We woke up in Athens and had the complimentary breakfast that was part of the room. Frankly this type of hotel is a bit out of our budget and if it weren't for the frequent flyer voucher miles program thing that we belong to, we probably wouldn't stay at the Marriott.

Biggest complaint? We knew a big western hotel would have internet access in the room and we were looking forward to uploading some stuff. When we got to the room I plugged in and fired up a browser. Turns out the supplied start up page that is common in these types of hotels comes up with two options. "Public IP address, 0.00 Euro", or "Private IP address, 6.95 Euro". I'm thinking, "Score, reasonably priced access, I like the sound of Zero!"

I log on and quickly upload some stuff and start checking mail when Beth informs me of something she is reading that says the internet access is like 24 Euro, which is almost $30 US for a 24 hour block, noon to noon.

WHAT????

That's ridiculous. Last place I worked in DC before leaving for the trip was $10 US and frankly, eventually these hotels are going to have to commoditize internet access like they have already done with "Free Color TV" of the 60's and "Free HBO" of the 80's. Or for that matter "Hot Baths" from the 1800's.

Anyway, we had collected all the mail and done the upload so I called and cancelled the "purchase". Sure enough they had already charged the room the HUGE fee.

Morning in Athens at the Marriott.

We had an easy day to get to the airport. The first inclination is to just jump in a cab, but frankly, we aren't really in a hurry and cabs just seem so "western". So instead we decided to make a little adventure of it. What we ended up doing was taking the Hotel Shuttle bus as far as it would take us and then transferring to a city bus that took us all the way out to the Airport. It would have been a really long and costy cab ride, as it was the whole trip only cost us like 6 Euro and frankly, gave us something to do for the day.

Hotel shuttle dropped us in the heart of the city.

Arriving at the Airport we both were amazed how stark and frankly how really ugly it is. I guess if it weren't for the history that the Greeks have for building amazing structures, I wouldn't think of it at all but, it really is an ugly utilitarian building. It's also a long way from town, Beth said it felt like we had been staying in San Francisco and taking a bus to the San Jose Airport.

Replica art at the airport.

Greek art.

Once inside we confirmed our seats and check our bigger bags and then went to visit an old friend.

Our old friend in Athens.

Travel tip... have a quick and easy way to secure your bag to something, and use it. Each of our carry on bags have large carabiners attached to them that come in handy when you find yourself 'parked' someplace for a while. It allows you to relax, just a bit, and possibly enjoy a tiny bit of a rest from being so on your toes. Mind you, I still wouldn't turn my back on something of value.

How we secure bags in public spaces.

Travel observation... It's still weird to see smoking ads, I know they exist in the states but they just seem much more prominent here. And the "Warning Labels" are really blunt. This one said, "Smoking Kills", pretty much to the point, wouldn't you say?

Weird to see a smoking ad, weirder still that the warning says, "Smoking Kills".

Not the same as Santorini.

3 in 1 Greek trash can.

When we got on the plane a woman sat next to us from Dell computer. She is an "Event Manager". Her and her boss had been doing a site survey in Greece as a potential location for doing a meeting for their EMEA team. We talked a lot about what they do, what I do, and it was strange, I felt like I was starting to feather my time to include work stuff again.

Sue and her boss from Dell (rhymes with hell).

Arriving in London, Sue came by and helped us a couple of times. She made sure we had got into the right customs line and then once again giving us pointers in the luggage area. She will actually be in San Francisco from Saturday till Tuesday. I hope someone is as helpful to her as she was to us.

Then, after getting our bags we had to dig out our stash of British pounds that we had hid away back when we left London a month ago.

Digging out the Pounds.

We had a bit of a fiasco getting to the right bus, they call them "Hoppa Busses". Most of the frustration was attributable to our own fatigue. We were really tired, it had been a long day.

Once we got to the room Beth, who is very careful to pick hotels with hair dryers so she doesn't have to carry one, couldn't find where it lived in the room. She couldn't believe that, of all places, a Marriott. wouldn't have one. She called down to the desk and sure enough, we had missed it. No wonder, it was bolted into the drawer under the TV.

The hair dryer lives under the TV?

Soon we settled in, we had a really early flight to catch in the morning and we were only going to get about 4 hours of sleep.

One more thing, Marriott London was charging 15 Pounds for internet access. They really have to rethink their pricing on that, its crazy.

Made to London Marriott with only 4 hours left of sleep.