[George hears a train whistle] “There she blows. You know what the three most exciting sounds in the world are? Anchor chains, plane motors and train whistles. I know what I’m gonna do tomorrow, and the next day, and the next year, and the year after that. : I’m shakin’ the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I’m gonna see the world. Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Colosseum.
-George Bailey [James Stewart], It’s a Wonderful Life – Frank Capra
Go-Date – Day One
Lesson Learned: WoW Airlines and Easyjet are not bad options for air travel. They have friendly staff, new equipment, and leg room, lots of leg room. You do have to go through Reykjavik on Wow to get to London, but believe it or not, the airport there was really nice.
Lesson Learned 2: Book priority boarding. It’s well worth it. Even if you check, make sure you can stuff coats, backpack, carry bags overhead instead of under foot.
Lesson Learned 3: The Priority Pass club access (you get this with getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card) was outstanding. We ate at Gatwick before looking for the club (there were 3 of them in our terminal) and once we got there we found out we could have eaten and saved ourselves about $18. They even had free drinks (I think I had 3 beers, but that was only 2 if Ellen asks) and nice lounge areas with soft couches you could relax in. We spent about 2 hours here.
Lesson Learned 4: Use local mass transit in Athens. We paid 10 Euros each for passage into the Plaka. A cab would have cost 50 to 60 Euros.
Regrets: This was one of the most difficult travel days we’ve ever had. We were in process for about 30 hours from home to hotel. It made for a very, very long trip. It was hard, but we survived.
Our trip began without difficulties, but we took precautions. Due to the government shut-down we left the house far earlier than we would have normally. We got to BWI, dropped off the car and went to the ticket gate to talk with the agent. Nobody there.
We called WoW and found out that the agents don’t staff the office until 3 hours prior to the first flight. So, we were 5 ½ hours early and there are no café’s outside security in this terminal. So, for the next 90 minutes, we wandered around. Of course, we also discovered the slots for carry-on was smaller than we had measured for our luggage. We had the option to check, so that’s what we ended up doing.
Also, our TSA pre did not appear on our boarding pass. When the agent arrived (we were first in line) we found out that WoW had not worked that out with TSA yet so we had to take off our shoes, belts, pull out the computers, etc. I hate that.
Once through things were fine. The flight left half an hour later, but that was fine and we arrived on time in Iceland. We had to disembark onto the tarmac on a snowy landing area, but no slips and falls between the plane and bus. The Reykjavik terminal was nice. I mean Dallas Galleria nice with shops and café’s. We only had 45 minutes between flights, so no time to enjoy the amenities, but no great loss.
Here’s how our ordeal went:
Eastern Time Local Time Event
- 12 Noon 12 Noon Leave Alexandria
- 1:30 PM 1:30 PM Arrive at BWI ticket counter
- 7:00 PM 7:00 PM Take Off
- 12:00 Mid 5:00 AM Arrive at Reykjavik
- 1:20 AM 6:20 AM Take Off
- 3:50 AM 8:50 AM London Gatwick
- 8:48 AM 1:48 PM Take Off
- 12:28 PM 7:28 PM Arrive at Athens
- 1:30 PM 8:30 PM Catch the metro
- 3:00 PM 10:00 PM Arrive at hotel
Total Travel Time = 30 hours
Gatwick Airport is a hoot. Once we queued and made it through passport control we had to catch the tram (train) from the south terminal to the north terminal. Painless, but somewhat like the Orlando or Atlanta rail system between terminals. Once in the north terminal, we had to go through a confusing process of checking in our bags. By this time, we really weren’t in the mood for new adventures, but the harried staff helped us with the check-in machines and we were off to the main floor of the terminal.
Here’s where it got interesting. This terminal is a cross between a Las Vegas casino, Macy’s during Christmas, and an Ikea. You wander around on a path through perfume counters (equipped with dozens of attendants spraying perfume in your direction, duty-free shops, and every electronic device ever developed by the Japanese). Once through we went up to the food court area which was packed and dozens of café’s with every kind of food you want. We had very good and fresh sandwiches and then looked for the Passport Lounges. This was a mistake. We should have gone there first. Nice buffet, free drinks (see above) and soft couches that Ellen thought looked like a great place to nap. Oh, and free Wi-Fi, too.
Of course, back at security……off with the shoes, belts, computers, etc. They have a nicer system than the US. The tubs feed to your spot, you deposit your items and it moves you forward. I got snagged (Ellen sailed through) and they tore my carry-on apart and swabbed my bag. I’m sure it was because I have a small tote that has all our charging cords, spare battery back-ups (I have three….yes, that’s overkill) that probably looked like a terrorist IED, but other than taking 20 minutes to repack everything it was OK.
We loaded (down on the tarmac) and they boarded passengers from two doors, front and back. We were in our seats in a flash and off for the 3 ½ hour last leg of the ordeal.
Once in Athens, we zipped through customs and walked about a mile on moving sidewalks, out the front door, up an escalator, past the Swissotel hotel (Ellen really wanted to stop), and boarded the train. Here’s where the fun started.
We were to go 11 stops, change from the Blue line to the Red line then go one more stop to the Acropolis Station. Or so we thought. We met a lady from Louisiana (now living and working in Ireland as a Nurse Practitioner – Labor & Delivery) spoke with her and right when we were about to deboard a Greek woman informed Ellen that the station was closed due to protests outside the station about annexing Macedonia back into Greece. Evidently that area resides in Fyrom, Greece and Bulgaria. Who knew?
This lady, she was great, showed us how to go one station further, navigate through a very confusing, very crowded, and very interesting terminal (it had an archeological dig in the center of the station) to the next platform that took us to the Acropolis Station which saved us about a 10 Euro taxi ride and about an hour of being lost and confused. I wish I had her name and address to send her a thank you note.
At the Acropolis, we walked one block and were at the hotel. Grueling trip, but we were so glad to have arrived. We slept well and long at the hotel, and our next step of the adventure was at hand. I’ll categorize all the posts from countries around the Mediterranean “Club Med”, but that my friends is fodder for another post.
Ed, I’ve always thought you look like a terrorist myself so not a surprise.
I had not heard about the annexation of Macedonia. I know a guy from there so I’ll need to find out what he thinks.
Safe travels!
Well, they shut down a metro station for a day. There were thousands there. Hours later we saw people walking down the streets carrying Greek flags. Of course, everyone was smiling and having a good time. Its the Greek way.
ET
Love it. Thanks for sharing. Have fun!
Mark;
Good to hear from you. I’m going to post something about our first week in Athens sometime soon. I highly recommend it. We are going to be here about two months. We leave on Friday for Delphi and Meteora and after than, not so sure.
You should pop on over sometime, first drink’s on me. We are planning on this trip lasting at least a year.
-Mou aresi i Ellada
I love your descriptions! I sense an offbeat travel book in the works.
Would you expect any less of me? Of course, the Blog name was a joint selection of me and Ellen. My first choice was “Hell yes we did.com”
Thank you for your blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Will read on…