An introductory blog post of our travel to Greece. The series consists of narrative blog posts and photographs of sights of Greece.

Greece was one destination that was on top of the bucket list for forever. However, time and again, it was pushed down the list, for one reason or another. We never gave up because we knew that we had to see this beautiful and classic country. This time, we were really going. We were booked, packed, and ready to head out the door.

The first leg didn’t go so far.

The excitement of going to Greece cannot be contained. It was an early start for the airport. We didn’t want to hurry or be out of breath while trying to catch our flight. Besides, we applied for TSA global entry and it should facilitate our entry through security line.

Behold! The TSA pre-check in line was just as long as the general entry line! Apparently, everybody else thought of applying for TSA pre-check in clearance. Now, we were all lined up together in this very long line. What made matters worse was the TSA required for a check in clearance stamped on our boarding pass. We had all the clearance except for the pre-check in clearance stamp on our boarding pass. We eventually ended up at the end of the general entry line. Oh well! We still arrived on time at our pre-departure area albeit a few minutes later. Greece may have to wait a few more minutes!

The flight was fully booked. The boarding process was relatively smooth despite fumbling through passport, boarding pass, and hand-carried luggage. Soon, we were all seated and watching the flight attendants performing their pre-flight safety demonstration. The lady seated next to us was very excited. It was her 40th birthday and she was heading for Italy with her friends. We wished her a happy birthday and bid her good luck with her shopping in Milan!

It’s something about aircraft landing in the northeast (Newark and JFK airport). Pilots seem to slam the landing each time. Maybe it was just my imagination. Other than that, disembarkation was friendly and smooth.

The layover was three hours before crossing the Atlantic ocean.

Greece was still nine hours away by plane. We were idling our time as best as we could. The departure area was on one side of the airport terminal that looked isolated until the last few minutes prior to departure. Passengers came and filled up the empty seats rather quickly. Boarding the plane was highly facilitated with use of facial recognition biometrics. There was no need to show passport or boarding pass. We remained airborne for the next nine hours until we landed in Athens, Greece.

Into the cradle of democracy.

Greece is a country in southern Europe. It has long been considered as the cradle of modern civilization and the cradle of democracy. The geography of Greece describes a peninsula bounded by the Ionian sea and the Aegean sea with an archipelago of islands in its southern portion. Albania, Northern Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Turkey are the countries and territories on its western, northern, and eastern borders, respectively. It has a land area of 131,957 sq km (50,949 sw mi), which is roughly the same size as the state of Florida or Alabama, or slightly larger than half the size of the United Kingdom.

The history of Greece encompasses a long period of time that involved the Greek nation itself as well as areas inhabited by its people. Our itinerary for this trip was to visit the islands of Santorini and Mykonos. The last few days will be to visit the capital city of Athens. We will try to learn as much as we can about the country during our short visit.