Day One - Travel to Athens

We have arrived! After several flights, our entire group has arrived in Athens and checked into our first hotel after a half day of sightseeing. Seventeen of us left Louisville and had two uneventful, on-time flights to Chicago and New York Laguaria. We then hired two vans to take us to JFK Airport for our international flight, and the adventure began! Those who had not been to New York before experienced the excitement (and sometimes terror!) of New York driving. One of our two vans got to experience a battle between our van and an off-duty ambulance that both wanted to merge into the same lane at the same time, and neither was willing to yield - in the end, our driver won, after a light but noticable bump between the two vehicles. At JFK, we met up with our final two pilgrims who had flown from Indianapolis, and we all checked in for a 4-hour layover before taking off for Athens. One thing to remember for the future - the international terminal at JFK has very few food choices and not much to do during an extended layover. The flight to Athens was about an hour late in taking off, but after an 8 1/2 hour flight, we arrived in Athens on time. Most of the pilgrims report not sleeping much on the plane - due either to the uncomfortableness of plane seats, the excitement of the trip, the large number of crying babies on board, or some combination of the above! The food was pretty good, though, and we had our first taste of a European breakfast - a croissant, deli turkey, cheese, and a small bowl of fruit.

After arriving in Athens, we cleared customs with no problem and met up with our transfer guide and bus driver to take us to the center of Athens for an introductory tour. I'll write more about our first day in Athens later today, hopefully with some pictures as well. For now, know that we all made it and are resting in our hotel before our first Greek dinner!