I had two choices: Continue the renovations of my penthouse in Athens under a melting heatwave or make me and a Dutch family happy as I would sit their house and pets giving them the chance to leave for vacations.
You guess my choice...
I initially thought about riding the whole way on my bike. The thing is that ferry prices to Italy are like 50% higher this year due to an asshole pretending to be human in Kremlin and riding the whole way through Balkans queuing at numerous borders on the way isn't exactly my kind of party so... plane it is. However, the situation at the airport of Athens almost made me rethink about that. Not its fault, what can you do when the whole planet wants to travel at the same time but I've never seen it more crowded ever and this is too much humanity for me already. And I hate queues...
I do like the idea of displays playing videos of people praising Greece out of their own experience as I get closer to my gate:
I don't like as much the fact that few people are wearing masks inside the airport on these long queues and the same happens inside the plane. Trying to convince people about the obvious brings you to the conclusion that common sense is not that common anymore.
Plane taxis and I am about to leave Hellenic soil after...
I don't want to remember how long:
A burning hot runaway is now the way to "up up and away":
Bye Athens, see you later:
Flying over the East Adriatic coast:
Austria and Germany:
And finally close to my destination over Dutch soil:
Eindhoven, here I come:
I land for my second time ever in the Netherlands and I get the same feeling of effortless beauty like the previous one when I spent my birthday years ago around Amsterdam and Utrecht. Back then I was lucky to experience the warmest November they ever had around and now I am lucky to leave Athens at the beginning of a heatwave while the Netherlands have just finished with theirs.
Public transportation is lovely around here but I have a bit of a hard time trying to figure out which train to take to my destination. Everyone's willing to help me and English speaking but a couple I ask first admit it's a bit of a mess with the train system and can't really help me. Second attempt is another guy, super kind, points me at a train but looks a bit unsure. At the first sight of a guy who works in trains I rush to ask him and after thinking for a couple of seconds points me the same train with the previous one. Feeling as if I had cross checked things I enter it and I am all alone in the wagon while it still stays idle in the station for a while so I decide to step out and cross check things again. I see the same train employee and he looks rather unsure so I re approach and this time he goes "Actually you have to take the next train". Funny how asking 3 guys including one who works here could send me kms away from my destination.
Train (the right one) is nice and neat:
"Nice and neat" goes all the way as I walk towards the house where a lovely Dutch Italian family waits for me. Any place would be nice with such people but theirs is really nice like admittedly most of the properties around here. Perfect place to relax after many hard working days I had.
I'll be showing you around on the next ones - stay tuned!