Sailing away!
Here we have my first official travel entry for the 2007 vacation. Pretty formal, huh?
After a 5:30am start in Wednesday we gathered the rest of our stuff together and prepared to hit the road. Amanda's parents picked us up and took us to the airport where we began the great tradition of waiting long times to move incredibly fast.
Our first stop was Toronto, where we had a short lay-over. There was a bit more boredom mixed with the usual worry of playing “Find the right departure gate” and then we were off again.
The flight was pretty good, very little turbulence and I did get to snap a few nice photos of the sun-rise over the Atlantic. There were some pretty amazing views of the steel grey ocean with cumulus clouds cast shadows, and us so far above it all. Probably the worst part of the flight were the movies which included “Wild Hogs” (passable pablum), “Are We Done Yet” (made Baby Jesus cry), and “Meet the Robinsons” (not bad, but it didn't make life that much better seeing it, either).
Many hours and a couple airline meals later we landed in Zürich airport. In some ways this airport seems to personify the idea of the Swiss watch. Everything was very clean, methodical, and strangely alien. Signs were not an issue as they were in at least 3 different languages including German... and the fact that Amanda speaks French so even if I missed the English version of the message we could catch it the second time around. The airport was odd in that everything was also rather... “mechanical”. Leaving the plan there was one airport official that basically made certain you didn't turn the wrong way down the hallway. After that you were on your own. We found our way into the lower part of the airport where timed, 2-car electric trains showed up every 3 minutes. A woman's voice broadcast the announcement of the train's arrival, we boarded, and then were whisked off to another terminal.
Waiting for our connecting flight from Zürich to Athens was somewhat strange... I believe that the Swiss like to say things once, and only once! Most airports I'm used to are full of announcements and signage about everything. I think we only heard one announcement in the whole time we were there, and it was for our boarding call. Either way, we made our way out of Zürich and winged toward Athens.
I do have to say that the snack on the Swiss flight was super tasty... basically a home-made seeming version of a pizza pop, but I was very pleased! Everything at the Zürich airport was expensive, and I just didn't feel like spending 5 Euros on a coffee!
In Athens there was a little line-up for customs, but nothing too severe. We grabbed our luggage (it all made it in one piece) and we went out to meet our liaison for Princess Lines. Once on board the bus I started to have some trouble. Having not been able to get any sleep during out flights prior to this I started doing head-bobs on the commute from the airport to the harbour. Now, I found this somewhat disappointing, as knowing how old Athens is, I expected that we might have the good luck of passing some historic structures. That luck was not to be... at least not while I was awake! My first impressions of Athens (not including the more industrial parts around the airport) was that it was very densely populated and well... run down. It was almost sad in a way... maybe it was just the route we took from the airport, but we passed through many areas that seemed like apartment built upon apartment with very little space inbetween, and what was inbetween was deserted and crumbling. Open-front shops dominated a lot of the streets, with hand-written signs proclaming bikes or power tools for sale, but the floors above these shops were empty and decaying.
So much for my first impressions!
I could tell that I was really running into that dangerous area where I was going to completely collapse, as each line I was in started to make me more annoyed. After one final line-up to go through Greek customs (again?) and booking, we were aboard the ship.
After a quick shower (oh blessed relief), Mandy and I headed up for a bit of casual dining and some coffee. Now, with a full stomach I headed back to our room where I decided that a bit of a nap before the ship left port would be a good thing.
Oh, and it was a good thing. Though unfortunately with the change in time zones and everything else I well... missed the 19th altogether. I'm certain it was a great day, but 19 hours of sleep (or so) did me wonders! Amanda tried to stay up for the departure of the ship (around 10pm the evening we arrived), but it was beyond her as well... even though she'd gotten a bit of sleep on the plane, it wasn't enough to stay up that late.
But here we are now, our first day of sailing underway, and tomorrow we'll take on Istanbul! Right now the ship is just making its way through the Dardanelles Straight which connects the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea, so things are starting to get a bit more scenic.
I'll see if I can work on getting a few photos up soon, but Internet time is sort've at a premium. Quite literarly. The cruise-line charges $0.50 US / minute, so I'm going to be doing a lot of off-line journaling and quick-uploading!
