Europe 2010 – Mykonos - Day 8

Up at 10:00am (this was unenjoyable as we got to bed at 4:30am). And off to the airport.

At the airport we realised that not one of our internal flights in Greece has been punctual and none have followed a structured process. Not a big surprise - when we were here last time I came back describing Greece the land of no time frames, no sense of urgency and no customer service. Nothing's changed. When telling Greeks a flight was delayed the response is typically a facial expression of non surprise and a statement such as "yes, no flight is on time". They don't even have customs at the airport. Just get off the (late) plane and sail through to the outside world. Here, a minimal effort theme applies to everything. If a corner can be cut, if energy can be conserved and if something can be all together avoided - that's the Greek way. Also the people on the islands genuinely believe they work very hard. Of course! When you work 5 hours a day 3-6 months of the year only - that's tough stuff! 

So... At Athens airport we hired a car (this in itself took half an hour - partly as Nancy discovered her Greek license had expired so we had to problem solve that, but still another example of something very simple taking a looooong Greek time). Then we had 5 hours to kill until Nancy's flatmate arrived from Turkey. We went to a nearby town called Kifissia, had lunch, went to a Zara then back to collect Jamie.

All 5 of us sardined into a smallish car with 5 suitcases jammed into the boot, off we headed for the 4 hour drive to Monevasia. Nancy drove and her driving got mixed reviews but we're here, we're alive... All ended well.

We arrived after 10pm but Nancy's mum, aunt, uncle, cousins & sister in law were up so we said hello, ate some figs (from the fig tree) then went into town for some dinner. Bed was just after midnight. Driving for 4 hours observing a lot of creative driving by the greeks (think cars breaking for no reason, no such thing as speed limits, cars overtaking on blind corners, cars drifting on to the other side of the road while the driver is on the phone whilst smoking whilst sipping his frappe....). 4 hours of peering out the window a little frightened does make one a little sleepy when the destination is reached.