Departing the States

So it begins.  My theory was that if I stayed up Wednesday night into Thursday then I could sleep on my flight from 6p to 12p to London.  Then I had a layover and got onto my other flight 12p (London time) to Athens.  My theory was not so successful.  I stayed up Wednesday night with only about 4 hours of sleep; however, that first flight was not ideal.  Children tend to ruin things.  However, I did get a couple hours of sleep so all was well.  I got into Heathrow and met up with Brian Reeves – he was on my flight to London but was supposed to catch an earlier flight to Athens but did not make it in time.  So we had a nice European breakfast (this following my plane meal of beef tips and potatoes?).  It was delicious.  Once we were given the gate for our flight to Athens we met up with James Edwards and got ready to go.  I was dozing on and off before take off only to realize that we never took off :-( Apparently there was an issue with the plane and we had to take a different one.  This was an adventure – we had to get off the plane and get on a bus to take us to our new plane.  Boarded it up the stairs in style (something I’ve always wanted to do but never thought would happen).  Before you even ask – yes Tone I touched the outside of all 3 planes ShayCarl style (for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about – what’s new).  We got new boarding passes for the new flight so I lost my flight buddy – a nice older gentlemen (not like George Clooney but probably after a few drinks could be there).  I was now sitting next to a Greek woman and we were chatting.  However – I did notice that the plane we got onto was a bit nice and not all one class.  So I flashed my nice white smile (thanks Dad) and was very quickly escorted up to First Class for the flight.  And this is where I sit currently writing this – First Class, British Airways, from London to Athens set to arrive around 8p Athens time.  There are 4 other people from the program with me currently on this flight so hopefully we can still get into our apartments tonight and not have to stay in a hotel.  But – what does it matter – I will be in Greece in hours and am staying for months. (Photo on plane from London to ATHENS!)