Welcome to Athens - Please stay awake!
Athens airport. Wow! Why didn’t anybody tell me about flying? I love it!
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Got to Heathrow, checked in and went through security with at least an hour and a half before the flight was due to take off. I sat around in the small waiting area and browsed in WH Smith until the gate was announced. I hadn’t realised there were far more shops and seats around the corner. Oh well, next time.
To gate 39 I went. 15 mins to get there? Pah! 5 mins more like! We then heard the flight was going to be delayed 20 mins to allow fifty passengers arriving on a late Edinburgh flight to join us.
It was then I looked out of the window at the plane and it dawned on me that I was actually going to fly! No more dreams. This time it was for real.
Take off was amazing! All I could think was “I’m flying - wow!” We quickly ascended and unfortunately the plane banked so all I could see were clouds. Still, at least I was flying.
Soon after came a bit of turbulence. Wow! How cool is that? Shaking about and dropping through the clouds. I think its like riding an old wooden rollercoaster. I swear I got a couple of pops of airtime!Mealtime next, and I was once again impressed. Childish I know, but how cool is it to have everything in little pots and bags? As for content, a bread roll (in a bag - yeah baby!), smoked salmon, some tomatoey meaty stewy thing with potatoes green beans and carrots, and a pudding which reminded me of those tarts we used to have at school dinner.I had a good chat with the guy sitting next to me (Hi Jimmy - keep in touch!) He’s Canadian, part Italian and has just finished a degree in finance at Cambridge. Jimmy very kindly let me swap seats for landing so I could see out of the window properly. Athens looked spectacular, all lit up with its lights twinkling in the dark. If the city is this beautiful in the daytime, it will be awe-inspiring. I’m not sure whether I prefer taking off or landing. It was great!
Exiting the plane, my first smell of Greece was … cigarette smoke! With the number of Greeks I know, I should have guessed.
After a bloke in a glass box (David Blaine?) gave my passport a seemingly uninterested cursory glance, we were at the luggage belt. I’d been led to believe this would be a nightmare, being infamous even to non-flyers. Actually it was quite mesmerising watching the bags drift past. I had to laugh at some of my fellow passengers displaying the typical Greek temperament, impatient to the highest degree.
After bidding farewell to Jimmy I headed out of the exit, then right back inside to the departures lounge. I’d wondered whether to sit outside for a bit - the air was beautifully warm - but decided against it, not sure how safe it would be falling asleep outside with all my luggage in tow.
So here I am, sitting on the floor in Athens airport. Apologies if this isn’t as lucid as normal, but I’m writing this using predictive text on my mobile at 3:50am Greek time (1:50am BST). A very friendly security guard just walked past waking everybody up. Apparently they don’t like you sleeping in the airport. Nobody seemed to mind though, probably helped by her being very pretty. Yep, attractive female security guards - I’m loving Greece!
Oh, and for safety reasons baggage trolleys are not allowed on the escalators, you are not permitted to park outside the terminal, illegally parked vehicles will be removed, and you can only smoke in the designated areas. (The announcements are very loud, very regular and very repetitive!)
