Welcome to Greece!

"Welcome to Greece!" my mom said as we headed through the jetway.

"I've been here before…" Ailyn said – forgoing the necessary welcome and getting a laugh from the rest of us.

On a long travel day that literally brought us near Marathon, a laugh is useful. Only 15 minutes before, my mom's stomach was queasy from the long, slow descent, Sennen was sneezing like a hurricane from allergies that had gone too long untreated and Ailyn… well, she slept and did best. Maybe that's why she had some sass to give.

The road to Athens was long – beginning at 3 am Pacific Time, when we loaded up the car and Alex, our au pair, very kindly drove us to LAX. While we were there early enough to make it through the chaotic Air Canada check-in process with time to spare, the flight itself left almost 50 minutes late – presumably from a delay caused by the prior flight that didn't depart the same gate on time. As a result, my mom and I had some concern about our 2 hour connection window in Montreal being trimmed down to 1.5 hours.

Sure enough, between the flight getting in late, slowness in reaching our gate and a seemingly endless disembarking process, we had an hour to make our flight – and there were huge crowds going through Montreal's system of verifications and security for international connecting flights. Sennen cried when he saw the line for connecting flights – sure we wouldn't make it. However, the process turned out to be efficient enough that we would have made it no matter what – but was also obviated by our outbound flight being delayed 40 minutes. We made our flight to Athens without any further stress.

With an entire premium economy row to ourselves – located immediately before the lavatories (for my mom's convenience) and with no one behind us to be concerned about when reclining – it seemed like we had the optimal setup for a successful 10.5 hour flight. While overall, that was true – we hadn't accounted for Sennen's allergies flaring up and it being too soon for him to be able to take more medication. So, a lame meal, a few movies, a nap, hundreds of sneezes and uncountable tissues later, we reached Athens.

With five and a half hours until our ferry, we were not only in no rush, but it was obvious from the ragged condition of our crew that it was time for a slow place. My mom hadn't slept at all on either flight. Ailyn had significant motion sickness on the first flight – probably because she had some candy upon takeoff and gets especially motion sick if she eats anything sweet. Sennen was snow a tired, red watery eyed, sneezy mess. I found myself repeating, "Guys, travel days are always the hardest, but tomorrow will be better if we just get through this…"

Stamping into the country, getting our bags, getting Sennen some kids' Zyrtec and buying Greek SIM cards for the kids' GPS watches were the orders of the day. 

Once these tasks were accomplished and a restroom stop was had, I realized we needed something low key and stabilizing. One thing Emily and I came to over the years of traveling with children is that sometimes, throwing money at a problem is the best course. I took us across the driveway to the Sofitel Athens Airport and its expensive, but very nice restaurant. Being a high-end airport hotel, they are happy to store bags for visiting guests and patrons and offer excellent, not terribly Greek overpriced food in a calm, relaxed atmosphere. The cucumber mint water in the lobby and the nicest restrooms we've had this trip were nice perks too.

By the time lunch was over, Sennen's allergies were subsiding and attitudes were lightening – even if there was no cure for the crew's fatigue. Because Sennen likes to binge-watch movies on long flights, he rarely sleeps enough and got maybe two hours in this case. It was catching up to him. Ailyn on the other hand slept more than any of us and was in the best mood. Nonetheless, after lunch both kids napped in the taxi on the way to Piraeus Port where we boarded our ferry – Blue Star Patmos (one of the newest in the line).

We now have a four person cabin with private bath. It so happened I booked one with a heap-filter – a new feature introduced during COVID – which hopefully has a positive effect on Sennen. Sennen and my mom relished the opportunity to shower and change clothes. Ailyn grabbed an iPad to watch downloaded TV shows and zone out (which is fine on travel days).

To borrow the oft repeated, muddled and eventually beaten dead line from the Matrix sequels, "Some things never change, and some things do…" The kids seemed less resilient on arrival this time – although they are a little out of practice. their last international trip was December-January 2021-2022. This has a long gap for them. But then, as soon as Sennen stepped onto Blue Star Patmos, his spark about Greek ferries returned. 

"How does it not tip at all with all of those cars and trucks? Who designed this? How did they design it? How does it float? Why does it have so many restaurants? We went on Blue Star 1 and Blue Star 2 before right? Are they the same? Which is bigger – Blue Star 2 or Blue Star Patmos? Why are they using Blue Star Patmos? Does it only go to Patmos? The groceries get carried on this ferry?! This ferry has everything!" After his shower, Sennen needed a thorough exploration of the ship.

As of this writing, we're on course to Patmos. The sun is kissing the deeply blue Aegean as our ship glides seamlessly over the sea's smooth surface. It is an ideal Greek summer day.

As we landed earlier, I thought of the line in the 10,000 Maniacs song Stockton Gala Days, "Emerald green like none I have seen…." only Greece isn't the world of green. We passed over Ireland, Scotland and those countries on the way here. No, Greece is a universe of Blue. Rich, thriving, vibrant Blue. It fills me to the brim and I resonate with its vibration. Greece is where heaven kisses sea and if Blue isn't for you, don't come around.

In seven hours, we'll reach Patmos. In the meantime, we'll acclimate to Blue as we cruise through it – look at it from our cabin window, the decks and cafe windows of the ferry. We'll easily forget the stress of LAX and Montreal – of second rate Air Canada meals and of excessive sneezing. We'll instead begin to slip into the message Greece imparts over and over again – enjoy being here. Because what else would you rather be doing?