After stressing over how to get to Rome, we opted to fly. Otherwise, we would have had to take a bus, switch to another bus, somehow validate our Eurail pass (which the Eurail authorities told us they thought would be possible in Patras), catch a 24 hour ferry, and finally a 4 hour train to get into Rome about midnight. All of which would have taken us 2 full days.
Instead, I'm sitting in an airport typing a draft of this post, feeling a bit bummed that the Greece airport security folks confiscated the small jar of honey that the lovely hotel owners gave us as a departure gift. I was really looking forward to trying that honey, too. It was over weight (130 when the limit is 100), but I was hoping it would just slip through. The best part? They never even checked any photo IDs - not even when we were boarding the plane.
Paul called this the most rigorous security he's been through, since they also wanted all electronics removed, not just computers (although they deemed his cell phone and camera small enough to be okay). I beg to differ - that would be Japan or China - wherever they made us go through security twice. The second security check was right before we got on the plane, and they confiscated the drink we'd just purchased in the airport (after we'd gone through the first security check!) so that we could take our malaria meds on time. They definitely win.
Our flight was delayed 2 hours due to a strike in Rome, which was a bit of a letdown after we'd been telling ourselves how glad we'd be to leave all of Greece's transportation issues behind. I have my fingers crossed that that was the last hiccup - ha!
They took your honey but didn't check your passport? Weird.
ReplyDeleteAnd I had no idea you needed malaria meds before going to Italy. I'm filing that bit of info away for future reference!
No, malaria meds for China. China/Japan was the worst security check I have gone through. Greece was the second worst.
ReplyDelete