My Greek friend Maria is getting married! Opa! And I got invited to her wedding in Greece! Double Opa. Follow along as I document the fun, craziness and confusion of being a foreigner at a Greek Wedding.
In Part I of the story… I had to champion multiple travel hurdles. In fact, I think the gods of Olympus decided that if I really wanted to travel to Greece, I would have to go through an Odessey.
Poulithra, Greece
Maria’s wedding was to take place on a Sunday in Poulithra, a small village in the Eastern part of the Peloponnese. She had scheduled events leading up to the wedding starting with a welcome dinner at her favorite sea side taverna on Friday and an all-day Beach Party on Saturday. The entire wedding schedule seemed so exciting!
To get to Poulithra, I would have to fly from Des Moines to Athens, then I would need to take a four hour bus ride to the town of Leonidio. From Leonidio, Maria’s sister would pick me up and drive me to my hotel in Poulithra.
Not an Ideal Flight Plan… But it was free!
Living in Des Moines, Iowa has one major disadvantage. The airport offers a very limited number of direct flights. There are no international destinations, so if you want to go anywhere outside the US, you will be forced to connect somewhere.
My flight path to Greece was Des Moines, Chicago, Washington Dulles, then Athens. Including layovers, it was a total travel time of about 20 hours. Not the most ideal itinerary, but I booked it with miles, so I wasn’t going to complain.
In retrospect… maybe Zeus had something to do with what would happen next. The day I was starting my journey to Athens, there was some bad weather in the Northeast. I can picture Zeus now… hurling thunderbolts and brewing severe storms to test my resolve.
As a result of this weather, all of my flights suffered various amounts of delays. My flight from Chicago to Washington was cancelled so United rerouted me from Chicago to Cincinnati where I would then fly to Washington so I could catch my flight to Athens. Unfortunately, my flight from Cincinnati to Washington was severely delayed and I missed my flight to Athens. Well played Zeus… but little did I know that another god (or goddess) was ready to come to my aid. 😉
Minerva to the Rescue
I was trying to get rebooked on the next flight to Athens. However, the United employee at the gate was unable (or rather unwilling) to help me. The earliest flight to Athens she could find (or was willing to find) was in three days’ time. Three days!!! How as this possible? Was there another way? Could I fly from another city? Could I fly using United’s Star Alliance network? Maybe fly to Frankfurt or Munich or somewhere else in Europe? This employee would not even try to find alternative ways. She was bent on rebooking me no earlier than Friday (mind you, it was Tuesday). I was frustrated by her bad attitude and by all the eye rolls she threw my way (as a side note… all the other United employees I had interacted with were extremely helpful and professional regardless of the travel challenges caused by weather delays).
Ultimately, she gave up trying to find any flights, and she tossed a piece of paper with phone numbers at me. “I can’t rebook you, call this number.” Who is the Greek god of rudeness? Because clearly, this god had influenced the United gate employee. I’m sure the Olympian gods were anxiously waiting to see what my next move would be.
Since I have Gold Status with United, I decided to call the United Premier number instead of the ones the rude gate employee had thrown my way. After an hour of waiting on the line, a United phone rep answered the phone. “Thank you for calling United. My name is Minerva, how may I help you?” Minerva? As soon as I heard her name and her cheery voice, I knew I was in good hands. After all, Minerva is the Roman name for Athena. The Greek goddess of wisdom and the namesake of the city of Athens.
Minerva was able to rebook me through American Airlines for the next day. I would have to spend the night in Cincinnati and then fly out to JFK the following day where I would take the flight to Athens. All in all, I would arrive in Athens a day late, which under the circumstances was the best outcome I could hope for. Thanks, Minerva (Athena)! You were a Godsent. Your move, Zeus…
When in Cincinnati… Raise a glass of Bourbon
When I called my Dad to tell him about my travel hiccups, he said “hey, now you get to see Cincinnati. You’ve never been there before. Now you’ve been to a new city!” My dad’s optimism made me reevaluate my situation. All in all, I had been lucky to get rebooked.
After Minerva rebooked me through a different airline, I had to pick up my bags from the United baggage claim so I could rebook them the next day through American. At United’s baggage claim, I heard some truly awful travel stories. Lost bags, people who had been rebooked for the last three days, a man whose luggage had ended up in Newark for some reason… Parents trying to rebook flights while dealing with their frustrated kids… My dad was right. I had to look at the bright side. I even started warming up to the idea of spending the night in Cincinnati.
As it turns out, my sister Monica regularly visits Cincinnati for work and gave me a few recommendations. I booked the Hyatt hotel downtown and began googling attractions nearby. My taxi driver listened attentively as I recounted my travel adventures. He was so sympathetic that he even gave me a $5 discount. Was this you, Zeus? Making up for the travel hell you made me endure?
After checking into the hotel, I began looking for a place to have a good dinner… and a drink! My sister Monica warned me not to let anyone take me to Skyline. “Don’t let them trick you into trying their Cincinnati chilly. It’s nasty!” Sorry, Cincinnati, but the general recommendation from my friends and family was to stay away from your chili. Even the gods didn’t seem to mind.
I walked to Fountain Square where I listened to some live music. I sat for a while enjoying the music and the atmosphere. At the edge of the square, there was an Italian restaurant that had been recommended to me called Via Vite. I decided to have dinner there on the terrace. The server sat me at a small table overlooking the square. I was able to enjoy my dinner while listening to the wonderful live music. I ordered an old fashioned made from Kentucky bourbon and felt my anxiety melt away. I’m sure that at Mount Olympus, Dionysus was raising a glass at my direction.
Overall, I had a good time in Cincy. And I learned an important lesson. No matter how dark your circumstances seem, it is important to keep your head up and give thanks for the good things that happen. Perspective is also important. You can curse the gods for forcing you to spend the night in Cincinnati or like my dad, look forward to explore a new place. I decided to take my dad’s advice. What I discovered is that I would have wanted to spend more time in Cincy to discover even more of the city. Maybe that’s the lesson Zeus or Athena were trying to teach me…
To learn how my Odyssey ended, stay tuned for Part II.
