the front on the first floor and had an excellent sea view.

The lower floor views might be slightly obscured by trees but they are all facing the sea.

The studios are quite high up, overlooking the bay.

I think Libra allocate the rooms rather than the Manolis family

Thanks Zebedee thats fantastic. We did request a first floor room when we booked with Libra, so fingers crossed. First time to Kos for us, looking forward to it, only a week to go. Did you find the apartments ok?

I thought the apartments were great. Basic, but everything you need.

They are on the main road but still in a fairly quiet location. Because there are houses around, and the apartments are family run you feel like you are staying in real greece rather than a resort, but you are in a very short walk of everything you could need.

Kefalos has a big pool bar culture. I really liked the pool at Manolis and made an effort to buy food and drinks from the snack bar everyday but there are others around if you want somewhere more lively.

Babis and his sisters run the apartments and the snack bar and put a lot of effort into making it nice so if you can spend some time there rather than just sleeping there. You can hire fans and safety deposit boxes when you arrive - no one told us this until the wlecome meeting on the second day!

Places I reccomend are Jim's supermarket, and his brothers restaurant. These are closest to Manolis and very cheap.

Avoid Dolphin pool bar and Rock Garden - very expensive and poor quality.

Thanks Zebedee, thats great, youve been a great help. Only 9 sleeps to go!!!!