Made it to Europe

After almost 24 hours of travel, today I arrived in Athens! It’s warm here! After taking a bus from the airport to the city center and walking around for an hour, I found a hotel (Hotel Fivos) that has “hostel” rooms. Just a tiny single hotel room with a bathroom down the hall for only 35 Euros/ night. Seems reasonable so I’ll stay here for 3 nights. Some notes of interest from my first day of travel (Seattle to Chicago to London to Athens):

• British Airways serves food on the plane! Even a 3 or 4 hour flight from London to Athens had a hot breakfast for free including eggs, sausage, ham, a roll, fresh fruit and orange juice. I haven’t had food on an airplane in a while. On the flight from Chicago to London, even the alcohol was free. When I asked the flight attendant what was available, he responded with “whatever you like”. It took a few more questions to find out that I could have a free beer so I had a Heineken. Wine was served with dinner.
• There are tons of motorcycles and scooters in Athens. Many don’t wear a helmet.
• Space is tight! In our water closet, the toilet is so close to the wall that I have to sit sideways.
• Credit cards are not widely accepted as they are in the U.S. Only after I told the hotel front desk that I did not have enough cash to pay for my 3 nights did he admit that his credit card machine does indeed work. At dinner, paying with a credit card was not an option.