Moving from Malta to Athens

 We didn’t plan the best on times for our plane and getting out of a place that you’re staying, so we’re out of the “resort” by 12pm, on a bus at 12:06 and at the airport for a flight that doesn’t leave until 4:10 at 12:55pm.  So, we have a lot of time at the Malta airport, which is not bad because they have a coffee place with café that 

extends out the back of the airport into the open air.  How cool is that?  Why don’t we do things like that in the US?  We haven’t gone through security or anything, why not have some fresh air.  We hang here for a while and do some random shopping and then decided that Aegean is never going to open a line for our check in and check in through the kiosk.  This is great because we don’t have anyone looking at our huge, heavy carry ons that are 

over sized and overweight for even American standards now.  We get through security where nothing gets checked really, all the things that have been checked in other places are just put right through.  I’m feeling bad while we’re sitting waiting for our gate because there are all these chic Europeans with tiny little freaking suitcases and backpacks that seem empty.  I guess if I emptied my purse into a back pack it would look like that, but what the hell do they even have in there?  I have to remind myself that none of them

 are probably travelling for 5 months with these tiny bags.  Our plane is delayed by 15 minutes and they’re going to give us our gate at the time it is ready for boarding.  In a flash, the gate is displayed along with on time now and boarding immediately.  Okay.  We head to the gate and someone tells John that we don’t need a tag for the stroller gate check while others tell us we do, we

 are on a bus again and driven out to our plane which is a puddle jumper with propellers.  You can see Oscar do a double take.  He’s never flown on anything less than a jet engine plane and he doesn’t understand that everyone is going to fit on this plane.  I tell John that our bags will never fit in these overhead bins because I remember these planes from when I was younger or the latest trip

 from GR to Chicago, somewhere recently.  And I’m right, two of the bags don’t even fit.  Thankfully it is winter and we are given extra places to hide these things.  A great little flight across the sea and we’re landing in Athens before you know it.  There’s now a flat rate to the city center in a taxi from the airport and it’s 38 euros for all 3 of us when the metro would have been 10 each anyway.  So, it’s worth it.  Especially since our guy has to put this place in GPS

  too, and drive around the block a couple of times to a part that doesn’t have a road in front of it to find the door we’re at.  Now, for those of you who have never been to Athens, it’s a shocker.  You’re used to cities looking a certain way in places and other ways in other places, you don’t expect the whole city to look like South Side Chicago.  The graffiti is everywhere and every place looks run

down and awful.  There is a shady little park in between our huge apartment blocks and it looks like all manner of horrible drug deals are going down in the middle of it.  I don’t want to get out of the taxi people.  But I suck it up and look brave for my 5 year old, pull all of our stuff out of the cab and send John to the complex next to ours to get the keys for our Air BnB.  The usual tiny elevator in a European building and we’re entering our spacious rooms with

praise God, a washing machine.  We have a great balcony too that has 8 different lines for laundry to dry on.  I’ll take the graffiti and scary looking area to have the washing machine.  Also, I realize that the 8 guys in dark jackets in the middle of the park part are 

 actually barbecuing.  And they’re cold because it’s 60 degrees and they’re Athenians.  So, we’ll see what it looks like in the morning.  We fall into our beds and Oscar has his own room in this place, which is another room, another bonus.