Homeward Bound
We watched the sun rise over the hills outside of Athens on our way to the airport Monday morning as we said goodbye to the city. Jeanne and Vic gave us gifts when we first arrived, his and hers Kompoloy, or worry beads. Mine has the blue and white evil eye stone, a protection from evil, and I think it’s done a pretty good job. It certainly has in getting us through the madness of a tourist-clogged airport with a last minute gate change and a bunch of French tourists that couldn’t understand the gate announcements. We had a fairly bumpy flight to Charles DeGaulle, and we damn near killed ourselves on what we thought was an escalator that ended up being a downhill moving ramp. I’ve never been on one of those before!
The French do lots of things right: bread, croissant, cheese, Champagne, perfume, Gerard Depardieu. But they need to get their act together at the airport. We landed at Terminal 1, and nowhere was there flight information to tell us what terminal or gate our flight to Montreal left from. We were unsure if we needed to exit or if we’d be put through an additional security check with a tight connection. We finally went for it because we could see an information desk, and sure enough we needed to exit the terminal, take a tram 4 stops, past parking and hotels, to get to the next terminal, go through passport control and security and then hoof it to the gate, which, of course, was as far as you could walk from where we started. And why in the US are we made to take off our shoes at security when people at airports in the EU are not? I seem to recall most of the culprits trying to blow up planes were not originating inside the US. This does not seem right.
They were beginning the boarding process when we arrived, just a bit too close for comfort. We didn’t even have time to hit a restroom on the way to the gate. I slipped into the lav on the plane even before I dropped my bags at my seat. And speaking of bags, European airports don’t seem to give a shit how many bags you bring on the plane. We saw people with 2 full size roller bags, and a backpack, and a briefcase board without a second look from the gate agent. The TSA agents at home would have been on them like white on rice.
I’ll admit our routing was not ideal, and trust me when I say that if you are watching fares on Kayak and they tell you not to buy because they think the fares will drop don’t believe them. We could have bought a one-stop flight on Turkish Air for what this two-stop flight on Air Canada/Aegean Air cost us, but I waited too long.
I thought we had ample time to change planes in Paris but I was mistaken. Two hours was cutting it close, and I never got a chance to shop! Lesson learned. It was nice to see lavender growing on their roadways between tram stops, though, hear yet another language being spoken, and smell all the great perfume as we passed the duty free.
As airline food goes I have to say Aegean Air’s phyllo cheese pastries and Greek yogurt with honey made a nice breakfast, and Air Canada’s chicken in red pepper sauce was pretty tasty as well. They failed the mission on some mayonnaise-dressed cooked vegetable salad, though. C’est la vie.
Clearing US customs in Canada was quite easy and saved some time in Boston. We were early enough that we paid to change our flight to 4:30PM from 6:30PM, as my leg rash was not only worse but it was looking like cellulitis and my legs had swelled to the point where I could hardly wear my shoes and walking was difficult. We hotfooted it directly to the hospital from the airport and I was checked for DVT (deep vein thrombosis, which they warn you about on long flights and almost killed Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame several years ago). No blood clots, no fever, and the blood work proved fine, so cellulitis it was. I was given antibiotics and spent Tuesday with my legs up, but WITHOUT an Internet connection, which is why these are late and bunched up. As of Wednesday the swelling is gone and the rash is fading. It makes me wonder if my swollen ankles earlier in the trip were an early indicator. So odd, though, as I had NO swelling when the rash started. Perhaps my kompoloy was keeping me safe until I got out of Greece.
I guessed this had been about a 5-pound vacation, but Wednesday when I weighed in at Weight Watchers it turned out only to be 2.4 pounds. I was ecstatic. It’s so easy to say. “We did all that walking, of course it’s OK to have dessert.” Or, “there’s so much to choose from, I’ll just take a little of everything,” and before you know it there are four pounds of food on your plate. And the drinks and wine on Azamara cruises are included in the price, so, “sure, I’ll have another cocktail.” Man, that was fun.
Never having visited Greece (and having excursions included in the cruise price) we felt compelled to see the sights in each port in an “If It’s Tuesday This Must Be Belgium” kind of way. And while I enjoyed most every one of them I think if we go back again we may have to quote Leo: “If you’ve seen one pile of rocks you’ve seen them all” and just sit in a café and soak up the scenery instead of running all over creation trying not to miss anything. But I am so thrilled to have been able to see what we saw, and to tic them off in my 1000 Places to See Before You Die book. And most especially that we were able to travel with Vic, Jeanne, Victoria, Shana, George and Leo. They were all great travel companions, fun to be with, fellow foodies, movie buffs, and just great company in general. We laughed a lot, ate a lot, and talked a lot. We owe them our thanks for the invitation and for taking such good care of us on this trip of a lifetime.
So, Dear Readers, keep traveling. It challenges our worldview and broadens our horizons!
ευχαριστώ (thanks) for coming along.
