Finally in Athens

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Well, here I am finally in Athens. I got in at 1AM this morning, 2 days after my scheduled arrival. Since my last entry, I've had a series of unfortunate events. First, I got to the Pierre-Elliot Trudeau Airport 6:30AM only to find out that my flight was at 8:30PM, the CSR I spoke to gave me the wrong information. Second, my flight was delayed by an hour and a half, so I missed my connection flight to Athens in Amsterdam, just to find out once there that the next available flight was 12 hours away. Thankfully, they had no economy class seat left, so they booked me on business class, which allowed me to stay at their VIP lounge, where I slept for about 4 hours. Other than that, there is not difference between economy and business class on the plane except that it is located in the front. Leg space is the same, and the plane had no tv, which was ok, since I slept all the way. On my first flight, I was sitting next to a mother and her child and the kid was moving around, kicking, screaming, so I did not get much sleep, that and the fact that the flight attendants were not that quiet when they walked about. I must say, I miss the Asian Airline service.

Finally I get to Athens at 1AM because this flight was also delayed. The cherry on the cake; they lost my luggage. Yeah! KLM way to go!

I took the bus into Athens and from the bus stop I took a taxi. What should have been a 5 euro ride, turned into 25 euro fare. I kind of suspected that I was getting cheated, but I was tired, sleepy and in no mood to argue. Moreover, the prices of taxis double in the middle of the night, so I didn't really know if it was excessive or not. Although, I kind of guessed it, regular fare from the Airport to Athens is about 25 euro during the day time and I had read in the Lonely Planet that it should be around that, but it being 2AM in the morning, I was not sure...I should have taken the license number of the cab, as they do take away taxi driver's license if they are caught cheating the customers. Oh! Well, I had one hell of a time, and I was not in the best state to start an argument with the taxi driver in the middle of the street at 2AM. I guess not matter where you go, taxi drivers have the same reputations. Hence my aversion to taking the taxi even in Montreal.

My schedule is 2 days delayed, so I am off to the Island of Schios for a few days. I don't think I'll be doing Mt-Olympus, as it is a 5 hours ride to Litohoro and it's not recommended at this time for amateurs.

Let's hope the rest of my stay is uneventful.

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Photos

Waiting for connecting flight in Amsterdam
This is the entertainment room at the VIP lounge of KLM in Amsterdam. I took a nap of 4 hours here. No luxury, but at least I got to sleep.

Comments

[Mary-Ellen]

Glad you finally got there, enjoy, you missed the snow, it's got to be better than this!