Friday, March 23 -- The Flight to Greece
The night before I left for Greece I slept for an hour and spent the rest of the night packing and preparing. It wasn’t until we were half way to the airport that I realized I didn’t have any cash. I hadn’t really given any thought to the money situation at all. I crossed my fingers for a Euro dispensing ATM at the Athens airport and raided the p’s for a few hundred dollars.
At the airport, in STL, barely two hours from home I set my passport bag in a separate bin at the security checkpoint and walked nearly ten feet before I realized that I’d left it. As I raced back to find it untouched, I thought, ‘Am I ready to be traveling to Greece?’ The flight was delayed, and another family traveling to Athens via Delta Airlines was concerned about making their connection. They were on their way to connect with 8+ family members for a cruise through Greece. I plugged in my laptop, sent my final emails and started downloading Law Review articles that I should have reviewed in the last week (thank you cingular wireless).
I slept through most of the flight to New York and was barely awake as I tried to navigate the JFK airport. Thankfully, the Traveling to Greece Family was headed in the same direction so we found our way to the terminal transfer metro thingy together. I found myself with plenty of time to find Olympic Airlines and get to my gate. I was stopped in security; my new (swiss army) computer bag was swiped and set off some sort of alarm. This resulted in the public unpacking of my carefully packed computer and electronic equipment. Honestly, though, the TSA guy was very polite and only became a bit impatient when I wanted to take the time to repack the bag correctly rather than throw the electronic equipment back in.
My airline confirmation said beverage service only, so I found an airport panini that looked surprisingly New Yorkish. I plugged in my computer once again and continued the Law Review article download process. This time Cingular wireless failed me and I found myself frustrated enough to pay $7.95 for the airport wireless Boingo service. Sometime as I waited for the delayed Olympic flight (I would soon find this was not an uncommon occurrence), Gene called wanting me to cancel some phone service. Hello? I’m in the airport on my way to Greece. . .
In my last few moments in the USA, I sent out text goodbyes, switched off my phone and slid into my window seat. The seat was not ideal for 9 hours of travel, because a black electrical box kept me from sliding my laptop bag under the seat and my seatmate spoke only Greek. I spent the air time reading Law Review articles, knowing that I didn’t want to spend my time in Greece with this hanging over my head. I slept for only an hour or two. And spent a few hours watching bits and pieces of several different movies. I was pleasantly surprised by a full dinner and a light breakfast meal served in flight. It was one of the best airline meals I’ve had (not that you get too many of those these days at all): a pasta dish, fresh roll, Greek salad, and some sort of yummy chocolate mouse desert. Sometime during the flight my legs started to ache. As the Greek blocking my exit slept, I tried to stand in my seat area and stretch my legs out. There was a crying baby on the trip, but her voice eventually drained into the background.
Saturday March 24 (10 o'clock ish) -- Arrival in Athens, Greece
