Getting to Greece...

Our journey to Greece was a long one, as we expected it would be! We left the house at 4:30pm on Saturday, and dropped our pet fishies off at Caryn's house along the way. Then it was off to the bus depot, which is about halfway between our house and the airport. I was hoping we'd make the 5:30 bus, but traffic meant that we got there closer to 6. And then, once we got on the bus, we learned that there were several multi-car crashes ahead of us that were slowing everything down. Greaaaaaat. Commence stress-out!

Still, we were fine. We got to the airport with 2.5 hours to spare. By the time we'd checked our bags, gone through security, and gotten something to eat, it was really just a short wait before we boarded our plane. Thank GOD, because the kids were so excited I thought they might explode. I won't lie, they were driving me nuts!!

Our first flight was on a British Airways 747 to London. It had a second floor!!! Not that we got to see it, but I've always wanted to be on a "double-decker" plane! We had the middle four seats, so we all got to sit together. Behold my charming seatmates, early in the morning (English time; this was at 2am our time!).

Poor zombie children. Niko fell asleep shortly after takeoff, getting probably 3-4 hours of rest. Maya, on the other hand, was WIRED! She was so excited to be on a plane, have her own tv, have someone bring her food, etc. You name it, she was excited about it! She eventually crashed, getting probably 1.5hours of sleep. Which meant that I dozed off and on for a little while, but eventually gave up and watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 1). So I was a zombie, too.

We got to London about 20 minutes ahead of schedule, and it was cold and rainy outside. We had over three hours to kill before our next flight. Flashback to the day before, in the morning: we were all packed up, and I was killing time googling things (British Airways, Heathrow, etc.). I learned that there was a children's play area in the airport, and told the kids (serious parenting mistake!!). Niko was absolutely obsessed with finding this play area. He wouldn't let it go!! Then, we got to the terminal for our next flight, and there it was. Hahaha!!!!

But WOW, what a discovery! It wasn't just a play area-- it was actually staffed by young adults who got to know all the kids, organized games for them, etc. Both kids were very shy at first, but were soon in their element. They spent most of our layover in there!

A few funny things: For whatever reason, the guy working there thought Niko's name was "MEE-lo," and Niko didn't say word one about it-- he actually responded to it!! Haha!!!! (If you know Niko, this is shocking!) Another time, the guy asked Niko (Meelo) and Maya where they were from. Niko told him Massachusetts, but the guy said "WHERE in Massachusetts?" Niko promptly shouted out our entire home address so loudly that everyone could here. So we could possibly be getting someinteresting mail upon our return, ha! :)

The next flight, from London to Athens, ended up being delayed about an hour due to mechanical issues with the plane (joy...). But we finally took off, and broke through the clouds. It was sunny on our side of the plane, and it felt so good! Gus and Niko stayed awake the entire time:

Maya, however, fell asleep on my arm shortly after takeoff. She was wiped out!

We landed in Athens, made it through Border Control without any trouble, and our bags all arrived pretty quickly (BIG IMPROVEMENT OVER LAST TIME! haha!). We met Gus' parents immediately outside of baggage claim, and a guy also met us there to lead us to our rental car. It all went so smoothly!

It was about a 2.5 hour drive from there, during which both kids fell asleep in their carseats and I could barely keep my eyes open! Gus' dad drove our rental car, and I rode with Gus' mom in their rental. They had a head start, and even managed to pick up some food on the way. As soon as I got there and saw the souvlaki and fries, I realized I was starving! I'd never had such good food in all my life, haha!!

And that is where I will end this post. Care to guess how long everyone slept? :) ------------------ I am going to try to catch up on the blog and date everything appropriately, but we'll see! The spotty Wi-Fi here makes things interesting! :)