Arrival

We made it, but boy, what a trip! Our journey started with a 2.5 hour drive to Atlanta to catch our flight. Our travel itinerary was from Atlanta to Dusseldorf, Germany and then continuing on to Kavala, Greece. Kavala is the port city where we catch the ferry boat for the island and we wanted to go straight to our house this year instead of gallivanting around with all of our luggage in tow.

The flight from Atlanta to Dusseldorf was completely uneventful. Parker was getting the evil eye from an older woman across the isle from us when we first took our seats, but naturally, he won her over during the flight and she gave him her pretzels and her extra American change before we left the plane. Parker played for the first 4 hours of the flight with the toys I had brought and then he slept for the remaining 5 hours of the flight. I did not sleep a wink, but then again, I never do on planes so that wasn't too of a big deal. The only snafu of the first flight was that his portable DVD player had accidentally switched to the “on” position in his carry-on and had gone dead by the time he wanted to use it.

We landed in Dusseldorf and waited with the other Americans in the ridiculously long “non-EU citizens” line. I swear, they have 5 agents working the counters to process the passports of the returning Europeans, but there was only one person for the American citizens. So, we had a bit of a wait, which was particularly hard for Parker to deal with after having been stationary for 9+ hours. We met up with my mom in Dusseldorf - she had flown in from New York and arrived minutes before us. Thankfully, she was waiting for us after we cleared customs so we didn't need to search for each other.

Then, we had to settle in and wait for our 4 hour layover. That part was tough. My mom and I were exhausted while Parker was rested and ready to explore the airport. So, we took turns taking him up and down the elevators and escalators. That child is like the Energizer Bunny and it was a patience-wearing exercise to explain to him that we didn't have the stamina (or rest) to run in circles around the terminal.

We finally boarded our flight headed for Kavala, Greece and blessedly, Parker slept the entire way. Of course, my suitcase was the last to arrive and we missed the ferry boat by 5 minutes so we had to wait an additional hour for the next one. It was a small hang up, but we finally arrived at the island. I didn’t kiss the ground when we got there, but it was a close thing. Being awake for 32 hours is not for the faint-hearted.

My dad picked us up from the ferry boat and we stopped at one of our regular “Tavernas” before heading home. Parker played in the sand with a lovely British family and we had fish, salad and Greek fries for dinner. We cut the evening short when Parker jumped over a puddle of water, slipped and landed in the mud. It normally would have been funny to see him covered in mud, but after such a long day (days?), I could have wept at the thought of having to clean him up. Instead, I stripped him to his skivvies and loaded him into the car. We got home, took baths and crashed.

As would be expected, we’re all feeling much more spry this morning. This feeling was assisted by 12 hours of sleep, great weather and lots of coffee. Now that we’ve unloaded and unpacked, we’re ready for the vacation to begin!

I’ll post pictures from the ferry boat tomorrow (the pictures above were from my mom’s little camera as mine was disassembled and wrapped up for the flight). And of course, stay tuned for pictures of our Greek adventures and food…lots of good food.