Day 15, Sunday, July 5, 2015

My third biggest travel nightmare occurred today.

The first of course is being kidnapped and tortured; the second is being in a crash and being maimed for life (and even the very bumpy flight from Mykanos to Athens in high winds and more than a few big drops, in an old, twin propeller plane, didn’t come close to that)—but I never think about those.

The third is being lost in a foreign country where people can’t speak English well enough to help you, and you’re stranded and helpless. I don’t think about that much, either, except when it happened.

I’d had a lovely day at Paraga Beach, which beat Paradise Beach hands-down, and where I read and took a great long swim. I bid a sad farewell to Mykanos, with its all-bright-white stucco (or something) houses and blue doors and shutters against the beautiful blue sky and ocean, and to the Greek Islands in general.

I landed at 6:45 PM. I was supposed to stay at the Holiday Inn-Airport, which makes one think it is pretty near the airport. I asked at information if there was a shuttle and the guy was very hard to understand, but I think he told me to go outside and look for something, which I couldn’t find. So I asked an airport employee outside and pointed to the information I had that read, “Holiday Inn-Airport,” and he said, in very, very broken English, “Oh, Holiday Inn. Take that bus,” and he pointed. So I went to the bus driver and pointed to my information, and he pointed to the next bus.

So I went to that bus driver and pointed to my information, and he said, “Yes, here.”

“So, this bus goes to Holiday Inn?”

“Yes, this.”

So I sat down. I knew I was in trouble when the bus left the vicinity of the airport altogether. I was on that bus for an hour and 15 minutes. But what was I going to do, get off somewhere in Athens? Talk about feeling helpless. Plus I’d only had a (great) peach for lunch. I was very, very tired, I was very hungry, my blood sugar was way down, I was, how you say?, crabby.

So I thought, well, if they bring me to another Holiday Inn, maybe I can have that Holiday Inn get me back to the right one. Then I heard a Greek passenger giving directions in English to a couple, so I went up to her and said, “I suppose I’m very far from this,” and I pointed to my information. She agreed with me, took pity on me. She told me I had to take this bus to the end, and it wasn’t far now, and then when the driver makes everyone get off, go to the bus at the front of the line and it will take you back to the airport. She felt very sorry for me.

So I did just that, and rode the 1hr 15min bus ride back to the airport. By this time I’m kind of in a daze or stupor and its 9:00, and all of a sudden when he made a stop, out the corner of my eye I spot the Holiday Inn! I ran off the bus, hoping it was the right place, but we had to be close to the airport by now.

Hello room service?

Checked in, told them my woes. They weren’t very sympathetic. I was dying to order room service. I called. No answer. I called again. Same. I called the front desk. She repeated the instructions for calling room service. I did. No answer. So I called the front desk again. “Do you want me to try for you?” “Yes, please.” She called. No answer.

So she said, “Would you like me to take your order and I’ll get it to room service?” “Yes, please.”

After a while, room service called. “I heard from the front desk that you called room service. I want you to know it will be a two hour wait. We are very backed up. I suggest you go down to the bar and order from there.” I said, “Yes.”

So I ran down to the bar, realized I left my money in the room, ran back to my room, ran back down to the bar, where a couple was complaining to the bartender that they had been waiting 10 minutes to get a seat, and there were 4 groups ahead of me.

So I ran to a gas station across the street that I saw when I got there. They were advertising a club sandwich. I would have eaten anything at that point. Got my food to go. Went back to the hotel.

Stopped at the front desk and told them to be sure room service had cancelled my order. Went up to my room and, thankfully, ate. Then room service knocks on my door with a plate of food for me. He was mighty annoyed when I said I had told the front desk to be sure they knew it was cancelled. This pretty much sums up a lot of things about Greece: Organized chaos.

Well, Greece voted “no” today in their referendum and are dancing in the streets.  What it means, nobody knows.