Yes, I'm back--for the time being at least. Just in case anyone was interested, here is the somewhat abridged version of what was to have been a 40-day Odyssey, but was (due to bureaucratic incompetence) reduced to a three week whirlwind tour.
My return from Korea was rather uneventful, shitty flight aside. In all honesty, I should have dropped the extra $700 and flown back on a regular Korean Air flight. The government charter plane was full of returning families and creaming babies, filled to capacity, but absent of the very smart (if somewhat callous) male active duty dads/husbands who chose to stay an extra couple of days for "work issues". How do I know about this? Oh, because that's all the women around me would talk about, while letting their accursed spawn wail and scream endlessly. Not an auspicious start to my last intercontinental hurrah 'till my contract expires.
Anyways, I'm glad to say that (though I did stay longer than I wanted to) Charleston, SC, is still a rather nice place to visit--despite every effort of the city fathers to do away with non-high brow fun. Had a few pints with old friends, and made the best of time with some of the departing College of Charleston ladies. Bad news? I wasted seven days waiting for a military flight to Germany. After all those hours of listening to (and smelling) shrieking infants, I prefered the idea of spreading a sleeping bag over a C-17's steel floor. Well, that... and the fact that this Summer, it costs around $2,000 and more for just coach. I myself prefer to use my miles to upgrade to Business whenever possible, but at a whopping $3,000+, I figured... no. Unfortunately, I soon found out that pretty much all flights going East are to carry only personnel on mission, or warfighting gear. It's too bad the good folks at Charleston AFB waited a week to tell me that! So I ended up taking up one of those *special* tickets for a little less than $1,500. Not too much of a hassle.... I only had to switch a couple of airports, do a couple of 5-7 hour layovers, and perform with a Burlesque Tour in Congo. It was also heartwarming to find out that I now had to *pay* for the shitty peanuts on the plane.
By hook or by crook, I finally got to Greece. Upon arrival, first treat was being exposed to the work ethic of airport and airline personnel whose parent corporation went from state-run to private. I don't think I have to remind anyone of the *"stellar work ethic"* most Greeks possess, and I was *so* glad to see that losing their government workers' benefits did *nothing* to affect their productivity. So, after I got my one fucking piece of luggage just over an hour later, I went to join my pop in the sweltering furnace that is Athens.
There were some definitely enjoyable highlights to the trip. The island of Myconos, usually a rather packed place, had a 15% drop on tourist attendance (much like most islands so far, in case you're planning on going). The fact that my dad's girlfriend has a designer dream mansion-like house there also made things swell. Amazingly enough, though, this did nothing for my nocturnal game. My dad's lady loves animals--a lot. Ten dogs and a dozen cats can be disconcerting for anyone, and thus I never bothered to bring home company.
Upon return to Athens, I took a drive down to the Peloponnesse, to visit the village we used to vacate at when I was younger. I was sad to discover that widening the Isthmus (some 10-20 mile away) had the adverse effect of taking away almost all of our beach. Guess they didn't see that one coming.
I took the opportunity to do some running to get myself back in shape. When I returned to the capital for the final time, I did my best to figure out the Marathon route to run it. That didn't work out as planned, and I made the incredibly dumb move of running 26 miles in the middle of Athens. My lungs still hurt, and I'm proud to say that we are doing our *best* to maintain the expected high levels of air pollution in Athens.
The best news really was my upcoming real-estate deal. I think I might have a lock on a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom palace of an apartment with a sweet balcony on the top floor of a building directly across from the Acropolis. Still working on the final price, but I'm looking at high 80s right now. Of course, this does not include the 20-30k I'll drop on total refurbishing/rennovation, to include installing high-tech toys, and a bar/jaccuzi environment on the balcony.
Then, for all you soccer/football lovers out there, there was the insanity over the Hellenes sending Les Francais home. Short of a popular revolution, I have never seen bigger crowds on the streets. For the record, at one point I felt less safe there than I did being shot at in Afghanistan.
Did I mention they're taking down the Acropolis? Only for a while, and then it's going back up.
Oh, and try not to fly Olympic for the next year or so.
Disappointment? Yeah, in a way. I had expected to also visit Germany, Belgium, and Holland prior to flying from Frankfurt to Athens. Those plans went to shit with my delayed departure, and I have yet to see the $200+ I spent on the Eurorail pass refunded to me.
