Flyday Friday… avert a Greek tragedy

A big shout-out to Dani at Lufthansa www.lufthansa.com for averting… or at least postponing a Greek tragedy.

Your globetrotting pal was standing in splendid ignorance by the coffee machine by the Lufthansa gate ready to pass through for his flight.

To Athens.

Of course he should have been on another level with Aegean Airlines www.aegeanair.com, operated by Lufthansa.

It’s there in small sprint on your ticket underneath Lufthansa.

Which was how I came to be directed here.

The boards? Yes, both flights were leaving at roughly the same time.

Cue a mad dash across the airport, and didn’t there just have to be a train too?

Needless to say the gate had just shut five minutes earlier when a sweaty, beardie bandana-wearing Scotsman rolled up.

There is as much chance negotiating Brexit than trying to get on a flight after boarding time.

So here I was stranded in Munich while my party was flying into Athens from all points in Europe.

To enjoy the spectacles of the Parthenon sans beardie Scotsman.

And that’s when Dani stepped in to avoid crisis (another Greek word, see you do know the language without knowing it).

Now I’ve perfected the little boy lost look through 53 years of being run by my Dear Old Mum and The Scary One and being a little boy lost.

And after ten minutes of button pressing on her computer and disapproving looks up from said terminal I had in my sweaty paw a new ticket for five hours’ time.

Too late to join up with my party for the Parthenon leg although I will see it from the road in the centre of Athens.

And the outskirts.

But heck, it’s not going anywhere, although I am…

On a small Greek airplane to Kethyra, one of the four islands in Attica, Athens’ region.

Now what could I possibly get wrong there?

Visit the airline sites above. It really does pay to take a one-stop to save on costs.

Island time

I really need another airport, a board of endless destinations, these ones new to me.

And more queues.

But no pain, no gain.

I am in the Athens International E Venizelos, nice and early… two hours to be precise.

With a throng of island hoppers although I think the better collective noun would be archipelago.

Venizelos was built for the 2004 Olympic Games and I have my athletic vibe on having passed by the site of the first Modern Games of 1896.

And I will be swimming and trekking in Kythira, although I know that isn’t an Olympic sport yet.

Visit http://www.olympicair.com for prices for island hopping.

And some more sites: www.kythera.gr/en/whattosee/kapsali.php and www.aia.gr

And some light reading on whiling the way away in an airport Hungry and Thursday – Beerfests.

And remember Friday is Flyday Friday… Flyday Friday – Virgin vs plastic.

Or how about a e of two planes, a seaplane in the Maldives and three time zones in Atoll tale on this site.

And because the world keeps travelling even when I’m travelling…

A million reasons

Ryanair has a seat sale… and is offering €30 off return flights on 1million seats to any of their 200 destinations.

Visit www.ryanair.com.

Aer Lingus sale

Ireland’s national airliner’s September sale ends Monday midnight.

I’ve reconnected with many of my favourite places in the trip I’m doing through the international party I’m with.

And more of them in due course.

For now, I’m sorry to my new Belgian pal Charlotte for chewing her ear off as she tried to keep her eyes focused on the road.

No she wasn’t driving but she was suffering from Travel sickness.

But we talked our shared love of Belgium.

Aer Lingus www.aerlingus.com has winter city breaks from €24.99 including Brussels from €34.99.

She told me about some great Belgian beers I’d never tried… and will now just have to show me.

And in amongst my World War I Battlefields is a tale about Tom’s Bierhsus In Flanders fields.

The Aer Lingus sale are for one-way fares for travel between October 1 and December 16.

MEET YOU IN THE SKIES