Greece: Day One (Athens)

We left our villa this morning at 6 am and departed the Dubai airport around 8:30 am. We will note that as Americans, you are treated very well at airports in the Middle East. If you have a US passport, you are basically as good as gold. They don't ask you any extra questions or subject you to extra security searches. In fact, when we checked in at our gate (Dubai), the security person checked our passports and then personally escorted us into the gate. He announced to his coworker "US!" The skies above opened up and a big ray of sunshine shone upon our golden locks. Rainbows and unicorns appeared and the world was all good. Ok...maybe no unicorns...but it was kind of nice! We arrived in Bahrain (connecting airport) and from there it was a "hurry up and wait" situation! While we sat on the runway for almost 45 extra minutes (no reason provided), Dwayne and Ashlyn seized the opportunity for a cat nap. This was the Stover Girls' first time flying on GulfAir...while Dwayne is an oldtimer with that airline (he now mostly flies Emirates). The girls were treated to GulfAir caps and some very cool static/sticker books. Our plane was at the most 25% occupied...which meant extra stretching room!! We arrived in Athens around 3:30 local time (4:30 Dubai). We arrived to 3 extremely long lines at Passport Control and we were summoned up to the front of the Diplomats line. We'd like to think they took mercy on us since we were the only ones there with little kids! That was a very good start to our trip! We collected our bags, found a taxi, and off we went!

Our first impression of the area was "Wow...this looks so much like Roanoke!" That's mainly because of the mountains surrounding the area and the light traffic around the airport. We then quickly realized we hadn't seen the "real" Athens yet! Also, after living in a literal global village in Dubai...the population here seems very homogenous...although it's hard to beat the multiculturalism of Dubai. Our taxi driver did not seem amused AT ALL by Kaleigh's and Ashlyn's giggling and silliness in the backseat with Mommy.

They were not misbehaving but simply had just a little too much extra energy from sitting for about 5 hours on a plane! At one point, the taxi driver slowed down on a very narrow street and pointed at Kaleigh. We thought he wanted to show her something outside (we're so used to the child-friendly environment in Dubai). But...he simply wanted to inform us that it was unacceptable for her feet to be on the seat (mind you...she was wearing Crocs...harmless shoes!) He said his taxi was clean and the "girl's" feet were on the seat...ha ha! We were hoping for a helpful tip on a local restaurant or something! Tomorrow we are headed out to the Acropolis/Parthenon, the Plaka, and the Athens Hard Rock Cafe (if they have built it...we will go!)