1. Greece, Round Two
Getting There is the Hardest Part
Well, I have been a bit remiss in recording my adventures, so I will have to do my best to recall my trip from photos, dreams, text conversations with my Mom and suchlike. These are just anecdotes from my adventures posted for family and friends, but if anyone else enjoys reading my observations, please feel free to come along for the ride! This is not meant to be correct, informative or helpful for travelers. If you need real information about traveling in Greece, please contact your local embassy or reputable online source.
I was here last year with my daughter for two weeks and it wasn’t enough time to see all that Greece has to offer, but after two weeks together, my daughter determined that she is too old to travel with Mommy. And honestly, I’m too old to travel with her. On our first day in Athens, we walked ten miles in 90 degree heat. The second day, Veronica walked ten more miles by herself while I lay on the bed groaning softly.
I was a little bit apprehensive about traveling alone as it’s been a while since I did a solo trip. The last time was a good 30 years ago when I was in college, I participated in the exchange program at the University of Amsterdam. I was dumb and reckless then. Now I’m just dumb. But I really wanted to see more of Greece and I was determined to force myself out of my comfort cave and wander a foreign country alone.
One of the biggest advantages to traveling by myself is that I can do whatever I want all day long. Climb a mountain? Sure! Refrain from climbing a mountain? I can do that too. It’s a kind of freedom I don’t think I’ve ever known. When I was young, travel was always with family. Since then, I have been married, partnered and/or raising children. Now I am single, retired and the kids are grown. This is the first time I’ve stepped out of my sphere and just lived life. And let me tell you, I am living it!
ATHENS
I was able to get a free flight from San Francisco using my frequent flyer miles (score). That’s the upside. The downside was it took two days to get here. But for free, I’ll layover in any airport for any amount of time. I flew nonstop to London on British Airways and it was a delightful experience.
As most travelers know, on every flight, in every city, the last people to board are the first people to line up. The people in boarding group A are stuck behind 150 people in boarding group F who just stand there, oblivious, blocking the jetway. I guess that never bothered me before because I was the one boarding with the last group, blithely standing in the way.
Now with my frequent flyer status, I get to priority board. What an experience. Boarding was painless and quick. I walked right to my seat — nobody standing in the aisle, repacking their bags before hogging up the overhead compartment with all their crap. I wasn’t bumped with butts and battered with bags while trying to make my way to my seat. Before I knew it, we were seated and on our way. Remarkable. Hats off to the people of Britain who know how to queue in an orderly fashion.
The plane was clean when we boarded and (miraculously) stayed clean throughout the flight. I have never been on a plane where the bathroom floor wasn’t wet with pee and covered in garbage 20 minutes into the flight. This was like a flying hotel. A magical, flying hotel.
It was a 10-hour flight but the distress of being squeezed into a flying tube with a thousand of your closest friends was greatly mitigated by the wonderful crew. The flight attendants rumbled out the drink cart right away and brought us dinner shortly after that. Once everyone was boozed and fed, they turned out the lights. Next thing I knew, we were landing. If you must fly around the world, British Airways is the way to go.
I had an eight-hour layover in London and originally, my plan was to stash my bags at the airport, hop on the tube and make a quick dash to the British Museum to look at the Elgin Marbles Collection (which they still have not returned to Greece, despite Greece asking nicely). Eight hours seems like plenty of time. However, I tried to do something similar in Athens on the last trip and we ended up paying 50 euros to store our bags, rode the metro out, didn’t have enough time to go to the museum and rode the metro back to the airport. Spent the whole time underground. Didn’t get to see the antiquities.
I might could have done it this time. Or I might could have missed my connecting flight with any number of delays — security, customs, traffic, slow people walking in the airport. So, I resigned myself to whiling away the hours at Heathrow, which wasn’t all that bad, actually. I found my connecting gate, found a bar, found a beer and was pretty happy for about 2 hours. I don’t know what made me think of it, but I got to wondering what those airport lounges were all about. The only thing I knew for sure was that those lounges were historically for anyone who wasn’t me. After 25 years, loyal to Alaska Airlines, my faith has paid off. I showed my boarding pass at the door and was admitted to Nirvana for Weary Passengers.
There was a buffet with good food. Real food, not airplane food — for free! And did I mention it was free? It was totally free.
But wait, there’s more. There were showers that anyone could use. I was almost going try it just for the experience of getting naked in an airport, but I was reasonably fresh, so I passed on that one.
There were several bars scattered throughout the lounge and they were free too! I had just paid 10 euros for a beer in the terminal and the whole time, ice-cold drinks awaited me in this secret traveler’s paradise. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven, but without the dying part. I got a plate, grabbed a drink, nabbed a couch and plugged in my phone. It was like being at home (if your home has 40 grumpy travelers moving your furniture looking for outlets and leaving crumbs on the floor). Time passed effortlessly. Makes me wonder what other secret travel perks I’ve been missing out on?
