Day 2: London to Athens
By JoeBruin88. Filed in Travels |Tags: Greece, Travels
Virtual Day: We’ve lost ten hours of time, and thus, a day of our trip as well since it was spent commuting. Time has been blurred through lack of sleep on the plane and sitting for an extended amount of time in our passenger seats. One interesting thing I noticed is that after traveling and sitting for over 24 hours, my ankles and feet are swollen.
Odd Procedures: Noticing that the departure gate was finally posted on the monitor for Athens via Olympic Airlines flight 270, Josephine suggested that we make our way to Gate 12 for our 6:00 flight. Strangely, as we approached the departure gates, people queued up in single-file lines. There were five available gates in the section of the terminal we were at. But apparently, like most people around us, we all seemed to be waiting to get inside Gate 12.
Passaporte: I noticed that the airport employees who were helping us were wearing mostly green and red from Air Italia. We had to show our passport again as well as boarding pass. The workers do not seem very friendly.
Babel: The room was a buzz with sounds of strange words, accents, and the unique noises of forming words when the tongue brushes up against your two front teeth. Obviously the primary language being spoken in the departure gate was Greek. After finding an empty seat, exhaustion took over me. After a small protest from Josephine, I rested my head on her shoulder while we waited for the appointed boarding time. London time was 5:30 PM, but we would not board until 6:00 PM—our take-off time was delayed. Next to us, three people and baby in a stroller were talking (the people not the baby). I asked Josephine to translate. Roughly, this is how the conversation went: “Oh I haven’t seen you in a long time. The baby is so big now. You’re so cute, yes you are.”
Haze: For the three hours and 10 minutes from London to Athens, I was in a sleep-deprived haze. Fluctuating between consciousness and sleep, I barely noticed what was going on. The flight attendants seemed kind of strange to me, a different demeanor that kind of said: “You stupid American.” I guess they think we are rude. And we think they are rude.
Variety or lack thereof: Beverage service on the flight consisted of water, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Sprite, or wine. I really wanted ginger ale, but I took water instead, which seemed to disappoint the flight attendant.
Time and Turbulence: Finally, we had arrived. Surprisingly our flight made it on time at 11:45 PM Athens time despite leaving London 45 minutes late. We were greeted seconds before touch down with a roller coaster-like turbo-turbulent air lift that caused many passengers to scream. By far, this was the worst landing we had ever experienced, even more so than riding the little prop plane into Wyoming for Will’s graduation from WyoTech.
Hungry Like the Wolf: After getting our bags, we made our way to the airport exit. There was a horde of people waiting there. In the crowd we expected Aunt Voula and Uncle Chris. Aunt Voula spotted us at about the same time that Josephine spotted her. There were so many people in between us that we made our way to the right around the crowd. I followed Aunt Voula with the digital camcorder as she weaved her way through throngs of people. 26 years could not separate Josephine from her, half a generation ago. In a moment, time and geography would blend into one long hug and lots of kisses between a beloved aunt and her niece.
House: Aunt Voula and Uncle Chris don’t live far from the airport, less than a half hours drive at midnight, no traffic. We were greeted with barking from Channelle and Bella, whose bark is definitely much worse than no bite at all.
Strong Liquor: Metaxa – some strong stuff, Greek cognac. Too strong for me, so despite not really being a liquor drinker, I opted for my cousin’s homemade sour cherry liqueur. It was very sweet. So we stayed up talking and looking at pictures of long-lost cousins and relatives until 2:30 AM.
