Took some good pictures of Athens that I’ll get up after I charge the camera. For now, try to appreciate how great my Saturday was:

1. Woman at airport chided me for being there just 2 hours before departure — and then gave me a middle seat in a regular aisle for the 4 hour ATH – LHR journey.
2. In the gate, they passed out a letter informing us in-flight entertainment wasn’t working.
3. Boarding was delayed 25 minutes due to “certification problems.”
4. They found me an aisle seat — but it was behind a very generously-sized woman who kept trying to recline.
5. Takeoff was delayed 15 minutes because they had trouble disconnecting the jetway.
6. Landing was delayed 20 minutes because air traffic control wanted us to hold.
7. The customs guy was the rudest I’ve ever dealt with.
8. I spent €2 [US$2.48] for a 15-second call to Matt, where I discovered he wasn’t at the airport because he thought my flight wasn’t in for another 2 hours.
9. I had to spend Euro because the ATM on the ground level wasn’t dispensing cash.
10. There was no ATM on the second level, though staff on ground said there was.
11. While the train to Paddington was fine, I sat at the Circle Line platform watching no less than 8 trains pass on the opposite one before mine came.

But all of that doesn’t matter, because sitting patiently at the last station was Matthew, ready to guide me to his place and play the gracious host. He’d even made a “JSP” sign for Heathrow. Go Matt!

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 20th, 2003 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Travel.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.