Stuck in Athens

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So, Tirana was a great city but on our way to Greece we ran into a bit of an issue:

The only way to get to Athens from Albania is to take a bus or fly. Given our finances we took a bus. This decision proved to be a poor one.

The bus trip took 14 hours, overnight, from Tirana to Athens. The trip was operated by a private coach company, so besides the frequent stopping, it was pretty comfortable. The only small issue with the trip was that upon arrival in Athens, Daron's main backpack was not present.

We looked all over the bus and all over the bottom storage area, but it was MIA. After trying to communicate our problem to the non-English speaking bus drivers, we gave it up as a lost cause. We did all we could by reporting the issue to the US Embassy, the Athens police, and the bus company...but we don't have much hope at recovering it. Was it taken by the Albanian border control, by one of the affluent Albanians traveling to Greece with us, the bus company we trusted with our bag, or a random person walking by on the street in Athens? We might never know.

Luckily, nothing valuable was in the bag. Only Daron's clothing and toiletries. Unfortunately, our over-paranoia hurt us in this situation. Before leaving the States, we made copies of our passports and credit cards...just in case the real ones were stolen. We never thought we'd have to worry about the copies!

So, we had to cancel all our credit and debit cards. Luckily, we had some extra euros from Montenegro. Plus, we found a great hostel that only cost 10 euros per person per night, that allowed us to pay upon checking out, and had a kitchen for cooking cheap spaghetti we got from the nearby grocery store.

And hey, if you're going to get stuck in a city, let it be Athens, Greece! Athens has been cheap (especially for being on the euro), super warm and sunny, and totally fun and hospitable. For being on a tight, tight budget, we've still had a blast!

All National sights in Greece are free on Sunday, so we got up early and did everything possible, including the Acropolis and Ancient Agora. Furthermore, the National Museum only cost 3 euros!

Right now, we're are waiting for our new debit cards to arrive at the Embassy mail room (hopefully today). Here's a plug for Washington Mutual: out of all our banks and credit card companies (including the big guys like Bank of America and Capital One), WaMu was the only one that could...and was willing...to express mail our credit card copies outside of the United States.

If all goes as planned, we'll pick up our debit cards in a few hours and then immediately hop on a ferry to a Greek Isle, where we plan to relax on a beach and think about absolutely nothing for a few days! Then...on to Istanbul! ...and hopefully no more problems...! 😊


People who can't seem to go a year without calling our insurance company or canceling our credit cards:
Daron and Kirstin

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Comments

[Paul]

Bad luck
It was really bad luck to lose your backpack! But it's clear that you managed to enjoy this beautiful city!