Early morning for me. John, our taxi driver from last night, picked me up at 4:30am to get me to the airport for my 6:45 flight from Athens to Munich. John was adamant about picking Mom and Lauren up to go to the airport as well so I was very vague about their plans because I knew they'd be taking the bus.
John bumped a Greek radio station playing American music, which was nice for a change and pretty funny. Got me excited about going home and it was so much better than trying to make conversation at that hour. John zipped me there in only a half hour when it's supposed to take closer to an hour - he knows how to drive! Charged me 32 instead of the 53 euros it would've cost me to go through the hotel - what a scam. John was saying how when we come back to Greece we can stay with his family etcetera etcetera - couldn't believe it. When I left he kissed me on the hand and I gave him a hug (very strange when I think back on it now, I must've been sleeping still).
Was at the airport way too early but oh well, better early than late. Really nice Lufthansa plane to Munich - brandy new (three days old!). Slept the whole way to Munich and then hopped on a flight soon after to London. Finished One Thousand White Women, which was the book that Mom had been reading that Nan had passed along. I really enjoyed it - I think I could've been a Native American in a past life (maybe without the bugs).
Got to London and got on the Heathrow Hoppa bus back to the Renaissance Hotel to retrieve the rest of my luggage. My suitcase was even more broken than when I left it - went to drag it by the handle and it totally broke off. The suitcase fell to the ground as the jagged metal that used to be my handle caught on my leg on the way down, making me pour blood. Safe to say I freaked out the concierge guy haha. Had to take a cab back to Heathrow with all my bags. Went to the American Airlines check-in desk and even more fiasco ensued. Had to take 8 kilos from my biggest bag, but I couldn't put it in my other bag because it was already overweight so I had to put it in a totally new bag altogether. Took me a few tries to get the right amount of weight in all of the bags and even then I had to pay $100 for overweight luggage, but I had no other option.
Sweaty, overwhelmed and bleeding, I made my way to the AA lounge. Security wanted to know if I was okay as the blood from my leg was dripping into my sneaker - haha what I sight I must've been. So nice that Dad got me business class! A long time until my flight to Boston so this lounge is a major plus - complimentary food and drinks, comfy seats and internet access. Dad called me on my cell and it was so good to hear from him after being so overwhelmed. I guess Lauren missed her flight due to traffic in Athens (must've been a tough morning seeing that she had to change things with her flights last night as it was).
No comments:
Post a Comment