Day Ten -- Travel Woes

Matt is sick. He has been struggling this whole trip with a cough that is the aftermath of a cold he had before he left; what appears to be allergies that are impacting his eyes and nose; and then this morning his overall exhaustion got to him. Hopefully, Santorini and its pace, combined with the arrival of Jane, will bring healing. We are taking a ferry at 9 a.m. and we have tickets in hand, the strike is over and the weather looks beautiful. What could go wrong? 

We got to the port early to return our rental car. Yiannis was waiting for us. We lined up with the other passengers traveling on Hellenic Seaways. There are very few of us with luggage. It appears that there are a lot of day trippers from Crete to Santorini. 

 

While we were in line Matt got a text from Jane that her plane to Santorini turned around while in route. It appears that the plane that landed before her had an on ground crash. It was not possible for her plane to land. Matt got busy and booked the next available ferry to Santorini, which isn't until tomorrow. Meanwhile, Jane is sitting in the Athens airport waiting for her checked bag to be returned or to learn that her flight has been rescheduled. 

Our ferry left the port in Crete. I had taken a Dramamine as a precaution. Good thing I did. Just as the sea began to roll Matt got a text from Jane that they have cancelled the remaining flights to Santorini due to weather. As Jane dealt with the airline, Matt and I made it to Santorini and paid an exorbitant sum of money to get to our hotel in Imerovigli. 

 

Jane booked a flight for 3:30 p.m. on a different airline. While Matt tracked the status of that flight, we kept our fingers crossed. We had lunch in Santorini in an indoor restaurant.  We needed to sit indoors because the wind is whipping here and it is quite cold.  At 4:30 Matt left for the Santorini airport to meet Jane and I sat on our porch overlooking the caldera.  

 

The sun came out and it was beautiful. I took a little snooze and dreamt of Bryan being here with us. How I wish that dream were a reality.  Brett and Brendon had arrived in Athens by now and were waiting for their flight to board. How I hoped everyone would make it today and make it safely. Which they did. The band is back together!

 

We watched the sunset and then headed up to Taverna Anesti, recommended by our hotel. It was delicious. Well-sated, we returned to our hotel a different way and enjoyed the lights in the villas along the cliffs.