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The best travel buy in Europe this year is Greece, which is going all out to provide shelter and restaurants for visitors. The country's fanciest hotel, Athens' Grande-Bretagne, charges only $12 for the most luxurious double room in the house; dinner at the best restaurant costs from $1.50 to $2.25. With help from Ralph Reed (who called the Parthenon "that little house on the hill" on his last visit), Greece built up its tourist program from scratch in 1951 and earned $30 million—equal to 10% of the national budget—from tourists in 1955. Greece boasts only a few nightclubs, but offers top cultural fare, e.g., the drama festival (starring Katina Paxinou) at Epidauros in June and July.
The Big Tipper. Of all the American tourists who will squeeze half a dozen countries into a few fleeting weeks this summer, none will cover more territory than Ralph Reed, who will leave for Europe in three weeks. He not only is an indefatigable traveler, accompanied by his wife Edna, daughter Phyllis, 30, and secretary Eleanor Williams, but on yearly or twice-yearly trips abroad personifies Point Five sumptuousness. As an associate remarked recently: "The Old Man travels like the Aga Khan."
Last year stocky (5 ft. 7 in., 190 Ibs.), square-jawed Travelman Reed rolled stylishly through Germany and Italy in an overstuffed, five-bedroom, private railroad car (cost: $428.80 for 800 miles), which was originally built for Goring. On a trip through Egypt, the government gave Reed ex-King Farouk's two-car diesel train. When he stays in a foreign capital, Reed is saluted as the international host with the most; e.g., he rented the entire first floor of London's Hotel Savoy to entertain 500 cocktail guests last year. Exclaimed one awed Londoner: "If all American Express customers tipped the way Reed does, the economy of Britain would be saved!"
Toughest Test. For American Expressmen from Belfast to Bonn, Reed's arrival in Europe this month will be the tourist season's toughest test. Inspecting an American Express branch overseas, Reed peers into cash drawers, spouts up-to-the-minute figures on local conditions, strides through the office dictating to two secretaries and scribbling in his own notebook. After a flying visit to the British Isles last year, in which he whisked through 24 offices in three days, Reed sent up a barrage of orders that rolled on for weeks, e.g., "change the pictures in Birmingham," "the cashiers in Dublin leave their cash drawers open."
When Reed arrived in Madrid in 1954 and told Manager Richard H. Henry to arrange an appointment with Finance Minister Gomez y de Llano, Henry cautioned: "That will take a little time." Replied Reed: "That's all right. Just so I see him today or tomorrow." Two hours later, having conferred with Gomez, the U.S. Ambassador and half a dozen other U.S. officials, Reed was on a plane to Rome.