Ramblings of a Spoiled Gen X-er: May 2016

Blog Update May 31

Just when I got caught up I'm 9 days behind again. I have some drafts for the days but I haven't downloaded pictures from the camera yet. Plus after we moved to Athens proper Internet speeds have been lousy including now at the airport lounge in Rome. Just for an overview we spent a few more nights on the coast, 3 nights in Athens with a day trip to Delphi, 3 nights in Santorini and last night at the Athens airport hotel since our flight left at 5:55 am. On our way to Michigan to see family and friends.

Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants

Up at 3:42 am. Yeah, breakfast is not happening and we will get fed anyway. We leave at 4:23 am. Check in isn't too bad as there are only 4 people ahead of us. We are checking the carry on now that it is expanded and weighs 18 kg. and the backpack despite yesterday's fiasco. It feels so odd to only have the camera backpack. Aparna doesn't have tote with shoes either as we crammed them in the expanded carry on bag.

Athens airport security is interesting. There isn't a central security for the entire terminal. Sets of gates have security and the lounges are on the outside. Fortunately our section only has 3 gates and the lounge is right next to security so we have time for the lounge.

The plane is similar to the Air France flight.

It's three regular seats across but with folding table in the middle. I don't know if the legroom is good because we are bulkhead or if the seats behind have decent legroom.

The new inflatable pillow is taller than the old one. Partially inflated it does the trick. I still would prefer a smaller one if I can find it but it's better than a sore back.

Breakfast is basic. Yogurt drink, pastry, small sandwich and fruit. It hits the spot.

It's a short flight and I don't sleep. It goes by quickly. We have about four hours to kill. If we had another hour I'd be tempted to taxi into Rome. We are in the C gates and need to go to G. We start out and stop in a few shops along the way. We get to passport control and it's hardly busy. Maybe it's because it's 7:30 in the morning. The Alitalia lounge is under construction but there is a small lounge we can use. The Internet is slow here so I can only do text updates to the blog. I also have to download pictures from camera. I get some work done on the blog.

The gate is close and we head out at 10:20 am when we are supposed to board. It's a zoo at the gate. We have to have our passports checked again and answer questions about our checked bags. Our boarding passes have TSA pre check on them. I hope we don't have to go through security screening again like the gate security in Amsterdam. Fortunately we don't.

Legroom won't be an issue here. These seats also have lumbar support.

Good size screen for watching movies.

The Airbus 330 is also 1-2-1 so all seats have aisle access unlike our other lie flat configuration.

The pepper is a strong on these. Our flight is delayed while we wait on a part so I have a second drink.
We take off around an hour late. Now I'm thinking the second drink was a bad idea. Finally the seatbelt sign is off. I settle in and watch 5th Wave and Concussion.

The shrimp is really good but I'm not crazy about sriracha salad underneath.

I should have asked not to put the cilantro cream in the lentil soup. Fortunately it's not strong and I don't stir it in. The soup is good but it's very thin.

The execution on the lamb was not good. The crust is mushy. It's just too much.

Aparna goes with the cod. One the stewardess dropped the plate and spilled it, Two the cod is dry and I think she lost a lot of sauce. She said she couldn't taste the coconut.

Chocolate and port - one of my favorite combinations.

Fruit and cheese for Aparna.

I sleep some. Then I watch Dead Pool. I'm not a big Marvel fan. I was just going to use it for background noise to sleep more but was entertaining. I nap again after the movie. I've got about 2.5 hours left in the flight. Since I have to stow the screen for landing I watch a couple of Simpson episodes. Now I watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off on the iPad. In someways I think of this trip as my adult version of that.

"Life moves pretty fast if you don't stop and look around once in awhile you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller

Lobster rolls - a little too spicy and not a lot of lobster flavor.

The timing works out perfectly. The movie ends as we taxi to the gate. Global Entry is great as we fly through immigration. As we hand our passports over the agent asks where we have been. I pause and start listing countries - Korea, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma/Myanmar, Thailand, France, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Greece, oh wait Turkey. She asks if it was an organized tour. Nope. She smiles and hands back our passports. The only problem with going so fast here is that we have to wait on our baggage. Aparna's nephew picks us up.

It's about 5:30 pm now which is 12:30 am in Greece. I'm tired but I'm trying to stay up. I'm not hungry but I go to dinner with my dad. I drink ice tea for caffeine. Afterwards we walk to Whole Foods for a light dinner.

I've had the fresh rolls from Whole Foods a lot but this is really dried out.

We watch some TV with my dad but I'm falling asleep on the coach. I've made it past 9. Success! I think this might be my last daily post.

Akrotiri and Goodbye Santorini

We get all packed up. We've condensed back to our carry on bag but expanded to fit all the new shoes and clothes, PacSafe backpack and camera bag. The tote full of shoes is no more. The carry on is also packed with our clothes for tomorrow so we don't have to open the backpack. We stop at a road side bakery for a light breakfast. After yesterday's filtered coffee I don't order coffee.

