GREECE IN SPRINGTIME and OLYMPIC IS DIFFERENT TOO

Here I am! One month in Greece in springtime. Wow!

OK, lets get this out of the way quickly. Dean is not a beach person. The things that attract most people to Greece are very nice, but the oppressive heat gets in the way of really enjoying your trip. In my "yout" I built some awesome buildings out of sand but Greece in July and August left much to be desired because I like to walk around alot. And you don't have to see a beautiful woman in a bathing suit to apprecite her.

So here I am in Athens, in Glyfada in April and its amazing. When the sun is out, its warm. Yes, there were people swimming in Glyfada yesterday, April 7! When its cloudy --which is a new experience for me in Greece -- its cool. Wonderful. I get my exercise be jogging up and down the foothillls of Mount Ymittos. Mornings, evenings, its very refreshing.

Its been eight years since I've been to Greece. It so happens that I have not travelled anywhere by plane since 9/11. Athens has changed much, as I will soon tell you. First, I must eat some crow.

When I was sixteen I had one of those wonderful (not!) experiences with Olympic airways.
My sister and I were returning to the USA with my mom and the plane was overbooked. There was no seat for me. Any they didn't care. The stewards and stewardeses were extremely busy being rude to other people. We were taxing towards the runway and still no seat. I asked a big, tough looking steward who probably endured more difficult things in the Greek military if I could have his seat. "No" and he walked away. No doubt about it, they were going to let me stand during takeoff. I was 16 but I looked no more than 13. They just did not care. Finally jsut as the plane turned on teh runway, a stewardess "discovered" an empty seat. I will never understand how it was not a priority to find a seat for this kid. If they had let me stand, I wonder if I could have sued them.

I swore I would never fly with them again. Then I won the FREE TICKET to Greece on Olympic. Now this was a problem. Not because of stubborness, but because I'm only superstitious about three things: women, baseball and flying. I have said for years that I would never give Olympic Airways a dime. But its all OK. Now (after many near bankruptcies) its Olympic AIRLINES (which is what everyone always called it. And I didn't give them a dime anyway --the taxes went to the Greek government.

So how was my flight?

IT WAS WONDERFUL!

We left on time. We arrived at 9:15 saturday morning--exactly one time. The stewardesses were polite if not sincere. Professionalism is better than friendship at 30,000 feet. And the food, overall, was OK but the lamb for dinner...was very delicious! And there was nice wine. So, thank you Olympic, I will never speak against you again...until the next nightmare. That free ticket they gave for the raffle was a great PR move.

I will post some more later today and I will try to post every couple of days, including pictures on my baby blog "An Amerinaki in Athens" which you can click on the left.