My Odyssey to Athens..the Greek gods are at work!

Have a nice big cup of coffee or tea before reading this...

My journey to the Athens according to the itinerary was to take 18 hours of flying time covering over 9,000 miles, these are the conditions I've come to terms with to spend my day in transit and the only sightseeing to look forward to were the advertisements and duty free stores at the airport. I was to get into Athens at 1:45pm, early enough to enjoy the afternoon and walk around the city. If not for the jetlag, flying from Taipei actually works out well as it gains me 6 hours. My flight from Taipei to Bangkok to Amsterdam was a non-event, we arrived at Amsteram’s Schipol airport at 5:30am which is way too early if you are in the middle of deep REM state sleeping so I immediately seek out coffee. With approximately 3 hours before my next flight to Athens I jumped online and did some light shopping. As 8:30am rolls around, I headed for the gate and here is where the all DRAMA begins or I like to think it was an "Odyssey".....keep reading and let me know what you think.

The first delay was by 25 mins. followed by another which pushed us back to 11:30am due to the unavailability of the incoming plane...so far I can deal with these types of delays. Than as the 11am approaches, we were told to switch gates (btw its 1 mile away and if you’ve been to Schipol airport you’ll sympathize) nonetheless we dutifully proceed to new gate. Once there, we didn’t board until 12pm...there goes the 11:30am departure. I am starving at this point, I made a mad dash to the nearest café to grab a sandwich, a decision that proved to be a such a foresight to my survival on board as the drama unfolds. It took at least 45mins to complete the boarding process…it might be the prelude to “the Mediterranean time” but dripping molasses would be faster!

The clock keeps ticking away, its now 1pm at which point the captain announces that one passenger can't be accounted for (luggage on board but not the person) and crew is unable to reconcile by the computer system so we were all asked to produce our tickets to verify against the passenger list...what a hassle! At 2pm, the MIA passenger is finally accounted for and boarded our plane (you can't help but feel bad for her as everyone stares her down for delaying the take-off). Thinking we are all set for take-off, we clapped and smiled but our moment of celebration quickly disperses when the captain makes another announcement that “a passenger” (never saw who it was) was very sick and therefore he has decided to return immediately to the gate to avoid any medical risk while in flight. I think all of us at this point were willing to wait this out however the next announcement quickly shaved away our patience. The captain makes the BIGGEST announcement of them all that “due to the compounded delays he will not be able to fly us to Athens as he is approaching his maximum 12hrs shift work schedule and is required by law to not exceed that limit”. All I can say is that everyone was in an uproar and if there were fresh tomatoes on board there would be a bloody mess!

Everyone frantically pulls out their cell phones to connect with friends and families. The two ladies next to me asked to use my phone and then wants to pay for the calls…it was so cute but I don’t think I would even know how much the call was. As we reach our 4th hour waiting and sitting we unwillingly begin to accept that we may not see Athens until tomorrow. The captain has called a replacement crew to take us to Athens in the meantime we were to wait in the plane for one and a half hour....$$###!!!!! are the words and sentiment out of everyone's mouth. With no other choices, we can only wait and wait. At 3pm (that’s 2 hours on the plane) we were served water, well except that the flight attendant forgot to give me mine and I’m dying of thirst (for some reason I got the smallest bottle which I finished with my sandwich). Then we were served some snacks of yogurt, cheese, and a candy bar which unfortunately I couldn’t eat because of my lactose intolerant and I wouldn’t dare take any ounce of dairy in the absence of my lactaid pills which would be an internal drama I don’t want to deal with certainly not on this flight. I resorted to my own food supply….nuts and a lunar bar. The two flight attendants does their best to appease everyone but all is not happy. A lady next to me was asked how she was doing and she replied only in a way an old Greek lady can mustard up, “Don’t Ask Me!”….it was perfect and I loved it! The flight attendants then proceeds to pass out a feedback card for KLM regarding this flight and ask if anyone wants one, even the two Greek ladies in my row who didn’t speak English (someone interpreted for them) took the cards and handed it directly to me and egged me to send the feedback. I whipped out my laptop and feverishly typed my lethal feedback to KLM. At 4pm the new crew showed up, we finally took off at 4:30pm…no clapping or cheering was to be heard but only the whisper of relief that we would reach Athens tonight. Everyone quietly fell asleep. If you’ve lost count, we were delayed for approximately 5hrs getting into Athens at 8:30pm versus the original 1:45pm arrival time! The Greek gods must have finally fallen asleep as we reached Athens safe and sound ending our Odyssey. The End.

Singapore and Malaysia pictures posted

The pictures are finally up and ready for your enjoyment. The problem with being a shutterbug...way to many pictures so I try to only post the ones that best capture the spirit of the places. Well there's also the 500 limit Picasa web gallery puts on me. Anyhow, enjoy these. Still filtering the ones from Taipei.