Leaving, On A Jet Plane

All my bags are packed

I'm ready to go

  Ok, not quite ready to go. And my bags aren't packed because I don't do that until just before I leave. Penny's packed, because that's how she rolls. I have it all planned out though and I'm not executing my plan until tomorrow. By the way, my plan is registered with the CIA, top secret, eyes only, if I told you I'd have to kill you. Like that. I will tell you it involves all the laundry being done, but that's all. You could waterboard me and I wouldn't say anything else.

  For me, packing is easy. Throughout our travels in the past almost year I've been a minimalist. I was much more of a minimalist after our clothes were stolen, but I digress. The point is, I don't take much so it's quick and easy to pack. My feeling is, if I didn't bring it I'm sure I can buy it wherever I'm at. Of course, we haven't traveled to deepest Somalia or Burkina Faso so that's not a universal law but it works for most places.

But the dawn is breakin'

It's early morn

  It's a trans-Atlantic flight so we leave in the evening. Yeah. Change 'morn' to 'eve'. And it won't be dawn. Dusk. Well, night, 'cause it's still winter here in the Great White North. And the most recent weather forecast says Athens ain't warm. They expect it to be around 9C when we arrive so we're not hitting the beach. No snow though, so small victories. Guaranteed to be warmer than where we are, so that's a plus.

  Athens should be great as it's off season so no crowds. The temps should be in the mid to high teens and it will likely be sunny so should make for great weather to be climbing around the Acropolis. We'll be staying at a hotel across the street so no need for transit, taxis, etc. as we'll be within walking distance of everything we want to see during our two day stopover.

  People ask us if we'll head to some of the Greek islands after Cyprus but it won't be very warm. Not sure it makes sense to head to the warm beaches of Santorini or Crete to be the only people standing on a desolate sandscape in the cold wind. That's to be determined next month.

The taxi's waitin'

He's blowin' his horn

  No. No taxi. Also, 'eve' doesn't rhyme with 'horn'. Maybe he's blowin' his 'sleeve'. Eww. No one wants a cab driver with a runny nose. Anyway, one of our wonderful children will drive us to the airport, likely, to arrive precisely three hours before departure, like the airlines say. Penny likes to be on time, according to the rules, no exceptions. Unlike her siblings she's not on Casson Standard Time, which is an hour behind everyone else. I prefer to roll in as late as possible as I get uncomfortable waiting to leave. Well, uncomfortable isn't really the right word; it's more like shitty.

  Back in the 80's when we lived in Australia and I traveled a lot on business, before security screenings, I was the guy who'd show up as they were closing the aircraft door. Yes. That guy. To my eternal consternation they don't let you do that anymore. Bastards. Now we have to line up with everyone else. Sigh.

  Of course, being at the airport early does have it's benefits. For example, we'll have time to see the sights. Ok, no sights. We could watch airplanes take off and land. Well, a couple of times before it, too, gets boring. We could indulge ourselves in a culinary repast at one of the four-star eateries. Or, we could get a $17 sandwich. Did I mention I hate waiting?

  I should mention here that just the thought of going to the airport excites me. I'm like the Energizer bunny when someone wants to fly. "I'll drive you!", I'm always guaranteed to blurt out like a kid who just leveled up to stage 40 in the latest video game.

  I just love airports and no one can convince me any of them are bad experiences and we've been in some bad ones for sure. My favourite so far is the grass strip in Kisaro, Uganda where we talked to locals under the watchful gaze of the official whose job it was to make sure we had the correct papers. No badges, just papers. Think about it. It reminded me of a time when Jen landed in Warsaw to change planes and had to pass through customs. The officer wanted to know why she was visiting and, when informed she was only changing planes, was told, "That's good. You don't want to come here."

Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane

Don't know when I'll be back again

  Well, I do know when I'll be back again. We return to Canada March 13 for two weeks before we hit the road back to the USA. And, I'll be back here (to this blog) again in a couple of days when I'll be reporting from Athens.

  One little administrative note. Some of you like to comment on the blog episodes and those comments are most welcome. The problem is, this platform sucks at dealing with comments. If you want to have a discussion about something I said you're better off dropping me an email at mike@m2renterprises.ca otherwise you'll never see my response.

  Something else you might have noticed on this episode is my love of italics. They're some of my favourite things and I decided today that I just don't use them enough. How much do I love italics? Well, they're on my list of favourite things somewhere between Rocky Road ice cream and socks that match. They're on the list.

  Also, while I've got you here, it's worth noting there's been no mention of weird and wonderful Atlas Obscura oddities for quite some time. I feel like it's not a thing where we're going but I promise, once we're back on North American soil we'll be hip deep in strangeness wherever we go. Looking forward to it.

  In the meantime, think of John Denver, who wrote this song well before hits like Rocky Mountain High and Thank God I'm A Country Boy. He left on a plane and didn't know when he'd be coming back. He didn't. We will.

Thanks for reading.