Travel Day

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Day 12 - Mon. Oct. 3 - Budapest to Athens



Today is a travel day so much of it was spent repacking suitcases, cleaning out the frig in the apartment, doing the morning’s dishes, etc. We accomplished all our chores and set out once again for a fabulous Hungarian lunch. George, our landlord, had arranged for a van type taxi to pick us up at 3 pm for the 45-minute ride out to the airport for our 5:40 flight. Since flights within Europe are considered “domestic” you only need a minimum of an hour to check-in and clear security before boarding your plane; we made it in lots of time.



The agent at the Aegean Airlines desk was very efficient, weighed our luggage, which we had pre-paid with the fare, put tags on our carry-on luggage, including the ladies’ purses, gave us our boarding passes and sent us to security. Once clear we found a coffee shop and waited for our gate to be confirmed on the departure boards. Our boarding passes indicated a possible gate; the agent told us that frequently they make changes to where the flights are to board from. So at the appointed hour we made our way to the appropriate gate, and boarded another Airbus.



What surprised us the most on this 95 minute flight was the fact that even before we left the ground the flight attendants handed out some hard candy and once we were at cruising altitude they served us a light, hot meal. We couldn’t believe it!



Upon landing in Athens we made our way to the luggage carousel where our luggage appeared almost at the same moment we did. It was obvious that it had just come off the plane and hadn’t been sitting on a luggage cart for very long because the metal handles were still cold for being in the unheated cargo holds of the plane.



We hadn’t made any arrangements for limo service but fortunately several van type taxis were present and we negotiated a reasonable fare for the four of us and our luggage, including a highway toll, to be taken the 45 kilometers into the city to our hotel. The driver, Peter, accomplished the task of driving around the poorly lit narrow streets of the older section of Athens where our hotel is, with great skill.



Check-in was accomplished smoothly and we were in our rooms by 9:30 Athens time. Looking out of the window at the end of our hall we were greeted with the spectacular view of the Parthenon boldly lit against the sky.

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