Day 1 – Athens: Déjà vu
22 April 2011.
I stepped off my SQ flight bleary-eyed onto the gangway, groggily making my way into the airport. It was only 7.30am but the bright Mediterranean sunshine had a way of making its presence felt, permeating through the floor-to-ceiling glass panels of the building and throwing light onto everything in its path.
As I squinted out of the window against the sun, realisation found its way into my consciousness.
I had landed in Greece.
I checked my watch – 2 more hours before Addii appeared on her Continental flight from the US. Grabbing my bags, I checked into a cafe to douse myself with caffeine and await my travel companion’s arrival.
This trip has been 10 years in the making.
Addii and I did our first trip together during spring break of 2002 – she was a senior, and I was a freshman then. Our common thirst for adventure, addiction to globetrotting and love for food brought us on many other road trips subsequently. But we never managed to pull off another extended trip as our career paths brought us to different parts of the world at different times.
But dream we did. We talked about Greece, Turkey, South America and all the places in the world we wanted to visit. We dreamed of all the crazy things we’d do when we managed to align our schedules the next time.
In the last few years, we talked about Greece a lot more. But time still wasn’t on our side.
Then this year, the stars aligned and now, serendipitously, I was sitting in the airport, in Athens, reading the Straits Times that I picked up on SQ and marvelling at how wonderful this all was.
Time to go meet Addii at arrivals. Our adventure was about to start!
