I was up at 3:30 AM Monday in Dallas to shower, shave, and otherwise make the absolute last packing for the trip. The Super Shuttle requested I be ready 15 minutes before the scheduled pickup time. As it turned out the shuttle was 30 minutes late.

The flight to Denver (I know, this made no sense) was on an Air Canada Airbus 320. While not quite the sardine can the last time I flew American Airways or US Air, the economy seats are not designed for someone who is 6’1” and has long legs. Nor will the drop down tray work with my thighs.

When I got to Montreal we went to a room where there were at least a thousand people lined up for customs and immigration. Yes, we had to go through immigration and to fill out a customs declaration – even though we were simply changing planes. They did have a shorter, faster line for those of us with connecting flights. Then there was one of those electronic boards that informed me my plane was leaving from gate 61. Of course then there were no signs pointing to gates more than about 54. So I headed toward the ascending numbers. Wrong – 61 was the other direction.

The flight to Montreal was on an Air Canada Airbus 319. (I don’t have any idea how these numbers work). It was far more accommodating. I got selected to be in the last group to load. Before our group was allowed to load it was announced there was no more room for carryon luggage and it would have to be checked. I played deaf (not hard for me) and didn’t check my backpack. There was plenty of room for it in the overhead bins, but not just near my seat.

The flight to Athens was on an Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767/300. Sardine time. Not only were the seats too close together and the tray too close to the seat for a guy my size, but there were vent boxes under each aisle seat, which meant that only my left leg/foot could extend under the seat in front of me. More fun – there apparently was a problem with the planes maintenance log (or so the pilot informed us) that took an hour to resolve before we were cleared for takeoff. We were rewarded with free earphones.

So on Tuesday I arrived in Athens an hour later than planned. No real problem as the ‘check in time’ for the hotel was 2 PM. I decided to take a taxi to the hotel. That eliminated the hassle of subways and changing subways and a walk from the subway to the hotel with my baggage.  Good move; the walk would have been uphill.

When I went to the hotel desk they said they had a problem with the reservations system. They were putting me in another hotel for one night. They provided taxi fare to and from that hotel, coffee and scones while I waited for the taxi. This one night hotel is quite modern. It has one of those neat key card things that unlocks the door, turns on the electricity (and air-conditioning) and opens a safe in the room. My sixth floor room (actually seventh floor because in Europe C programmers number floors, with the ground floor being 0) has a balcony with table and chairs and a view of the Acropolis and Parthenon.

Taxis in Athens are yellow. The drivers are insane. The taxi driver from the airport to my first hotel insisted on look at me and talking has he zoomed down the toll road from the airport to the city and in the city dodged cars and motorcycles in very congested traffic. Some streets are very narrow; and the wide one are rendered narrow by double, triple and even quadruple parking. The driver of the second cab from the first to the second hotel talked on his cell phone as he dodged motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians, cars, trucks, buses and street cars. I have concluded I need to be very attentive while walking – looking especially for yellow taxis and motorcycles.

Tomorrow I’ll shower, shave and have breakfast at this hotel and the transfer to the other hotel. I had planned on taking a stroll around the Acropolis (not climbing it). But I noticed one of those double decker tour buses – so I may try to find one and take the tour. I’ve learned from Paris and Rome that is a good way to get oriented to the cities.

The photo journal for today is at Canicus Modius in Greece – 10 September 2013 – Athens

Canicus Modius