Well, it's taken a lot longer than promised to write this post, but life seems to have been ridiculously busy lately. So apologies...here's my month-late finishing up post about our trip to Greece.
Looking back, our time in Athens was wonderful. We didn't over exert ourselves at all and we took our time at every monument and museum we went to. For not having a lot planned and for not knowing much about the city we were going to I think we did a really good job filling our time. We both relaxed which was exactly what we needed - especially since Brandon wasn't feeling very good.
One realisation I did come to was that your expectation can really differ from reality when visiting a foreign country. I think that I was expecting Athens to look a little like here. But I was very mistaken in that assumption. I was shocked by the disarray, the garbage, the graffiti, the just plain dereliction of so much of the city. And like most people, I think I was expecting the white buildings and bright blue sea that appear in all the promotional photos of Greece. I know now that those pictures are from the islands and that most visitors come to Athens for just a day or so before heading out on a cruise. But at the same time the park was gorgeous, the ruins were beautiful, and the people were over the top friendly. It just takes a little effort to look past the superficial I guess.
We both felt for the first time in all this time away from Canada that we were really in a foreign country. Obviously the language was a big factor in that, but also the attitude of the people. I was not expecting the pushy barkers outside restaurants and shops and I didn't expect to feel nervous when walking around in the evening. I think it just really hit me that we really were far from home - both Scottish and Canadian.
And speaking of getting home, once again I was a little high maintenance at the airport. We got there very early and I was insistent that we go through security and find our gate. I have this thing that I just need to be there where I'm supposed to be. I'm stressed out if I'm wandering around and not hours early for my flight. This has always happened to me. It causes Brandon great frustration because in his words, "I go all crazy." In this particular case, instead of going through the open part of the airport where all the shopping and food was, I insisted that we go through passport control as soon as we got to the airport. After all, there just had to be places to eat and things to do within security, right? Wrong. Once they stamped our passports, we attempted to go through to the security line up. There, the girl laughed at me and told me we were way too early to go through to the gate and basically made me feel like an idiot. So since we were now stuck in the space between passport control and our air plane where there was one small coffee shop and one duty free shop, I had a minor freak out trying to apologise to Brandon for not trusting him. We had gross stale sandwiches and ridiculously over priced lattes because that's all there was. About an hour later we went through security where our toiletries were inspected very closely and we found ourselves seats at our gate. There was a snack cart so I used up most of our Euros change on mini Oreos and drinks for the plane and we waited. And waited. Our plane was late getting in but we lined up when the check in staff got to the gate so we could get seats together - something else I was crazy worried about. It turned out I worried for nothing though because the flight was only about half full.
I don't know why I get so stressed about this stuff. I think it has something to do with not being in control and not knowing what to expect. That's the worst thing about flying really. You hurry and rush and panic to get to the airport so that you can hurry and wait in line and then hurry and wait until someone tells you what to do. Taking the train is so much nicer.
One more thing. We both admitted to each other that waiting there in the airport to go home was the most homesick we'd both felt in the six months we've been away. For me, I think that's because every time I've felt the intense need to go home I've been on my to the Calgary airport. When I'm tired and stressed and resigned to the fact that yes, I'm on my way home from this lovely vacation, I can't help by crave the familiar. And as much as Edinburgh is home right now, the going home reflex in my brain is still wired to Canada. Every new place I go and every person from another country I talk to makes me more and more thankful to tell people I'm Canadian. And the longer I'm away the more patriotic I'm becoming.
Anyway, finally there are my final thoughts on the trip to Greece. But before I end this post I must say a massive thank you to all our family that sent us the Christmas and birthday gifts that helped make this trip happen. We appreciate it so much and I'm glad to have been able to share our experiences with you all here on the blog. Thanks for reading!