Mini pizza

Spinach pie

Pane au chocolate

We head off to Akrotiri. This is Santorini's version of Pompeii. It's from 1627 BC.

The size of Akrotiri is impressive.

You can see the water spout to the right of the window.

Beds
I'm a little disappointed after seeing the frescoes in Athens that there are none to see here. It's still cool despite that.

This gives you an idea how much mud and ash covered the site. It's misleading from the standpoint that there were three story building in the village.

We visit the red beach since it's just around the corner. They have different color beaches here they are all black sand with the color just being the cliff behind them.

We still have time before our flight so we go to another winery. We can see our hotel from here.

The white on the right is the winery from yesterday.

Center of the crater. This island has hot springs on it.

Meat and cheese plate with our wine. It makes a nice light afternoon snack.

We cram into the little car with all our luggage and head to the airport.

Security is a breeze so we enjoy another drink on the roof top bar. We see our plane land and figure we have 15 minutes for them to turn around the plane. Next thing you know they are paging the four of us final boarding. We hurry down the stairs and are the last ones to board the bus.

Seats just like last time. However this time some customers sit in front of us. It's hot again on the plane. I think it's hotter than the flight over. If I had water I would pour it over me. The flight going back seems longer too. We finally land after what seems like the longest half hour of my life. We go to pick up our luggage. Our friends get theirs. Our carry on comes out but not our backpack. Crap. And the belt stops.

We head over to the lost luggage. The guy seems shocked and asks if we checked the belt. Hello?!? We got one of our bags. He goes and checks the belt himself - really? He comes back and makes a phone call. We go through the paperwork. He asks where we are staying. We are staying in a hotel at the airport since we have a 6:00 am flight. There are no more flights by Sky Express tonight and the first one is after six so we are screwed if the bag is still on Santorini. I give him two addresses depending on when it shows up. We walk away and see another flight has arrived from Santorini. My buddy says to check that one. It can't hurt. I tell him to go check in but they wait for us.

I'm thinking it's fine we have our clothes for tomorrow but then I realize we won't have clothes for Michigan. Aparna goes back to check on compensation in case we need clothes in Michigan. She gets told it's too early and the airline will need to answer that. They are just the baggage handling company. They still don't know where our bag is. I guess they don't scan the barcodes in Santorini. I'm wondering if they pulled it off since we almost missed final call. Anyway our bag didn't get put on that flight. We walk across the road and check into our hotel.

After getting settled in I try to check in online in the business center. The hotel said if we can check in online we only need an hour or so before the flight. Otherwise go 1.5 hours before the flight since it's the first of the day. The first time through it says Aparna can check in online but I can't. I go back because I added my middle name. I realize delta has my first name as "Paul Avery" so I didn't need to enter my middle name. Now neither of us can check in online. Oh well I guess I'm getting up earlier.

As I go to leave my phone rings. They found our bag and it's at the airport. They won't deliver it. Oh well, we'll go pick it up and maybe eat at the airport. I'll check the Alitalia counter and see if we can check in as well. We walk over but the Alitalia counter isn't manned. We head down to get our luggage. Apparently we need a pass since we have to enter secure area. Aparna gets the pass and the bag.

That's one happy camper.

We see what's outside of security to eat but nothing seems interesting so we head back to the hotel to eat.

The menu is limited in the bar. We split a pizza. I have a couple of beers and I'm ready to pass out.

Exploring Santorini

Since we have the car we head out to Oia. We finally stop at a bakery in Oia for breakfast. It says filtered coffee so I order one.

Ugh it's really an Americano.

Chocolate donut for me. It's actually quite plain.

Spinach pie for Aparna.

Oia is more picturesque than Thira.

Ring the bell!

Go Blue in Santorini!

Is this thing loaded?

Santorini garbage truck.

An old Byzantine castle.

There is a restaurant at the bottom that is supposed to have the freshest seafood since the boats come on down there. The others don't want to do the walk up so we don't eat there.

Turkey baguette for me.

The girls share some dips.

While eating lunch we catch people jumping in the water. It started out as one guy then about 15 minutes later a bunch of people start jumping.

Selling like this wouldn't fly in the states.

We drive back and head to the highest point on the island. As we pass through a town the road becomes about a lane and a half wide. We keep going. We pass a wine tour van on the side of the road so we keep going. The road finally ends at a military radar station next to a monastery. A little strange. You are not supposed to take pictures of the radar facility so I don't.

It seems deserted and everything is locked up.

I've seen a lot of terraces up high that appear to be abandoned. I wonder if these are from back in the day for protective reason but no longer necessary.

We get some nice views up here.

We decide to go to the winery next to our hotel. From the top, it looks like parking lot with a small building. It's actually all built into the side of the crater with nice views. Even though it's next door we can't see the hotel.