Day 33 - Saturday July 31, 2010 - Mykonos to Athens Greece to Philadelphia to Ft Lauderdale

Saturday July 31, 2010 Mykonos to Athens to Philadelphia to Ft. Lauderdale (There is no place like home!)

Pictures: Home Sweet Home!

Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean from our condo

The Venetian - we live on top!

Las Olas Wall at the beach

Flights 16, 17, and 18 to complete my around-the-world trip traveling 6,099 miles. I've traveled 27,550 miles and visited 5 countries over 33 days. Not a long time in each country but it was GREAT. I've now "ticked off" 72 countries on my "Visit 100 Countries in a Lifetime" list. I guess this is part of my bucket list. Don't want to accomplish this too quickly unless I decide to extend my bucket list to "Visit 200 Countries in a Lifetime"!!! (:-) By my count there are 241 countries in the world right now so that is doable!

We had a wake-up call for 5 am. At least we got to see one sunrise on Mykonos.
We were ready by 5:30 and went to check-out from the hotel. Geeezzz – the bar bill was a lot!

The taxi arrived in no time and it was only a 5 minute drive to the small Mykonos airport. The gate wasn’t open yet so we had to wait for that. It was no surprise that our luggage was overweight so we had to pay 16 euros for that. Funny how it worked out – we ended up with 27 euro cents after the taxi and baggage charge.
We got through security, onto the bus to go to the plane and we left about 10 minutes late. It was only a 20 minute flight and we had plenty of time in Athens before our flight to the US. We retrieved our luggage and went to US Airways to check in. They had switched our seats so we could sit together but they were reassigned so we had to change seats again once we got on so we could sit together.
We went to the British Airways Lounge since we are flying Business Class, used the internet, had coffee and relaxed.

Went through security and to the gate. Looks like a packed flight. Only issue was our seats. I had changed our seats since we had different reservations so we could sit together. Somehow US Airways changed that. We figured out that it was because of the air marshall sitting next to me. He wasn't very friendly and wouldn't change seats with us. Oh well. We ended up spending the 10.5 hour flight from Athens to Philadelphia watching movies, reading, and I got all of my pictures organized in a trip album. That took a couple of hours as I must have 100 pictures!!!!

I used the world map in the US Airways magazine to star planning my next ATW trip. This next one may be the South American capitals. Belize, San Sanvador (El Sanvador), then Bogata (Columbia), Caracas (Venezuela), Rio de Janiero (Brazil) and then maybe to Manila (Phillipines). I'm also searching for an "enlightenment" class in Thailand to go to - intrigued by the Buddhists. I'm not sure of other Asian or European or African stops. Will give that some thought soon as I may do a southern hemisphere trip during the winter while it is summer there.

We arrived in Philadelphia early but typical of US Airways our gate wasn't available so we had to wait and ended up being late. Went through immigration swiftly since we were first off the plane. Then the wait for the bags to arrive. Typical of Philadelphia and their slow baggage system. They finally came out, we retrieved them, went through customs and gave US Airways our bags for the next flight to Ft Lauderdale.

We went to the Envoy Lounge but they told me that was only for outbound passengers but we could use the US Airways Club. So we went there, had a drink and snacks (just what both of us need - more food!), caught up on email and recharged our computers. I checked my cell phone message and was surprised - only 2 over the last 33 days so people actually listened to my "away message"!

Our flight to Ft Lauderdale left on time and we both crashed. I felt like I had been drugged. I guess it was the one cocktail in the US Airways lounge! Twenty-four hours of travel is a lot. Being back at home in my own bed is such a good feeling after such an extended trip.

Arrival in Ft Lauderdale was uneventful. We retrieved our bags and got a taxi to take us home. It always feels so good to be at home in your own bed. Nothing like it. Didn't do much packing - just washed up, shaved, and then straight to bed for a good night's sleep after an exciting fourth trip around the world. Dreaming of the next one!