Then it was time for the 3-hour flight to Athens, still on British Airlines, but if the intercontinental flight was like sleeping in a well-appointed hotel, then this short hop flight was like boarding a school bus bound for summer camp. It was not orderly; it was not clean. It was definitely not painless.
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The poor flight staff were harried and disheveled. They threw a drink and a teeny bag of pretzels (or Stroopwaffel, if you prefer) at each passenger and then retreated to the back of the plane to comfort themselves by rocking back and forth. Screaming babies had their own screaming babies, there was trash everywhere and I am pretty sure someone did a handstand on the toilet while taking a piss. I knew why the staff were cowering. I did the same. Still, 3 hours is livable. And I lived.
I had booked a room on Booking.com and had the option of arranging a ride at the same time. I definitely took advantage of that nice addendum because I arrived at 3am weary, disoriented and alone. My driver was right there waiting for me. He picked me up inside the airport, took me to my hotel and waited by the door until I got in. Thank you Desmond — your chivalry is appreciated.
The hotel I chose had 24-hour front desk staff, so I didn’t have to muck about with WhatsApp messages, lock boxes or emails with complex check-in requirements on a dark, big city street at 3:00 AM. The nice man at the front desk buzzed me in (front door locked at all times — another nice feature for a solo traveler), checked me in and helped me with my bags. He called me by name for my entire stay. Thank you, my dear! I appreciate your kindness.
My stay at the Athens Hotel did not disappoint. It had all the requisites — bed, balcony, bathroom and was very clean. What more does one need? Oh, a mini-fridge would have been nice, but again, no complaints.
My first order of the day (or night) was to use the bathroom. My second order of the day was to try to figure out how to flush the toilet. No joke. I have been in a lot of hotels around the world and I have never seen a set up like this. There was no tank on the toilet, just the bowl jutting out of the wall. No little button to push anywhere I could see to flush it. No little lever. Nothing! Just the bowl (and seat, obviously) sticking out of the wall. What the hell? Seriously, look at this pic and tell me what you think.
I feared that I would have to leave the toilet unflushed for 4 days or admit my ignorance to the nice front desk guy and have him show this uncouth American how to flush a toilet.
Ok, give up? The flusher is on the hot water tank for the shower, which is also the toilet tank, apparently. There’s a little bolt with a spring on the bottom of the tank that you push up to flush. In all my days, I have never seen a toilet with heated water. Live and learn…
So, toilet sorted, the next challenge was taking a shower. Not that taking a shower is normally all that challenging, but I confess — this set up confounded during my entire stay in Greece. Standard for Greek showers are the hand-held shower heads and a teeny, tiny little platform with a drain. Also standard is the shower curtain that sticks to you on all sides, at all times. How does one get wet, soap up and fight the shower curtain with only one hand, all while keeping the water inside the shower?
I noticed that there was a bracket on the wall, but no corresponding hook on the shower head. Not to be defeated, I fashioned a hanger from dental floss and was feeling pretty ingenious, if I do say so myself. You can see the shower head dangling from the floss in the picture.
I closed the curtain and turned on the water, which blasted out with the force of a fire hose and immediately put two inches of water all over the bathroom floor. I love me some good water pressure, but this almost knocked me out of the shower entirely.
I flooded the room further with my pathetic attempts at keeping the water inside the curtain while I bathed. Any time I put the showerhead down to use the soap or peel the shower curtain off me, water sprayed straight out with surprising force. I’m so sorry, Athens Hotel…
I noticed (after mopping the floor with the bathmat) that there was a drain on the bathroom floor as well, so I guess hosing down the bathroom floor is standard for showers in Greece? I did ask about it sometime later and the answer was, yes. You just hose the room down, along with yourself. Two birds, one stone. Efficient.
The next thing I discovered about hotel rooms that cost 45 euros a night is that generally speaking, the mattress is a slab of rock with a sheet on it and if you’re lucky, you’ll get a pillow just as hard that holds your neck at a 45-degree angle. The first night wasn’t too bad, but by the third night, I had bruises on my hips and back and my ears hurt from being squashed against the “pillow”.
Mattress pain aside, the hotel was away from the tourist center (hence the low cost) but only a block from the metro station. Shout out to the Athenian public transportation system! It is inexpensive, clean and fast. The metro tickets were good on any bus, tram or subway line and they went all over the city and out to the suburbs. Anywhere I needed to go was just a metro ride away. I bought a 5-day pass and I had the city at my feet.
The neighborhood where I stayed was a regular neighborhood, nothing fancy. It was safe and quiet and the people there were wonderful. Another bonus, the market on the corner had the best pastries I have ever eaten. I bought them all.
Next installment — Athens
