One Year Away

Penny

After saying goodbye to Tara and Lora, Joe and I were on our own again. Our next and final destination  before returning home is Greece. Being true budget travelers, we chose the cheapest flight we could find from Rome to Athens. We flew with AlItalia with an overnight layover in Milan. We took a look at  the website http://www.sleepinginairports.com to see what other travelers had to say about the Milan Linate airport. The reviews were good and we took some of the advice that other travelers had posted: use the subsidized employee vending machines, find the armless chairs at the departures area… Other than being woken at 1:30 AM by Italian speaking security guards who wanted to see our tickets (you are only allowed to sleep there if you have an outbound early morning flight), the night went smoothly.

The next morning, we hopped on the Milan to Athens plane. We arrived in Athens a little groggy but overall excited about our final 2 weeks. The enthusiasm started to wane when we realized that our luggage had not made it to Athens with us. We were able to laugh about it – in the past 11 months of travel we have never lost our luggage. How ironic that we would lose our stuff on a short flight on an airline from a “developed” country. We filled out the appropriate paper work and were told that AlItalia’s track record with luggage was one of the poorest in recent months, but not to worry. Our luggage should be found and delivered to us shortly. We were given 3 different phone numbers that we could call to get updates and a file number for reference. We exited the arrivals area and were greeted by my cousin Nancy.

The plan was to stay for a couple of days in Athens then Joe and I would leave and head north to see my aunt, uncle and cousins near Thessaloniki and Nancy would go south to join my mother’s side of the family. We would meet up in a few days. Unfortunately, we had to amend some of our plans…

It has been five days since we have arrived in Greece and I have yet to get my backpack. Joe’s was delivered the second night we were in Athens, but mine is still missing. It has also been five days that we have been calling the three numbers that we were given to inquire about my luggage but not once has anyone answered the telephone. We even went to the Athens airport to get some answers and I was told that I needed to be patient. My patience has run out!

We delayed leaving for northern Greece by one day in the hope that my luggage would arrive. After spending three days in Athens, we decided to leave anyways. I packed one T-shirt that I bought and a pair of pajama shorts that my cousin gave me and we took the seven hour bus ride to Kilkis.

It has not been fun. Every second night, I have been washing my one set of clothes and leaving them to dry overnight. On the bright side, it has made picking what to wear in the morning much easier.

It is now Friday and we are still waiting for a telephone call (we arrived in Greece on Sunday morning). We will have to return to Athens for one more night on Saturday to either pick up my luggage or go for a small shopping spree. On Sunday, we take a four hour bus ride to my mother’s home town where we will attend the annual village festival called ‘panigiri’. My mom’s village of Agia Sotiro celebrates on September 6. The village square is transformed into a fair ground where music is played and roasted pig (with only bread and nothing else) is sold. The village of only a few dozen full time residents is transformed into a real party place. I hope to be able to wear the little dress that I bought in Italy, but I will not hold my breath!

P.S.  We are a little late posting this… So I finally received my bag six days after I arrived in Greece and after 3 trips to the airport!