So there I was, standing on the street outside the hotel with my baggage, waiting for my airport transfer. I'd booked it through the hotel, and it was meant to arrive at 1250pm, which left me just slightly tight for time as it was. There were roadworks further down the road, and there'd been traffic jams every night at rush hour but it'd generally been fine during the day. Of course, as soon as I was worried about getting to the airport, there was a traffic jam at lunchtime. So 1250pm came and went, and around 1pm I saw a van that'd passed me and was sitting in traffic further down the road, which had the name of the transfer company on it. I walked down and leant in his window and asked him, and he rang someone up and then told me that he'd take me. There are of course two airports in Istanbul, and even though I'd told him which one I was going to, I was still horribly concerned that he was going to the other one first or something like that and I was going to miss my flight.
However, he didn't. We picked up about another 12 or 13 people on the way, but we were there right on two hours before my flight. He also happened to stop at the door right by the counter I needed to check in at, and there happened to be quite literally no queue, I just walked up to the desk. It was so easy from then.
Our plane sat on the runway for almost an hour, waiting in the queue to take off, so we were pretty late getting to Athens. When I got there, I was waiting at the baggage claim, and who should I see but Charley!! British Airways had delivered her safely to Athens... minus her bag. She says this happens to her often. She'd already spoken to the baggage people who'd confidently assured her that it wasn't in Athens, so we got the bus into town.
When we got off the bus at the last stop, as I was putting my backpack on, Charley realised she'd left her fleece and her Greece guidebook (which was a library book) on the bus. Not a good day for Charley's stuff. So we crossed the road and waited for the bus to come back around, and she jumped back on to check the seat. Of course we'd sat right at the back and they have a system where you pre-purchase your ticket, so the driver assumed she wanted to go to the airport, and drove off. So I'm standing on the side of the road with all my baggage, in the dark, no map, I didn't even have the name of the hotel because we'd planned to meet at the airport and Charley had made the booking, and in fact not even any idea which direction the hotel was in. And there was a group of not-very-friendly looking locals hanging about. The bus stops were rather far apart, so even if I followed the bus there was no guarantee I was going to be able to find the next stop, but I didn't want to just be standing there looking like a lost tourist, so I started to follow the bus. Fortunately she managed to get off at the next set of traffic lights, which was only a block or so away. Unfortunately it either wasn't the same bus, or they'd taken it through the depot and cleaned it out, because she hadn't managed to recover her stuff.
So we eventually got to the hotel (with the rest of our gear), and went out for a walk to get some dinner, ferry tickets, and to try to get to the bus depot lost and found, which was, fortunately, at our end of town. My birthday dinner ended up being the best kebabs ever (the type with bread and meat and veges). The veges were so fresh and juicy and tasty, so much better than what we get in NZ. We stood on the edge of the harbour and ate them (it had been raining and everything was too wet to sit on). Then we got a taxi to the bus terminal to see about Charley's stuff, but it was about 9pm by then and the terminal was shut.
The airline very helpfully called our hotel room at about 230am to inform us at great length that Charley's bag had arrived on the most recent flight from London and would be delivered to our hotel. Fortunately it was there by the time we wanted to leave to get to the ferry - which was about 615am. The girl at the ferry ticket orifice the previous evening had said that because of the weather there was a chance that the ferry wouldn't sail, so we'd be much wiser to arrive early in the morning and buy tickets then. So we did that, then I went to find a coffee and Charley jumped in (another) taxi to try again at the bus terminal for her gear. She made it back with literally 2min to spare to get on the boat, but unfortunately the terminal was shut again so she still hadn't got her gear back.
The ferry was HUGE!! And it was very definitely the end of the season, but there were still so many people on board. We were trying to imagine what it would be like in the middle of summer. They're pretty awesome ferries, they have bars and restaurants and decks outside and big comfy seats inside and a shop (a pretty useless one, but still). It was about an 8hr trip, blahhhhhh... Fortunately we both slept quite a lot of the way.
Sorry about the lack of photos on this post, I was sleeping too much to take any!
However, he didn't. We picked up about another 12 or 13 people on the way, but we were there right on two hours before my flight. He also happened to stop at the door right by the counter I needed to check in at, and there happened to be quite literally no queue, I just walked up to the desk. It was so easy from then.
Our plane sat on the runway for almost an hour, waiting in the queue to take off, so we were pretty late getting to Athens. When I got there, I was waiting at the baggage claim, and who should I see but Charley!! British Airways had delivered her safely to Athens... minus her bag. She says this happens to her often. She'd already spoken to the baggage people who'd confidently assured her that it wasn't in Athens, so we got the bus into town.
When we got off the bus at the last stop, as I was putting my backpack on, Charley realised she'd left her fleece and her Greece guidebook (which was a library book) on the bus. Not a good day for Charley's stuff. So we crossed the road and waited for the bus to come back around, and she jumped back on to check the seat. Of course we'd sat right at the back and they have a system where you pre-purchase your ticket, so the driver assumed she wanted to go to the airport, and drove off. So I'm standing on the side of the road with all my baggage, in the dark, no map, I didn't even have the name of the hotel because we'd planned to meet at the airport and Charley had made the booking, and in fact not even any idea which direction the hotel was in. And there was a group of not-very-friendly looking locals hanging about. The bus stops were rather far apart, so even if I followed the bus there was no guarantee I was going to be able to find the next stop, but I didn't want to just be standing there looking like a lost tourist, so I started to follow the bus. Fortunately she managed to get off at the next set of traffic lights, which was only a block or so away. Unfortunately it either wasn't the same bus, or they'd taken it through the depot and cleaned it out, because she hadn't managed to recover her stuff.
So we eventually got to the hotel (with the rest of our gear), and went out for a walk to get some dinner, ferry tickets, and to try to get to the bus depot lost and found, which was, fortunately, at our end of town. My birthday dinner ended up being the best kebabs ever (the type with bread and meat and veges). The veges were so fresh and juicy and tasty, so much better than what we get in NZ. We stood on the edge of the harbour and ate them (it had been raining and everything was too wet to sit on). Then we got a taxi to the bus terminal to see about Charley's stuff, but it was about 9pm by then and the terminal was shut.
The airline very helpfully called our hotel room at about 230am to inform us at great length that Charley's bag had arrived on the most recent flight from London and would be delivered to our hotel. Fortunately it was there by the time we wanted to leave to get to the ferry - which was about 615am. The girl at the ferry ticket orifice the previous evening had said that because of the weather there was a chance that the ferry wouldn't sail, so we'd be much wiser to arrive early in the morning and buy tickets then. So we did that, then I went to find a coffee and Charley jumped in (another) taxi to try again at the bus terminal for her gear. She made it back with literally 2min to spare to get on the boat, but unfortunately the terminal was shut again so she still hadn't got her gear back.
The ferry was HUGE!! And it was very definitely the end of the season, but there were still so many people on board. We were trying to imagine what it would be like in the middle of summer. They're pretty awesome ferries, they have bars and restaurants and decks outside and big comfy seats inside and a shop (a pretty useless one, but still). It was about an 8hr trip, blahhhhhh... Fortunately we both slept quite a lot of the way.
Sorry about the lack of photos on this post, I was sleeping too much to take any!
No comments:
Post a Comment