October 31 - Halloween in Atlanta

 I've made it to Atlanta!   I haven't  seen any ghosts or witches but I have seen a couple of kids dressed as skeletons and a wheelchair attendant who had a great big bushy tail sticking out from under his uniform vest. I'm not  closer to Athens, but at least it's movement.  Fingers crossed, my flight is still scheduled to go to Amsterdam and then onward to Athens.  I've said a few travel prayers and hopefully they're being answered.

On my flight from Richmond to Atlanta I sat next to a very nice gentleman who works for Lego.  If you didn't already know Lego is building a huge plant outside of Richmond.  My grandson is a HUGE Lego fan and I asked if when the factory is open there would be tours.  Eoin (pronounced Owen) told me there wouldn't be because Lego has many proprietary things which are kept secret. Who knew?  He was a very interesting seat companion.  He's Irish originally but lives in Copenhagen, Denmark and has worked and lived around the world for a number of different corporations - everything from Coca Cola and Pepsi to pharmaceuticals and now Lego. As I've often said, my favorite part of traveling now is meeting people from different countries and cultures and with different life experiences from my own.  It's from that I feel my life is enriched.

Wish me luck.  Hopefully the next thing I write will be from Athens.

October 30 - The best laid plans!

Below is what I wrote early this morning before the car came to take me to the airport in Richmond.  Thanks to either the weather in the New York area or the government shutdown (I have my idea which it is) I'm back home in Williamsburg.  Here's how today went.  The car picked me up as scheduled, I checked in at the Delta counter and I went to the gate.  So far so good.  Then everything went downhill. First we were informed that our flight was delayed due to a ground stop at JFK.  Eventually we got on the plane and taxied off to someplace on the tarmac where we were told of other ground stops.  At 2:00 PM (I was supposed to leave at just after noon) the pilot advised us we were going back to the terminal because our new takeoff time was 5:45 PM.  Unfortunately for me and many of the other passengers that meant we wouldn't make our connections.  The most thankless job in Richmond today was the poor gate agent who had to rebook us.  I was lucky; I was first off the plane so first in line for that.  I am rebooked for tomorrow on a more circuitous route via Atlanta and Amsterdam.  I don't care as long as I get to Athens by the day I board the ship.  I had to call the car service to come back and pick me up (same driver - he was shocked to see me).  I had to cancel my much anticipated tour to Delphi; I'll just have to go back to Athens again!  And that was my day.  I keep hoping that some genius will invent a transporter like they had in Star Trek.  I'd much rather be beamed than fly these days.  I've left my original entry here so you can see my itinerary and when I look back at my blog I can see what nice days I had planned.

 I'm starting my next journey today.  Hopefully flights will go as planned with no glitches.  I'm flying to Athens via JFK for a two night stay before I board the Seabourn Encore.  The last time I was in Athens two years ago, it was just a port call but I had the most marvelous day with the taxi driver who was a former professional soccer player.  I decided to spend a couple of nights in Athens this time because I want to see Delphi, home of the Oracle. To that end I've arranged for a private tour with a guide who is a historian.  I like tours with just a guide and me because I can sit in the front seat and tailor the tour to my interests and abilities. An added plus is getting to know someone from another country.

I'm staying at the Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens right on Syntagma Square which is where the Greek Parliament building is located.  Al and I stayed there years ago when we visited Athens before boarding a cruise which ended in Mumbai.  It will be bittersweet staying there on the one hand, but on the other it will bring back many wonderful memories of that trip.

On this voyage I'll sail through the Mediterranean, cross the Atlantic, go through the Panama Canal again and cross the Pacific.  I'll spend three nights in Tokyo and then fly home via Qatar.  Like Phineas Fogg I'll go around the world in almost the same time he did - 80 days.