I am now on the plane to Istanbul after an incredibly stressful morning. My day started by being woken up by this gross Indian guy talking to our roommates with zero regard for the fact that I was sleeping. "Where are you from?" he asked them. "Australia," they whispered back, aware I was trying to sleep. "I am from Mumbai," he proudly told them, apparently hoping people at home would hear him. After 20 minutes of attempting to sleep through his echoing voice, I angrily got up, stormed past him, and went to breakfast. I don't even think he noticed I was annoyed. After breakfast, I used the computer for an hour and left for the airport with exactly the right amount of time to spare. I got on the metro to the airport. The train stopped about 5 stops before the airport and everyone but me got off the train. One Greek man looked at me strangely. "Hello?" he said. He was trying to tell me it was the train's last stop. I am so thankful that he told me, as minutes after I got off the train, it turned around and headed back into Athens. I exited the train, still unsure of why this train, unlike the other 3 that I had taken to/from the airport, required me to switch tracks. Frustrated and a little panicky, I said out loud (but mainly to myself) "How do I get to the airport then?" A guy about my age answered. "Go up the stairs to the platform across the tracks." As I moved to the correct platform I saw that the next train to the airport did not come for 18 minutes! Though I had left myself the perfect amount of time to get to the airport, I was suddenly running 20 minutes late. I arrived at the airport and ran with my bags like an Army cadet to the check-in counter . Just in time! The check-in guy was very nice and said I had time, but that I was the second-to-last person to check in. I thanked him for his help and went to passport control. I got in line behind a Canadian woman. Though I was stressed out knowing that I had less than an hour to make my flight, she was well past stressed out. She was ready to hyperventilate as she explained to me that her flight home to Canada left in less than 45 minutes. She was in a panic. After standing in line for about a half hour (even though there weren't that many people in front of us), we finally made it to the front of the line. The kid that was checking passports could not have been more than 16 years old. We passed through passport control and sprinted to security, only to find another discouragingly long line. By this point, my new Canadian friend, her two sons, another Canadian woman behind me, and myself knew we had less than 10 minutes to make our flights. The panicked woman asked if she could use the security line meant for airline staff and I tagged along. Good thing, too! As I finally made my way through the last check point, a man from my airline (Pegasus) said to me, "Pegasus?" "Yes!" I said with excitement. "Where have you been?!?" he yelled at me with anger. I had tried to have a good attitude throughout the morning knowing I could always fly to Vienna to meet with Danni or Budapest to meet with Jessy if I had missed my flight. But after my train mishap, the long lines, and this random Greek man screaming at me, I lost it. "Where have I been?!?" I yelled back. "Maybe if you'd tell your ***** security to hurry the ***** up I wouldn't be so late!" I screamed as I ran past him to my gate. It is probably a very good thing I had to run to my flight because at this point he had pissed me off something wicked and if I had the opportunity to stand around and exchange words with him, I might have found myself in a Greek jail.
I am now in Izmir, Turkey on a layover. While I was aware that I was stopping here, I was unaware I'd have to disembark, take a van (just me and the driver) to another terminal, and buy a 15 euro entrance visa! If my bag wasn't on its way to Istanbul, I would have turned around and flown to Vienna to meet up with Danni and Amin. As I was unaware of my layover, I gave the wrong arrival info to my hotel. I hope they are still there to pick me up. The directions that they provided seem difficult to follow. I am so frustrated today that if they aren't there, I might take my bag and hop on a flight to Vienna or Budapest instead, especially since now I can say I have been to Turkey. I have the passport stamp and visa to prove it. The criteria we have set for claiming you have been to a country or state (and not just flown over it) is if you could be arrested by their police. If this is the case, than I have been to Turkey and Greece more than anywhere else!
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