What really happened when we went to Greece
It’s time for us to share what really happened in GREECE.
Brooke and I were invited on a Guided Tour of Greece by a girl named Josie who created a company called Book Your Bucket List. She reached out to us 6 months prior to the May 2019 trip. We used that time to create a detailed media and promotion plan leading up to the trip.
Greece group tour grows by four
After sharing our dream itinerary with friends and family, four girls decided to join the trip with us. Two close friends and two family members. They got on the phone with Josie, gave her their credit card information, and were told everything was good to go.
The red flags before the trip
As part of our promotional plan, we began promoting Book Your Bucket List at the beginning of May. This included dozens of endorsements from us, encouragement to check out their trips, and of course to BOOK your dream vacation with them.
One Week To Go
With just one week to go before the trip, we had NOTHING from Josie. No confirmation numbers, no flight information, and nothing telling us what to do when we landed in Athens. We decided to reach out and see if she would meet us in person so we could further promote the trip by her answering questions from our followers. She agreed, so we met up at the state capitol and chatted for about 5 minutes before she said she had to go. During that time we told her we were getting nervous that nothing had been sent to us. She immediately said that her team told her they had sent everything and that their email server had been having problems. She promised to get ALL of the trip information sent to us that night.
Hanging On
At this point, we hung onto that little lie as hard as we could and told ourselves everything was going to be fine. Brooke also had been in contact with a fellow blogger that had been taken on a guided tour of Australia with Josie. From the first moment Josie reached out, Brooke had been talking with her friend who had encouraged her to go on a trip with Josie. She told her that although Josie was last minute in sending trip information and confirmations, it would be amazing once we got to Athens…
Landing In Athens
When we landed in Athens after 16 hours of flying we were told that the Book Your Bucket List team would be waiting for us with our transportation to take us to the 5-star hotel listed on the itinerary. When we landed in Athens, the “team” was two girls that clearly had no idea what was going on.
Waiting for an Uber
The girls had us sit and wait for around an hour with no explanation of what was going on. We finally started inquiring about the so-called transportation and where it might be because according to the itinerary we were supposed to be standing in front of the Parthenon at that VERY MOMENT! As we sat at the airport waiting for a “van” that never showed up. The fake tour guide then told us she was calling an Uber. Well, all of us have used Uber before and know that it takes less than 5 minutes for your driver to arrive – we waited another excruciating hour on the airport curb – for the so-called Uber. At that point, we told her we were going to take taxis. At this point she told us we needed to drop our bags off at an Airbnb she claimed we were staying in. This was confusing because we had all been sent the name of a 5-star hotel in downtown Greece that we were supposed to be staying in. We decided to call the hotel to see if we had reservations and could drop our bags off, upon reaching the front desk they quickly told us they were completely booked for the night and there were absolutely NO RESERVATIONS for anyone with Book Your Bucket List.
Lost Somewhere In Athens
After 45 minutes in taxis, we were dropped off on the curb of the Airbnb. Except that it was not an Airbnb it was a sketchy neighborhood in the middle of Athens with residents in all the homes and no rental space in sight. At this point, the “tour guide” tried to leave us sitting on the curb with all of our luggage. We chased her taxi down and climbed back in telling her she could not lose us that fast and that she needed to fix the problem.
Tour Guide
As a tour guide, you would think that you would be on your very best behavior for clients and answer any questions that they might have. This was not the case. Our “tour guide” decided to mention that she wasn’t actually a Book Your Bucket List employee and that she had been to Athens once before about 7 years ago. When we asked her what was truly going on, she refused to answer and would not give us any information.
Furious
After we were taken to the wrong Airbnb location and presumed that there probably was not a rented Airbnb space waiting for us we decided to take the matter into our own hands. We searched for the closest recognizable hotel and happened upon a Hilton. We told our (exhausted) taxi drivers that would be our final destination and we would wait there until Josie landed and could make things right for our trip.
The Waiting Game
We sat in the Hilton hotel lobby in Athens for 8 hours waiting for Josie to arrive and explain herself. During this time the “tour guide” did not offer to get us a meal or help make any of the supposed itinerary for that day happen which was supposed to be the Parthenon and a cooking class for dinner. We were exhausted, hungry, and incredibly disappointed.
She arrived
Josie arrived at the Hilton and did not offer apologies, just said there were some misunderstandings. We told her we had called the hotels on the itinerary SHE MADE and none of them had reservations for us or if they did they said the reservation could not be completed because her credit card had been declined. We asked for confirmation numbers for the rest of the trip and she gave us NOTHING. It was infuriating. Not once did she apologize or try to make it right.
Taking it into our own hands
Realizing that our dream trip and itinerary were completely made up, we got together and decided we could either fly home broken hearted and distraught or try to make the most of our time left in Greece. We all agreed that we would sleep on it and make a decision in the morning. At breakfast the next day, we all came to an agreement that we wanted to book the rest of the trip ourselves. In one hour, the six of us planned everything.
The rest of the trip
We have talked about the highlights of the trip in posts like where to eat while you are in Greece, 8 Things to See in Santorini, and What to Know if You Are An American Travelling to Greece. The rest of the trip was superb. Our Airbnb came complete with a pool and housekeeper that showed us the ropes for Santorini. The rest of the trip showed us why people talk about Greece the way they do. It was shockingly beautiful.
Coming home
Soon after returning home to Utah we started sharing our experience to warn other travelers or prospective clients and found out that Book Your Bucket List has done this same thing to dozens of other people. Countless people shared their experience of booking their dream vacation, only to show up at the airport and have no flights booked or a trip canceled.
Refunds and Closure
No one has received any kind of refund. The owner posted names of people from our group with fake refund pictures. She truly stops at nothing. And sadly, we have learned that our experience is just the tip of the iceberg for her criminal activity.
Justice
The case is now in the hands of law enforcement and the FBI. We hope to share more details when justice is served and she can no longer take advantage of travelers seeking a fun adventure.
Last Note
If you know someone else who has been scammed by Book Your Bucketlist, please have them reach out to us. We try to keep our blog a happy and positive place, but we do not want to see one more person get scammed!