But either way, step one is complete and we are on the ship!
After a 5:30am start in Wednesday we gathered the rest of our stuff together and prepared to hit the road. Amanda's parents picked us up and took us to the airport where we began the great tradition of waiting long times to move incredibly fast.
Our first stop was Toronto, where we had a short lay-over. There was a bit more boredom mixed with the usual worry of playing “Find the right departure gate” and then we were off again.
The flight was pretty good, very little turbulence and I did get to snap a few nice photos of the sun-rise over the Atlantic. There were some pretty amazing views of the steel grey ocean with cumulus clouds cast shadows, and us so far above it all. Probably the worst part of the flight were the movies which included “Wild Hogs” (passable pablum), “Are We Done Yet” (made Baby Jesus cry), and “Meet the Robinsons” (not bad, but it didn't make life that much better seeing it, either).
Many hours and a couple airline meals later we landed in Zürich airport. In some ways this airport seems to personify the idea of the Swiss watch. Everything was very clean, methodical, and strangely alien. Signs were not an issue as they were in at least 3 different languages including German... and the fact that Amanda speaks French so even if I missed the English version of the message we could catch it the second time around. The airport was odd in that everything was also rather... “mechanical”. Leaving the plan there was one airport official that basically made certain you didn't turn the wrong way down the hallway. After that you were on your own. We found our way into the lower part of the airport where timed, 2-car electric trains showed up every 3 minutes. A woman's voice broadcast the announcement of the train's arrival, we boarded, and then were whisked off to another terminal.
Waiting for our connecting flight from Zürich to Athens was somewhat strange... I believe that the Swiss like to say things once, and only once! Most airports I'm used to are full of announcements and signage about everything. I think we only heard one announcement in the whole time we were there, and it was for our boarding call. Either way, we made our way out of Zürich and winged toward Athens.
I do have to say that the snack on the Swiss flight was super tasty... basically a home-made seeming version of a pizza pop, but I was very pleased! Everything at the Zürich airport was expensive, and I just didn't feel like spending 5 Euros on a coffee!
In Athens there was a little line-up for customs, but nothing too severe. We grabbed our luggage (it all made it in one piece) and we went out to meet our liaison for Princess Lines. Once on board the bus I started to have some trouble. Having not been able to get any sleep during out flights prior to this I started doing head-bobs on the commute from the airport to the harbour. Now, I found this somewhat disappointing, as knowing how old Athens is, I expected that we might have the good luck of passing some historic structures. That luck was not to be... at least not while I was awake! My first impressions of Athens (not including the more industrial parts around the airport) was that it was very densely populated and well... run down. It was almost sad in a way... maybe it was just the route we took from the airport, but we passed through many areas that seemed like apartment built upon apartment with very little space inbetween, and what was inbetween was deserted and crumbling. Open-front shops dominated a lot of the streets, with hand-written signs proclaming bikes or power tools for sale, but the floors above these shops were empty and decaying.
So much for my first impressions!
I could tell that I was really running into that dangerous area where I was going to completely collapse, as each line I was in started to make me more annoyed. After one final line-up to go through Greek customs (again?) and booking, we were aboard the ship.
After a quick shower (oh blessed relief), Mandy and I headed up for a bit of casual dining and some coffee. Now, with a full stomach I headed back to our room where I decided that a bit of a nap before the ship left port would be a good thing.
Oh, and it was a good thing. Though unfortunately with the change in time zones and everything else I well... missed the 19th altogether. I'm certain it was a great day, but 19 hours of sleep (or so) did me wonders! Amanda tried to stay up for the departure of the ship (around 10pm the evening we arrived), but it was beyond her as well... even though she'd gotten a bit of sleep on the plane, it wasn't enough to stay up that late.
But here we are now, our first day of sailing underway, and tomorrow we'll take on Istanbul! Right now the ship is just making its way through the Dardanelles Straight which connects the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea, so things are starting to get a bit more scenic.
I'll see if I can work on getting a few photos up soon, but Internet time is sort've at a premium. Quite literarly. The cruise-line charges $0.50 US / minute, so I'm going to be doing a lot of off-line journaling and quick-uploading!
But either way, step one is complete and we are on the ship!