Matt Barrett's Greece Travel Blog

You know how I can never resist a good cause and you also know how I feel about the street merchants who come to your tables when you are in the cafes and restaurants of Athens. Some are crooks. I saw one guy selling tissues and he put a package on top of my friend's phone on the table and then when we didn't want to buy them (since none of us had a cold), he picked up the tissues and along with it the phone. Of course we grabbed him and beat the crap out of him. No not really. We just gave him a dirty look and the owner of the restaurant who happened to witness the event chased him away.

But most of the guys who sell stuff on the street are not crooks, they are just doing what they can to make money. My wife gets mad at me but I usually buy something because they are poor and need money but some of the time whatever it is I have bought turns out to be really good. For example I bought a little laser flashlight that makes a little red dot. I had two cats a hundred yards away from me chasing it. It also has a blue light, probably made from plutonium or something, that I was flashing from the end of the dock in Nafplion and my daughter could see it from our hotel room a mile away on Acronafplio. Probably you could see it from outerspace too. Flowers are nice too, especially if you and your wife have just had a fight. Its a lot easier to buy your wife or girlfriend a flower than it is to talk her out of being pissed off at you. Get gardenias, especially if they smell nice. You can leave them in your hotel room and it will smell like gardenias for days.

But the most practical thing I have every bought (except for an umbrella when it was pouring rain or a calculator the day Greece went from the drachma to the Euro) is this amazing flashlight-screwdriver combo. It has a eight different screwdrivers, in fact it is called the '8 Screwdrivers in One'. I know its not a very exciting name but it is quite descriptive (though it leaves out the flashlight part). When I bought it Andrea got mad at me and said I was the sucker that is born every minute. The next day she was using it and now she loves it. It was the same with the Showtime Rotisserie. She thought I was a fool for buying something I saw on TV until it came the first month we had it we saved about $500 because it was more fun to cook that to go out for dinner. I could go on and on about the Showtime Rotisserie and probably I have somewhere else, but I am not hear to help Ron Popiel make more money. I am here to help the Pakistanis trying to sell these things on the streets of Athens. So what better way to help these guys than to find a beautiful Hollywood Star to be the face that sells a million of the fantastic '8 Screwdrivers in One'.

Unfortunately me and the hundreds of Pakistanis running around Athens don't have enough money to hire a Hollywood starlet so we had to improvise. As it turned out one of Fantasy Travel's clients was Brigitte Bako who though she is Canadian, actually plays a Hollywood actress in her successful television show The G-Spot.(She also plays a hooker in one of my favorite movies Strange Days with Ralph Finnes and Juliette Lewis.) It was not difficult to convince her that the best way to enjoy Athens is to spend her time with me, Matt Barrett, GreeceTravel Guru. Surprisingly she went for it and we walked around the city, me showing her my favorite hangouts and strange friends and some of the important archaeological sites too. We ended up at the Diodos Restaurant by the ancient Agora and of course a Pakistani came by with the wondrous '8 Screwdrivers in One' which I bought for Brigitte, a small memento to remember me by. I also bought for myself the amazing but yet to be cleverly named hammer-pliers-Swiss-army-knife contraption. At the right moment Vassilis, her agent from Fantasy Travel showed up and took a photo. Instant publicity!

So if you want a gift that you will use forever, and that everytime you do you can remember your trip to Greece, don't be so quick to avoid making eye-contact with the guys selling stuff from table to table. Look for the '8 Screwdrivers in One', made popular by Brigitte Bako and Matt Barrett, just 5 euros. ( though BJ Leck got one and paid 9. I think the price is negotiable).