My return from Korea was rather uneventful, shitty flight aside. In all honesty, I should have dropped the extra $700 and flown back on a regular Korean Air flight. The government charter plane was full of returning families and creaming babies, filled to capacity, but absent of the very smart (if somewhat callous) male active duty dads/husbands who chose to stay an extra couple of days for "work issues". How do I know about this? Oh, because that's all the women around me would talk about, while letting their accursed spawn wail and scream endlessly. Not an auspicious start to my last intercontinental hurrah 'till my contract expires.
Anyways, I'm glad to say that (though I did stay longer than I wanted to) Charleston, SC, is still a rather nice place to visit--despite every effort of the city fathers to do away with non-high brow fun. Had a few pints with old friends, and made the best of time with some of the departing College of Charleston ladies. Bad news? I wasted seven days waiting for a military flight to Germany. After all those hours of listening to (and smelling) shrieking infants, I prefered the idea of spreading a sleeping bag over a C-17's steel floor. Well, that... and the fact that this Summer, it costs around $2,000 and more for just coach. I myself prefer to use my miles to upgrade to Business whenever possible, but at a whopping $3,000+, I figured... no. Unfortunately, I soon found out that pretty much all flights going East are to carry only personnel on mission, or warfighting gear. It's too bad the good folks at Charleston AFB waited a week to tell me that! So I ended up taking up one of those *special* tickets for a little less than $1,500. Not too much of a hassle.... I only had to switch a couple of airports, do a couple of 5-7 hour layovers, and perform with a Burlesque Tour in Congo. It was also heartwarming to find out that I now had to *pay* for the shitty peanuts on the plane.
By hook or by crook, I finally got to Greece. Upon arrival, first treat was being exposed to the work ethic of airport and airline personnel whose parent corporation went from state-run to private. I don't think I have to remind anyone of the *"stellar work ethic"* most Greeks possess, and I was *so* glad to see that losing their government workers' benefits did *nothing* to affect their productivity. So, after I got my one fucking piece of luggage just over an hour later, I went to join my pop in the sweltering furnace that is Athens.
There were some definitely enjoyable highlights to the trip. The island of Myconos, usually a rather packed place, had a 15% drop on tourist attendance (much like most islands so far, in case you're planning on going). The fact that my dad's girlfriend has a designer dream mansion-like house there also made things swell. Amazingly enough, though, this did nothing for my nocturnal game. My dad's lady loves animals--a lot. Ten dogs and a dozen cats can be disconcerting for anyone, and thus I never bothered to bring home company.
Upon return to Athens, I took a drive down to the Peloponnesse, to visit the village we used to vacate at when I was younger. I was sad to discover that widening the Isthmus (some 10-20 mile away) had the adverse effect of taking away almost all of our beach. Guess they didn't see that one coming.
I took the opportunity to do some running to get myself back in shape. When I returned to the capital for the final time, I did my best to figure out the Marathon route to run it. That didn't work out as planned, and I made the incredibly dumb move of running 26 miles in the middle of Athens. My lungs still hurt, and I'm proud to say that we are doing our *best* to maintain the expected high levels of air pollution in Athens.
The best news really was my upcoming real-estate deal. I think I might have a lock on a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom palace of an apartment with a sweet balcony on the top floor of a building directly across from the Acropolis. Still working on the final price, but I'm looking at high 80s right now. Of course, this does not include the 20-30k I'll drop on total refurbishing/rennovation, to include installing high-tech toys, and a bar/jaccuzi environment on the balcony.
Then, for all you soccer/football lovers out there, there was the insanity over the Hellenes sending Les Francais home. Short of a popular revolution, I have never seen bigger crowds on the streets. For the record, at one point I felt less safe there than I did being shot at in Afghanistan.
Did I mention they're taking down the Acropolis? Only for a while, and then it's going back up.
Oh, and try not to fly Olympic for the next year or so.
Disappointment? Yeah, in a way. I had expected to also visit Germany, Belgium, and Holland prior to flying from Frankfurt to Athens. Those plans went to shit with my delayed departure, and I have yet to see the $200+ I spent on the Eurorail pass refunded to me.
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next time you'll be expecting coming thru belgium, give us a call !
jimmmee