Greece Day 1 & 2

6/2/16 and 6/3/16

We woke up and went about our daily lives. I worked from home, Jack went to get a haircut, etc.… but I’ll be honest that I wasn’t very effective at work… just trying not to take a full PTO day. So even though I was scheduled to log off (I worked remote) at 11; I ended up logging at 10:30.

We then loaded up the luggage; said good bye to the fur babies and were off. I drove up to Covington while Jack did some work; then in Covington we ate Chick fila before Jack finished the drive to the ATL airport.

Now the airport was an experience. I have been having issues letting others drive – I hate to drive but have panic attacks in traffic situations if others are driving. So here we are trying to find this new “international concourse” taking the most scenic route possible because we didn’t know where we were and I’m gripping the chair like I’m on the motor speedway seeing my life pass before my eyes. Now don’t get me wrong – Jack drives perfectly safe and we were never in even a slight hint of danger; I just get really panicky.

Well after we found it Jack dropped Mama and I off with the bags and went to get parked. Beth arrived at about the exact same time Jack got back so it was perfect timing. We then went to check in our bags. Jack is a Platinum member who gets 70 Ibs a bag or so we thought. Nope that is only domestic – international it is 70. At this point I’m just like pay the overage – I can’t think – still panicked from the ride over. So I walk away and let Jack just handle it – which he did’ we ended up checking 2nd duffle bags we have at no cost and it all worked out. Just have to do something about the panic – tried Paxil, but had to come back off of it due to side effects… Will talk to the doctor when I get back from Greece.

But on to the trip… after we got checked in we shortly boarded the flight for Amsterdam. It was an 8 hour flight and Mama was in
and out much of it. In a half sleep / half awake place where she says crazy things that make zero sense.

We landed in Amsterdam, but had to sit on the tarmac for an hour while they cleared the gate. Once we unloaded the plane we were walking to the connecting flight for Athens and had to go through Customs. We realized Mama was walking really unstable so I asked the TSA agent if she could sit in a nearby chair while we waited -- instead she fast tracked us to the front which was really nice.

Once we got through there we were walking and still worrying about Mama we borrowed one of the wheelchairs and rolled her to the gate. We chilled there for a good hour before they decided to change our gate. So then we rolled her to another one…. This gate was downstairs and getting there was funny.

In Europe the elevators are very long and narrow; well this one was just narrow – so I go to roll her in and I can’t. I, she, and my book back won’t fit. We get stuck… The elevator is beeping – Mama is trying to get up and I’m telling her to stay … it’s so funny. Well then a Delta person comes by and she steps right in and helps (thank goodness) and I run downstairs to meet them.

We then sit – and sit – and sit. About 30 minutes go by and they roll up these buses. I know buses … odd right? But given I couldn’t see where a plane was going to come to down there it made at least some sense.

They loaded Mama (and us) along with another group using the wheel chairs first onto the bus and then we are off. We drive through active tarmacs to get to our plane which is sitting in the middle of a busy area. We disembark from the bus and get on the plane. Mama said it reminded her of the 1950s plane onboarding.

After we got on the plane we were told we had lost our spot in the take off line due to the delay so then we waited on the plan for another hour to take off. Now me saying this in this matter of fact way and you probably think “Oh My, how horrible” but we didn’t have any more connections and we were also tired it just didn’t matter.

Beth, Mama and Jack all took naps – In fact Mama and Beth didn’t realize we even had a delay till they woke up and we were still on the ground. We finally got off and landed in Greece around 6:20.
We then got our bags, met the Globus representative and headed to the hotel. We got our rooms, met with the Globus person here to get some basic information and went to recoup.

We decided not to go to bed right away as we want to adjust to this time so we all got cleaned up and walked down to a restaurant near here. The menu was in Greek, but the nice man spoke English and was nice enough to explain what they have. I ordered a pork plate and I have to say it was fabulous. I loved it and ate all of it! All of it I tell you.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and each went our separate ways. Jack is here with me sleeping soundly – as I hope Mama and Beth are. I am typing this up and getting bags ready for tomorrow at which time I’m going to sleep as well. Breakfast is at 8:30 in the am 