Digital Diva Goes Global: Thursday--February 3--Rhodes to Athens

Rain rain go away come again some other day.

Thursday--Rhodes to Athens

My flight is at 10:55 and I want to get to the airport by 9:30. I don’t completely trust the site I used on the internet for my reservation and I don’t have a seat. I get a taxi to take me to the airport which takes about 20 minutes.

My reservation was fine and I checked in very easily. Why do they always want to give me a window seat? I ask for an aisle seat and she has to change the boarding pass.

This is an international airport but not very big. I need a bottle of water and see a little restaurant. I get the water and see there isn’t much else so I decide to go through security. After I put all my bags through security, they tell me I can’t have the bottle of water. Really. So they say I can drink it all or I have to throw it away. If I’d only known I would have waited until I got through security.

So I sit at the little restaurant they have on the gate side and take out my computer. I have over an hour and figure I can write. I try to get internet, just for the fun of it and can you believe it, free internet. Will wonders never cease to amaze me.

The flight is on time and I board the plane at 10:40. All is well.

The flight is a bit bumpy due to the rainy weather but we arrive in Athens on time. We deplane on the tarmac and have to take a bus to the terminal. Good thing I have this rain coat.

I get my suitcase from the baggage claim and go outside for a taxi.

I see a sign that says flat rate 35 Euro with a map that looks like it probably the center of town. The next taxi in line grabs my suitcase and puts it in his trunk. Before I get in I try to communicate with him to verify that it will cost 35 Euro to go to the hotel. He starts jabbering in Greek and I say I don’t understand.

All he can say in English is, “no problem” “no problem”.

I point to the sign and say 35 euro to the hotel. I’ve heard stories about taxis who want to charge you something different if you don’t agree on the price before you get in. I have no idea what he’s saying but I get in.

He talks to me in Greek all the way there. When we come to the toll road he points to the machine and says I need to pay another 3 euro for the toll.

When we are across the street from the hotel and by the way it’s pouring rain, he says there is the hotel and tries to make me get out of the taxi. Are you kidding me.

No, I say, you need to take me to the other side of the road.

He starts yelling at me in Greek something but I refuse to get out of the taxi.

When we pull up to the hotel, I tell the doorman the difficulty I am having with this taxi driver and that I only want to pay 35 Euro because that’s what the sign said at the airport. He has a conversation with the taxi driver and in the end I pay 35 Euro.

view from my first room

O.k. I am officially sick of the rain and I have another cold. I felt it coming on day before yesterday and I knew flying wasn’t going to help. However, I’m in a great hotel in Athens with a suite the size of my house.

my first room

Not really, but it’s very lovely. I have a bedroom, a living room and a bathtub in the bathroom.

There is also wash cloths. I know it may sound strange but I haven’t seen a wash cloth in a hotel until now.

Given the weather I am very glad I decided to take the 5 star route. My only complaint is that I have to pay 15 Euro a night for internet. Can someone please explain to me why in the cheaper hotels and all other countries I had free internet but in Greece I’ve had to pay. At the last hotel it sucked and now that I’m paying 130 Euro a night for a room I’m paying 15 Euro a night for internet. I don’t get it. I know in America they charge for internet as well. This is not right. Add the cost into the price of the room. I hate these extra charges. So I bite the bullet because I have not much else to do if I don’t have internet access and sign on. I spend a few hours on the computer and watching t.v. After spending several hours on the internet I went to lie down on the bed. As I walked next to the bed my foot stepped into a puddle of water. Really. I look down and the whole side of the room next to the window is flooded. I immediately called the front desk, they send someone to the room and told me I was being moved. . I have to pack up my things and the bell boy comes to move my things.