Day 1 / Entering Greece

My flight took me from Lyon to Athens, via Amsterdam. At check-in the first class seat I had reserved was denied for some reason for the short connecting flight to Amsterdam (funny that when I boarded the first class section still had a few seats open -- perhaps it was celebrities or royalty who needed the section blocked off). But the flight from Amsterdam to Athens, all three hours of it was glorious fun. The purser showered attention on the maybe ten of us who were in first class, bringing up meals, extra alcohol, ice cream, water, newspapers, and offering us first dibs at duty free (important because the Droste chocolates they still for 1,00 EUR always run out!).

I arrived in Athens at 00h55 (one hour of time difference) and ... my checked-in bag didn't. When I received my bag one day later, apparently it had been tagged correctly but "left behind" ... not quite sure what that was supposed to mean. In any case, I had fortunately packed one change of clothes in my carry-on (standard practice, as they say), and I was able to ride out the emergency. The mineral water I had packed in that bag was also replaceable. The Swissport agent who handled my lost luggage even offered me an amenity kit with change of clothes, shampoo, cream, razor, etc. They wouldn't give a voucher but it was still a nice gesture. And besides, it was 01h30 in the morning.

Thinking on the bright side, it was just as well that I had something to do, some way to kill time, seeing as I would have to be at check-in for my connection to Santorini at 04h30.

And so I killed time by doing what most people do in airports: sleep on the hard seats. Although I didn't really get any rest, I did try to lie down and camp out in the secured area (luggage zone). At about 4h00 I decided to explore the airport and took a cart through the area and visited the metro (scoped it out so that I would know where to pick it up later on), looked for mail drops, checked out the airport Sofitel from the outside ...

And then check-in! Athens being a 24-hour airport, even at 4h30 in the morning people were lined up for both Olympic Airways and for Aegean (which is what I flew on). I had expected it to be much emptier at that hour, but it was more bustling than London Stansted (not Heathrow but an airport which caters to the low-cost carriers), which I remembered started moving after 6 am in the morning. Even the check-in agents were perky and efficient (Aegean is a young airline but with the bulk of their bookings done on-line they are able to issue tickets and process passsengers quickly and efficiently.) (PS, Dad, yes, I did get mileage on Lufthansa Miles and More, of all things.)

And then I was off! 5h50 to Santorini.