Friday, May 26, 2006



Thursday 6:10am PST
Now been up for 26 hours and looking out my plane window at spectacular views of islands and resort areas and cities along the Mediterranean as we make out way to Athens.

It hasn’t been fun though – Vancouver to Toronto worked great. We switched planes to fly to Montreal and they said they were on schedule which was a relief. Then the captain said there was mechanical problems but would be fixed in a few minutes. We left the gate and went out to the middle of not where at Pearson Airport and then Captain said the mechanical problems still weren’t fixed and a crew was coming out to work on the plane. Well 2 hours later of sitting there on the tarmac, they bring us to the Infield Terminal not even close to the main terminal. They were getting a new plane and moving everyone to that one. Well we already missed our Munich connector flight so we didn’t want to go to Montreal still with no where to go.

We then hooked up with a Rome flight leaving in 15 minutes so we scooted there and caught an 8 hour flight to Rome. Luggage was still going to Montreal though and as I write this, have no idea where it’s going to be which is causing us both stress as we will be on our cruise ship in less than 24 hours.

Flight was fine – we hit Rome and dad gets a wheelchair and cart to get him around from terminal to Terminal. I then try figure out what will happen to our bags. Wished I could have shopped there during our 3 hours – some cool shops – oh well. No luck finding anyone to help and Air Canada has no presence so we just wasted time trying to get help. Did get a Birra Moretti Beer and a Panini so had a taste of Rome.

Get on out Alitalia flight to Athens and I sit in the back so I get good view and can take pics. Then the dreaded (I’m sorry, we’re having mechanical difficulties) comes over the air. Then it comes on again 15 minutes later saying they’re still having problems !! Uh Oh, Déjà vu all over again. We within an hour of sitting there, it finally took off and the flight was fine. No good pics though like the ones I could have got going to Rome. The showed Tom and jerry on the movie screen.

We land, tell our sorry story to the baggage people and catch a cab to our Hotel. Hotel is great, has a pool on the roof which has a great view of the Acropolis. Went for dinner to a beach harbor place. Wow – the best atmosphere I could imagine. Great Calamari and Souvlaki and I once again stepped away from the American beer and had a few Amstels. Our cabbie hooked on to us like my kids to licorice. We didn’t even pay him to get there, he said he would be back at 10pm to pick us which he was. Then he took us on a night tour around the Acropolis all lit up. I was totally impressed how magnificent the Acropolis really was. 400BC !! Look forward to seeing in person close tomorrow.

We are hoping the bags miraculously appear in the morning, if not, we go and spend $1000 shopping. I don’t know how far that will get the 2 of us for the whole trip. Too bad we have to even worry about this.
As I finish this, time has lapsed and it’s 2AM which is 4PM PST which means I’ve been up 36 hours now and still going strong. I’m a little dodgy smelling though wearing the same clothes this whole time. Hoping for a great rest.

Friday morning now. Phoned airline first thing and they said our bags are on their way via Olympic Air and should arrive at 11:00AM. We’re off to the Acropolis and some other sights now hoping to rlax a bit and hoping we don’t have to go on a shopping spree this afternoon buying clothes.

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