Travel Weary

With all good things must come the bad. Or, in this case, the unexpected adventure.

We pulled an overnight in Bangkok before heading north to Munich. At about 1 a.m., we caught a news story explaining how airports in Greece were closed due to a strike over new taxes imposed on the working class. Civil servants were protesting the new taxes, which were in response to Greece's economic turmoil due to the government bailing out banks that had failed and owed monies to the EU (sounds familiar, eh?) Lupe and I watched the story and then looked at each other and asked, almost simultaneously, "Hey.... aren't we headed to Athens tomorrow?"

One frantic phone call to our travel agent in Dallas (where it was noon) and all was sorted. It was merely a 24 hour strike and everything should be back to normal by the time we flew in. He also assured us that this kinda stuff happens all the time in Greece. It's a very fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of place. So, yay! No worries! Athens, here we come! All we gotta do now is get to Munich for our connecting flight and we're home free!

We arrive at the terminal at 10 a.m. to find the flight to Munich has been delayed by two and a half hours. Okay, we're going to miss our connecting flight. No biggie, we'll catch the next one. We fly 12 very uncomfortable hours in economy class with these two girls who think it is their God-given Aryan right to kick our seats when they feel we're taking too much room (which is frequently). I get scoffed at by one of the hot German flight attendants (the one that doesn't speak much English) when there is a mix up in communication over what kind of water I would like to drink despite my attempts to be polite. Luckily, her compatriot was far more tolerant and helpful. It was a tough 12 hours, let me tell you. Made even more tough when, as we approach Munich, we are told that the airport is closed due to snow and that we do not have enough fuel to circle while they de-ice the runway. So, so long Munich... Hello, Nuremburg!

We land in Nuremburg to -7 degree C snow and wind where they put us on a bus. The jokes, of course, begin to fly between Lupe and I as we are ushered from one efficient part of the terminal to the other on our way to the bus. They bus us (luxury style, thank the Lord) back to Munich in the snow and traffic for about 2 hours or so where the exceptionally hot repressed alternative librarian check-in lady tells us we're in the wrong line because there are no more flights to Athens tonight (which we already kinda figured considering it was about 11 p.m. local time. That's 5 a.m. Bangkok time, mind you).

We book flights for 8:25 am the next morning, Air Berlin taxis us out to the Munich Westin (every bit as swank as the one in Sydney), and we crash for about 4 hours before we have to make it back to the airport. We are unable to contact the driver in Athens who was supposed to pick us up or the hotel to tell them we're running late or the tour guide to tell them to postpone our trip to the Acropolis. 3 hours later, we are in Athens.

And the weather here is AWESOME! About 16 degrees C (that's about 65 F or so), rain, gray, and wonderful. The driver is there with our documents. Mom says she mailed my phone just the other day. Room service has just arrived. Our tour of the city goes off tomorrow without a hitch.

It's the last day before Lent so everyone is on holiday. Valentine's Day is Sunday. A Carnivale-type celebration is going on this weekend too. Athens is big (4 million people or so), loud (the noise outside hasn't let up once), and the people have been friendly, despite their recent clashes over the economy.

There's a lot to talk about Athens and I'm sure I will get around to it soon enough. But, for now, I'm going to eat my cheeseburger, watch some crappy movie on the in-room tv, and pass the f out. It's times like this that I feel like all the training I did as a teenager to stay awake by sheer willpower alone finally pays off.

Gotta run.

-d@n