Day 2: “Already?” Today, we woke up at 7 o’clock for
breakfast because we had an early flight to catch for Athens, Greece. During
breakfast, our waiter taught Baba some Turkish words like, “my friend”, “good
morning”, “thank you”, etc. our waiter was a really nice guy that “touched us”
a lot. It’s a Turkish thing, a friendly touch on the shoulder. Breakfast was
not bad; it was a bit better than the ones at the inns (Days inn, Comfort
inn). We took a taxi to the airport and it
was the worst taxi ride I’ve ever had. You may ask, “How could a taxi ride be
good or bad?” It sucked because the driver, had some pretty major B.O. Yeah,
and I sat ride behind his seat. The ride was about 30 minutes and I breathed in
my shirt for 28 minutes. The two other minutes, I didn’t need to because the
there was a sewer smell that covered up the B.O. I don’t think I can describe
the smell but it was unbearable. We got through security and went straight to
the gate 223 with an hour before we depart. Since we had so much time, we went
to the duty free shop and almost got some Turkish Delights. The guy that worked
there was very nice and social and also has Chinese cousins. He said hasn’t
been to Greece and United States but he really wants to. I felt blessed that I
could travel to so many places. We left the shop 30 minutes before the plane
departs. We chilled at the gate for 10 minutes and my dad felt that there was
something wrong; there were only about 10 people at the gate. He checked our
boarding passes with another guy and it was the same. That could’ve only meant
three things: there were only 10 people going to Athens, there is an
unannounced delay, or there has been a gate change. Baba checked a TV that showed
the departing flights and it turned out that there was a gate change. It was 213 instead of 223. Baba told the guy
that we checked boarding passes with that it was 213, not 223 and everyone else
in that room heard it so everyone started running to gate 213. We made it. The
plane was only about ¾ full and it only took about an hour to get to the
destination but we still got food. Not the best but it was food, a chocolate
croissant and some cheese bread. I don’t know why, but when we landed, we got
off the plane on stairs to take a bus to the airport building. On the bus, we
met some Hong Kong people came here for Apostle Paul’s journey. We claimed our
baggage’s at the baggage claim and them we went to get a car at Avis. We were
originally driving a small car but we got upgraded to a small/medium car. The
car’s “brand” is Oppo or Oppal. We had to walk about ½ a kilometer to the get
the car and once we got the car, we started driving to our hotel, Athena
Intercontinental. Just before a toll came up, we realized that we didn’t have
any Euros. That made the toll 15 minutes to pass instead of less than 15
seconds. The penalty was, to pay when we come back, 2.8 Euros but they needed
our passports and everything. I didn’t expect Athens to be so old but all the
buildings are like 3-4 stories tall and they have cracks on the walls. The
country is so undeveloped. It took us 30 minutes to get to the hotel and it
took another 30-45 minutes to get to our room. We first looked at a normal room
that we booked. (no extra charge) Then we looked at a suite on the smoking
floor but no cigarette smell in the room. (87 Euros more which also includes
access to the lounge for complimentary food for the whole day) Next, we decide
to choose the family even though we haven’t seen it. (same price at the smoking
suite) Finally, we chose to stay at the smoking room because it was the same
price as the family room but so much nicer and it didn’t smell like cigarettes.
We went to the lounge afterwards and they had glass bottled coke, shortbread,
and much more. The best part was that we could eat outside and enjoy the
spectacular view of the Parthenon. We then went to drive around the city, which
is when a Di and I took our nap. When we woke up, we were back at the hotel and
continued walking after walking back up into our room. We napped for another 2
hours and then took the shuttle into town. We walked to the congress building and
saw these guards that just stand there and look of into nothingness for an hour
every time, four times a day. It’s kind of a waste of life, everyday, you stand
for 4 hours not being able to show any emotions or look at anyone or move. Then
we walked to a book place that sold books in Greek. After that, we went to look
for something to eat and found this Greek restaurant that wasn’t that good but
better than Turkey. I didn’t get full from it though because there was no
fricken rice. Then we just kept walking for about 2 kilometer and got to a
place where you could see the Parthenon beautifully. At night, the Parthenon is
just gorgeous; it looks exactly how I imaging Mount Olympus, the home of the
Greek gods. Finally, we ended the night with a taxi ride back to the hotel for
less than five Euros. Today was a good day.
Love
Asian Occasion
P.S. I also apologize for not separating into paragraphs but i kind of just put down points.
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