Over two years ago we spent a lovely time in Thailand. During our stay on Phuket island, Shari re-connected with a friend whom she met as teenagers in Libya, corresponded for a while, then lost contact for some fifty years. We hit it off so well with Ron and Jane that we decided to join them in Greece for a holiday.
Ron speaks Greek and he and Jane have lived and traveled extensively in Greece. The idea of spending time in a resort on Naxos Island with friends who know their way around appealed to us. It appealed to us a lot! Naxos became the catalyst for our adventure.Our trip to Thailand cured us of any desire to fly cheap on long haul flights. We are getting too old, stiff, and crotchety. Icelandair was our choice to get to Paris because it offered the best prices for first class ("business class" or, in Icelandair-speak, "Saga class"). The money was well spent.
Why Paris? Because it is on the way to Athens and there are many more flights to Paris than Athens. In addition, we started in Paris because we wanted to see Shari's step-sister Brigitte and her companion, Paul (Shari calls him "mon frère Zorba"), and her son Thibault and his family.Flying Icelandair gave me the opportunity to bag another country, and lay-overs in airports don't count (sorry Japan and Hong Kong; however, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein do count). With Greece, I move up to thirty. With a day in Iceland, I can claim thirty-one.
A few days in Athens was an obvious addition to the itinerary. We also wanted to do a little driving around Greece to see some sights. We would end up flying out of Athens, so it was either south to the Peloponnese and back to Athens, or north to Thessaloniki and back. We opted for five nights in the Peloponnese with Nafplion as our base.Because we were in Europe, a visit to Hungary was mandatory. The last time I was in my "home" country was 1979. Hence we scheduled three nights in Budapest and three nights in Harkány where my cousin owns a hotel. My other cousins in Szentes are on the drive back to Budapest (well, sort of).
Add extra nights in Athens, Budapest, Paris and SeaTac to make connections for the following day's flights and almost four weeks pass.
Icelandair flies out of Seattle, not Tucson or Phoenix. We well know and like the Alaska Air connections between Tucson and Seattle. That gave us the opportunity to complete our full month of travel with a few nights on Whidbey Island to visit Shari's mother and catch up with friends, a quick drive to see Shari's niece and her one-year old daughter, another airport night at SeaTac, then an early morning flight home to Tucson.
That adds up to eleven flights. We count two extra boardings because in Athens, to begin our flight to Budapest, we had to board three times. First time an airplane wheel needed work so passengers needed to disembark. Second time, during the taxi on the tarmac, ugly engine noise caused the pilot to park the aircraft and passengers needed to disembark. Third time, we got a new aircraft.All this scheduling, airline tickets, eleven hotel reservations, four car rentals, buying krona, euros, and forints, global entry membership, and travel insurance, not to mention shopping and packing necessities (my sunhat, a plug adapter, and a multiple outlet extension with three USB charging ports were among the most important) were possible only with the invaluable help of our trip consultant, organizer, manager and chief-decider: Shari. Using the Google Translation of the Hungarian polite greeting, kézcsók (lit. "hand kiss," referring to a gentleman's kiss of a lady's hand), "I handcuff you".
Shari, I kiss your hand.
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| The Icelandair Vatnajökull-named aircraft has a LED light show to simulate the aurora borealis Below: LED aurora borealis aboard the Vatnajökull from Reykjavik to Seattle. |
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