Just sitting on a plane!

Monday 9 June, Tuesday 10 June

Hopefully all the last minute chores have been taken care of - I seem to have been ticking things off lists for days (no one at home for the next few weeks so securing the house etc has been a bit of a mission).

Yesterday Alex, Zac, Mum, Benji and I had  delicious lunch at Elephant Rock Cafe.  We had the prime spot with lovely views of Currumbin Beach and the usual mouth-watering longboard,calamari and smoked salmon- very relaxing and enjoyable.  Yay for the Gold Coast City Council in now permitting cafes to be dog-friendly - Benji hates to be left at home!

Lunch at Elephant Rock Cafe - a lovely farewell.

So, this afternoon I was finally airborne - Singapore Airlines to Singapore, a bit of a wait and then Air France to Paris.   Both legs were great and I was pleasantly surprised with the standard of service and comfort on Air France - not usually regarded as one of the world's most superior airlines.  Not only was the food (and of course wine) amazing  and enticed me to eat dinner at 2 am which I usually avoid, but the cabin crew were charming, helpful and really pleasant.  This experience was repeated on Tuesday morning's three hour flight to Athens which followed something of a hike around CDG Airport in order to make the connection.   The flight to Athens took a route that had us flying over Lake Leman and Switzerland with fantastic views of the still very snowy Alps. The huge bulk of Mt Blanc and the distinctive peak of the Matterhorn, plus the whole expanse of the French and Swiss Alps sparkled below us in the morning sunshine.  Absolutely beautiful - such good luck to be seated on the right side of the aircraft.  Rather annoyed that I had packed my camera away - a sadly missed wonderful photo opportunity!  After being glued to the mountain scenery for a while I got to chatting with my travelling companion in the next seat - a lovely Thai man, a diplomat, with a great sense of humour.  When I next looked out the window we were flying over the sea and soon the occasional island began to appear - a sure sign that we were approaching Greece.
This morning in Paris I had been in touch with Caroline in London, expecting her to be boarding a flight which should have arrived in Athens a few minutes before me.  I must admit to being quite horrified to learn that British Airways had oversold Caroline's flight and that she had been "bumped."  If she was lucky  she would be rebooked on the next flight which would have her landing in Athens at around 7 pm.  So to British Airways I say "greedy, unethical and incompetent. - and to be avoided for ever more."  Apparently it is common practice with this airline - Caroline was not alone as a bumpee on this particular morning. There is even a whole desk in the terminal to manage disgruntled passengers.  I am pretty sure that overselling is illegal in Australia and so it should be.
Well Insight Tours was very understanding and promised that they would send a driver to collect Caroline, and I received a message from her confirming that she was about to finally board a flight to Athens.  Poor thing got up at some pre-dawn hour in order to make her 8.15 am flight from Heathrow and then spent hours hanging about in the airport while BA did their best to spoil her day.
Athens was a bit of a surprise to me as I didn't expected the city to be surrounded by such high hills or the roads to be so lacking in traffic.  After all 5 million people live in the Greater Athens area.  My driver was of the opinion that most people find it too expensive to drive and that a good public transport system and a plethora of scooters and motorbikes furnish the transport needs of the population.
I kind of collapsed for a bit  in my room at the Divani Caravel, then went for a little stroll before attending welcome drinks with our tour guide Lisa and getting to know some of our fellow travellers.  The view of the Acropolis from the roof terrace of the hotel was pretty and very atmospheric as the sun began to set. Caroline turned up just in time for a tasty dinner with all the group and then bed beckoned as we have an early start in the morning.

Evening view of the Acropolis from the Divani Caravel Roof Terrace