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10/1/2008 Athens, Greece You know how I can never resist a good cause and you also know how I feel about the street merchants who come to your tables when you are in the cafes and restaurants of Athens. Some are crooks. I saw one guy selling tissues and he put a package on top of my friend's phone on the table and then when we didn't want to buy them (since none of us had a cold), he picked up the tissues and along with it the phone. Of course we grabbed him and beat the crap out of him. No not really. We just gave him a dirty look and the owner of the restaurant who happened to witness the event chased him away. But most of the guys who sell stuff on the street are not crooks, they are just doing what they can to make money. My wife gets mad at me but I usually buy something because they are poor and need money but some of the time whatever it is I have bought turns out to be really good. For example I bought a little laser flashlight that makes a little red dot. I had two cats a hundred yards away from me chasing it. It also has a blue light, probably made from plutonium or something, that I was flashing from the end of the dock in Nafplion and my daughter could see it from our hotel room a mile away on Acronafplio. Probably you could see it from outerspace too. Flowers are nice too, especially if you and your wife have just had a fight. Its a lot easier to buy your wife or girlfriend a flower than it is to talk her out of being pissed off at you. Get gardenias, especially if they smell nice. You can leave them in your hotel room and it will smell like gardenias for days. But the most practical thing I have every bought (except for an umbrella when it was pouring rain or a calculator the day Greece went from the drachma to the Euro) is this amazing flashlight-screwdriver combo. It has a eight different screwdrivers, in fact it is called the '8 Screwdrivers in One'. I know its not a very exciting name but it is quite descriptive (though it leaves out the flashlight part). When I bought it Andrea got mad at me and said I was the sucker that is born every minute. The next day she was using it and now she loves it. It was the same with the Showtime Rotisserie. She thought I was a fool for buying something I saw on TV until it came the first month we had it we saved about $500 because it was more fun to cook that to go out for dinner. I could go on and on about the Showtime Rotisserie and probably I have somewhere else, but I am not hear to help Ron Popiel make more money. I am here to help the Pakistanis trying to sell these things on the streets of Athens. So what better way to help these guys than to find a beautiful Hollywood Star to be the face that sells a million of the fantastic '8 Screwdrivers in One'. Unfortunately me and the hundreds of Pakistanis running around Athens don't have enough money to hire a Hollywood starlet so we had to improvise. As it turned out one of Fantasy Travel's clients was Brigitte Bako who though she is Canadian, actually plays a Hollywood actress in her successful television show The G-Spot.(She also plays a hooker in one of my favorite movies Strange Days with Ralph Finnes and Juliette Lewis.) It was not difficult to convince her that the best way to enjoy Athens is to spend her time with me, Matt Barrett, GreeceTravel Guru. Surprisingly she went for it and we walked around the city, me showing her my favorite hangouts and strange friends and some of the important archaeological sites too. We ended up at the Diodos Restaurant by the ancient Agora and of course a Pakistani came by with the wondrous '8 Screwdrivers in One' which I bought for Brigitte, a small memento to remember me by. I also bought for myself the amazing but yet to be cleverly named hammer-pliers-Swiss-army-knife contraption. At the right moment Vassilis, her agent from Fantasy Travel showed up and took a photo. Instant publicity! So if you want a gift that you will use forever, and that everytime you do you can remember your trip to Greece, don't be so quick to avoid making eye-contact with the guys selling stuff from table to table. Look for the '8 Screwdrivers in One', made popular by Brigitte Bako and Matt Barrett, just 5 euros. ( though BJ Leck got one and paid 9. I think the price is negotiable). (Unpaid Advertisement)
"You Can't Live Without These Tools and You Help Others to Live by Buying them!" Famous Movie Star Brigitte Bako and Travel Guru Matt Barrett for the amazing Pakistani-sold 8 Screwdrivers in One and Hammer-Pliers-Thingy. No holiday is complete unless you come home with one of these wondrous tools that will remind you of your vacation in Greece every time you use it. Its perfect to have on the road too. Feeling jet-lagged and can't fall asleep? No problem. The 8 Screwdrivers in One has everything you need to take apart your hotel TV or air-conditioner or even your laptop and put it back together by morning. And with the handy flashlight you can even do it in the dark! With the Hammer-Pliers-Thingy you can take apart and reassemble the furniture. Can you think of a more fun way to spend your first night or two in Athens? How much do you think these wonderful tools cost? $50? $100? Close. They cost between 5 and 10 euros depending on who you buy them from and how much the dollar drops between the time you read this and you go to Greece. But you won't find them in your local Walmart or Home Depot. These are only sold by Pakistani refugees on the streets of Athens and your purchase won't just give you hours of entertainment, it will also allow them to eat. Plus if you buy one and leave it on your table while you eat, nobody selling them will bother since you already have one. Yes. The 8 Screwdrivers in One is not just a practical tool but it works as a repellent to keep other street venders away! So quick. Book your flight to Greece so you can be the first person in your town with the 8 Screwdrivers in One and the Hammer-Pliers-Thingy. BUY THEM NOW!!!!! And buy other stuff from street people and if they aren't selling anything give them money since you have money to travel to Greece and they don't even have enough money to leave.
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