FridayApril 24th is here, time for Pat and I to set off on our trip to Athens & Santorini Greece, we are flying Air Canada thru Windsor Ontario today, it actually saved up $500 a ticket. We left early as the line to get into Canada thru the Detroit Tunnel can be quit long, we have no issues and get thru rather quick this means a 3 hour wait at the Windsor airport. I've never been to this airport and must say its rather boring, but actually nice at the same time as there are no crowds to fight, no lines to wait in and they had a bar! We enjoy a few beers and then get on the small prop jet to Toronto Canada, its only an hour flight. We spend about an hour and a half in Toronto and then off to London England, I have been to Heathrow airport several times and its still a very confusing airport to me. After a 7 hour overnight flight which I barely got any sleep on, Pat and I arrive in London......late!!! having only 1 hour to get to our final flight to Athens, I knew we weren't gonna make it, the bummer part is that its Pat's birthday today and we had plans for a rooftop dinner in front of the Acropolis, and it wasn't going to happen. Not only did we land late but we were in the very last row of a 300 passenger plane and it took us quit a while to get off the plan. We went to Air Canada's customer service desk and the people there were very nice and took care of us, they even bought Pat's birthday dinner, at the airport but non the less it was dinner. After a 4 hour layover in London we finally got off the ground and were on our way to Athens Greece, our plan for the week is 2 days in Athens and then 5 on the Island of Santorini. The flight from London to Athens is just over 3 hours, we were tired and just wanted to get to the room take a shower and get some sleep, 24 hours of traveling makes you feel like you have a layer of every person and place you have been to in that time period and you just want to wash that off and feel fresh again. Once we landed in Athens we were a bit worried about our luggage making it, we only packed one bag, would it be there?? Well Air Canada did a great job as it came down the belt and we were on our way. We walk outside to the cab stand and we are asked by a gentleman if we would like to share a cab to the inner city of Athens, sure since his hotel was just a short ways from ours. Turns out he was Psychology instructor from Ireland, he spends lots of time in Athens and has an apartment here, he spoke fluent Greek so we felt very comfortable being in the cab with him, we spoke english to him and he spoke greek to the driver. Half way thru the drive he hands me 15 Euro his part of the 35 Euro cab fee, sharing the ride saved us both some money well so I thought? After we get to his stop, he begins arguing with the cab driver in Greek oh great just what I need a pissed of cab driver, I've had this experience in Paris and that didn't go well. I hear the two negotiating and the Irish fellow looks at me and says its all good no worries and he walks off, the driver gets back in, I ask is everything ok, he says "you, man and woman good people, he (meaning the Irishman) not good people" apparently the driver was expecting us each to pay him 35 Euro rather than split the fee, he was a nice guy I ended up giving him extra for taking care of us, he needs to make a living as well.
We arrive at the Athens Gate Hotel at almost 11pm 4 hours later than planned, no rooftop birthday dinner for my sweety, more like lets shower and get to bed! We check into the hotel and they tell us we have the nicest room in the place, the presidential suite, a concierge named John takes up to the room and shows us around, when he opened up the door to the balcony the look on Pat's face was priceless, right in front of us all lit up was the Acropolis, Temple of Athena one of the most important ruins known to mankind, and on the other side of our balcony, The Temple to the Olympian Zeus, Wow we were in awe at what stood around us. I highly recommend the Athens Gate Hotel as it is right in middle of all the ruins, and the people are so nice!!
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| At this point still happy and excited to be going to Greece |
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| Night view of the Acropolis from our room at the Athens Gate Hotel |
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| On the other side of our balcony is the Temple of Zeus |
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