About Me
So… you’ve made it to the part where you want to personally stalk me a little to see if I’m your person? Cool!
Spoiler alert—I might not be.
But if you’re willing to stick around for a story & find out, here it is.
The Basics
Hi!
I’m Melissa Fountas, founder of ‘Ela Opa! Travel. But truth be told, I didn’t exactly plan to take on this role.
You see… I didn’t even have a passport until my mid-20s. I’m not one of those “been to 89 countries and counting” types who suddenly decided to “turn my PaSsIoN for travel into a business” (oh, that phrase makes me puke in my mouth every time I see a fresh MLM Fora agent pop up on Instagram).
Nope. I was born and raised in small-town Nebraska, and I accidentally married a Greek man. Yes, accidentally - because a charming accent and a few trips to Greece could make any feminist put her guard down long enough to get married and have two kids.
And we’re not talking Greek-American here. We’re talking Greek-Greek. My husband, Demetri, grew up in Athens, and his mom, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles—you get the idea—are all still there. So, every summer, we go back.
And actually…if you’re reading this after July 2025 - we live in Athens, Greece now!
My First Greek Experience
The first place I ever rested my head in Greece? A tiny village in the Peloponnese. No air conditioning (a shock for little Miss Central-Air America), an outdoor bathroom, and sticky little geckos falling from the ceiling. My first shower was ice-cold because no one told me I had to heat the water first. There was definitely a good cry somewhere in between all that.
Not exactly your infinity-pool-on-the-cliffs-of-Santorini-with-champagne-in-hand kind of Greece experience.
But in addition to that…OH, you know I had to do the American-thing and go to Mykonos & Santorini on that first trip. And I loved them, and I hated Athens. I was the Susie-stereotype of an American tourist (hey…our 20s are for learning, right?!), I just happened to be dating an Athenian who pulled back the curtain on real life in Greece.
The Becoming
Visiting Greece every summer, gave me the opportunity to get creative with new destinations each year. And forcing Athens on me multiple times, actually gifted me the understanding & deep-love I have for the city today.
And let me tell you—the more time I spent experiencing real Greece, the more jarring places like Mykonos & Santorini felt. Watching people visit these islands and think they had “seen Greece” was painful. No, my friends, that is Disneyland Greece - the kind manufactured for the tourism machine.
And if someone so much as cracked open the door on the Mykonos & Santorini conversation, I was shoving my entire body through it, complete with song & dance & jazz-hands, to make sure they knew the truth.
So, naturally, I became that person - the person who knew where the real places were in Greece, how to get to them, and how to enjoy them to the max.
Learning Things the Hard Way
The logistics of it all - the smoothest ways to get around, finding the best beaches & restaurants, figuring out what’s a tourist trap vs. popular because it’s actually amazing —came from years of trial and error.
A LOT of moving around Greece on all kinds of transportation.
A LOT of absorbing processes & taking mental notes of what felt confusing to me as an American.
And A LOT of good ol’ fashion, fucking things up.
Wasted travel time. Too few nights in places that needed double the time. Bad meals. Airbnbs on the wrong side of the island. Taking the Athens metro the wrong way. Parking illegally. Wearing high heels on cobblestone. Taking a 7-hour hike in July. Ordering Coca-Cola Light (THIS is not Diet Coke—it’s its evil twin).
I can’t even tell you how many mistakes I’ve made. I’m just a regular traveling human…that happens to make all of my traveling mistakes in one place - Greece. And as such, I’ve amassed a huge Greece library of do’s & don’ts along the way.
Why I Do What I Do
As I mentioned above in The Basics, I’m only Greek by association. I’m a purebred product of Midwest, America. I didn’t even know a Greek person until my 20s.
I used to be kind of embarrassed about this…like why would anyone trust me to plan their trip to Greece when it’s not even my own culture?!
Over the years, I realized that not being Greek is actually a serious flex. I’ve spent 16 years deeply exploring Greece - not from a tourist’s perspective, but as an outsider observing authentic, local Greek life.
The things that confuse you now? They confused me once, too. The culture shocks that wouldn’t faze a Greek (and therefore, they’d never think to warn you about)? They hit me just as hard.
That’s why I do what I do - so I can say:
"Hey… just so you know, XYZ is going to feel weird, but it’s totally normal. Just roll with it." Or, “never order a Caesar salad in Greece…it’s not what you think.”
Flash forward through the growing pains of accepting my non-Greek heritage, the Greek-American community is one of my biggest support systems, and actually account for over half of my clients each year.
When the people who know, know you know your shit ;) …I know I’m in the right line of work.
Who I Work With
So yeah, to recap: I’m Melissa. A native Nebraskan, married with two kids. Business degree in Marketing. Did life exactly as society expected me to until my mid-30s, when I said ‘fuck this shit’.
I worked for a traditional travel agency just long enough to build a business plan that was the exact opposite of it. Then COVID happened.
And in 2021, like so many others, I had a COVID-baby - and I named her ‘Ela Opa! Travel.
I design and implement trips to Greece for nice people who know how to travel well.
Travel WELL.
That doesn’t mean the most expensive. Or budget travel. Or only exclusive experiences.
When I say “people who travel well,” I mean people who recognize the value of a moment - big or small. People who understand that true freedom in travel comes from having a few really good parameters in place. People who ask for advice, listen when it’s given, and ask questions when they have them.
If that’s you, I’m your person.
If that’s not you? Wow—the commitment of reading this entire memoir is admirable. You should go get yourself a treat for that.
When you’re ready to take ALL OF THAT, and put it to work on your own trip to Greece - you know where to find me.
If you’re ready to get started, download the current Service & Pricing Guide or schedule your How It Works call.
If you read this whole About Me section, I have some SERIOUS catching up to do on your story.
I’m looking forward to hearing it. :)
- Melissa
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