15 – 16 Mar 2011 – Kamloops to Athens (Tues – Wed)

Today is the first day of our 3^rd journey in this year of travel as we head off to Europe.  We know it will be long trip (27 hours from the time we leave the house to arriving in Athens) so we were totally trying to sleep in, be organized and try to stay relaxed.  The taxi was to arrive at 11 am to pick us so this meant we had to be ready….like we were not already ready the night before. 

Ok, by 11 we have managed to re-think the packing, reviewed our lists, and turned down the heat, off the water and cleaned up the fridge.  Then we head out to the airport.  Sound exciting yet? 

At the Kamloops airport we are greeted, as we are going through security, a line-up of people leaving the waiting area complaining about the cancelled flight.  As you can imagine we both look at each other with that “oh no” look.  Unfortunately for the other guys but fortunate for us it was the flight scheduled to Calgary that was cancelled.  With a HUGE sigh of relief we proceeded through security.

The flight to Vancouver was uneventful other than Wes enjoyed sitting by the window and examining the landscape we overflew.  We arrived in Vancouver at 1:30 and our next flight was not until 8:30 which means we had a 7 hour layover.   Although this is not a lot of fun we had arranged it for the possibility of a cancelled flight from Kamloops and the need to drive down.  Considering the issues with the Calgary flight this was not a bad plan so we were not disappointed with the long layover.  Besides, the Vancouver Airport has so much too see with the art and sculptures.

We chatted to one fellow who was on his way to London and then Athens during the security lineup.  As we finished and got the belts back on, the backpacks re-packed etc, it was time to consider a late lunch (no we did not eat lunch before heading out from home) so we headed over the food court.  It was surprising how quickly the time went and we were standing inline for our KLM flight to Amsterdam.

The flight was from 8:30 pm Vancouver time to arrive in Amsterdam at 3:30 pm Amsterdam time (which involves an 8 hour time zone shift so would be 10:30 am Vancouver time).  This overnight flight included having a late dinner served and a breakfast.  I watched two movies (Burlesque and Harry Potter) while Wes read and slept. (Yep he managed to have a good sleep as we flew while I dozed off at times but never got into a good sleep).   Amsterdam is a very interesting airport that is basically on one level. 

We arrived and had to clear customs here before continuing on to Athens.  We had plenty of time since we had a 5 hour wait between planes.  Fortunately we did not have any problems with customs but we did have a sense of being very tired.  Now I really did not want to sleep until I got onto the next plane because of the timings.  I felt if I slept while waiting for our next plane (if that would even be possible considering the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room) then I would not sleep on the plane and if I did would I sleep once we got to Athens?  Regardless I did not sleep while waiting but once settled on the plane to Athens I did manage to sleep.

We arrived in Athens at 12:20 am (yep that would be basically midnight) and had to gather our luggage.  Fortunately we did not have to deal with customs at all since we had done that in Amsterdam.  Then we had a very short walk to the hotel at the airport which we wisely had decided to stay.  The metro system shuts down here at 11:30 pm and we were not sure of using taxis to travel the 30 km into the city to find a hotel.   The hotel is very nice and we were upgraded in the room which is a bonus.  By the time we got settled in the room it was almost 1 am so not extremely late but considering we had been on the go for 27 hours late enough.   It was definitely  the time for a shower and into bed for some sleep.  Of course our bodies are still thinking that it is not 1 am but late afternoon.  Exhaustion helps overcome jet lag so we will see how the next couple of days go.