No Sleep for you!!!!

Alright so I am suppose to finish off the last blog by saying how we got home.

So on sunday morning we woke up excited to be able to go home on monday. I wanted to go to the airport right away which would have meant that we would spend the entire day and nigth at the aiport waiting for our flight at 8am. Tyson kept telling me to wait, wait, wait... so we did ... we tried to find the Planetarium... that failed and we just got grumpy at eachother because it was sooo hotttt... Finally we just walked around Athens looking for last minute soviengers and eating our last Greek meal.

We took the metro to the airport at around 8:30pm and it got us there at around 9:30. So the first thing we looked for was our flight for the next day to see if it was on time... but it wasn't on the leaderboard yet so we decided to look it up on British airways on the free 10 minute internet that you get (basically the only great thing about Athens airport). So we checked the internet and it said on british airways that our flight left on Wed. Aug.22 ..and then my heart just about fell out of my chest. I looked at Tyson and said "this is not good!!" and he said don't panic yet. So we then checked air canada website and it said that we were still good to leave on monday but instead of 8 am the flight left at 9am .. so we were thinking ok thats alright, however instead of flying straight to Edmonton from London .. we had to fly London to Vancouver then Vancouver to Edmonton.. we were wondering how come that changed.. and figured it was because it only gave us an hour to catch our connecting flight. However there was nothing we could do because it was already 10:0opm by this point and British airways desk was closed and the company that deals with Air Canada didn't have an answer for us either. So what else was there to do but find a quiet spot on the floor somewhere in the airport and sleep till 6am when someone would be at the British Airways desk.

Well we found a nice little comfy spot outside the Chapel upstairs in the airport beside this other couple.. so we layed down our sleeping bags.. and were about to fall asleep when the security guards came and woke us up and said that we couldn't sleep here and had to go find a chair. We were a little grumpy being 2:00am now.. so we packed up our sleeping bags and went downstairs to find no seats available so we went down to arrivals and found some seats.. but it was noisy because its arrivals and people are happy to arrive always.. so after about an hour of that.. i wanted to go back up to departures .. we found some spots up there and we tried to sleep. Me curled up on 2 tables pushed together and tyson curled up on a chair. Lone behold at around 4:00am the security guard woke us up again!! Dammit why can't we just be left alone to sleep? Apparently you can't sleep in Athens airport.. so now we are uber tired and have to wait till 6:00am to find out whats going on.

So 6am comes around and we go straight to the British Airways desk. The guy there was super nice and im pretty sure i was going to kiss him by the end of our situation. He checked our flight status and he said we were suppose to be on the aug.22 flight because someone had changed it.. well that someone was the lady from the travel agent who is with Air Canada who said she could maybe get us that flight when we wanted to come home early.. and then we said that we didn't want to come home early now because we had found an Island to stay on so she should cancel the aug 22.. and she said she will do that.. well apparently NOT!!!! I was soo mad that i was going to march downtown athens and throttle this chick!! So the british airways man.. lets call him SAVIOUR!!! Said the flight was absolutley booked the one leaving at 9am.. but he could put us on stand by.. and we said ok.. he said we could go over to the desk and be the first priority on standby and then come back to the counter at 7:30am.. so we left and im in tears by this point because we are so close to home.. and now it wasn't looking like we would get home.. because it was the busy season and on monday the last week of holidays for everyone.. it wasn't looking good. So Tyson is remaining calm an im trying to hold myself together but it was hard. Tyson heard from the company that deals with Aircanada that the second flight to London was not full.. so i marched over to the Saviour and asked him if he could get us on that flight if we don't make the first flight and he said yes for sure you will leave Athens today but you might miss your connecting flights to Canada and I said that is fine there are many flights to Canada from Heathrow. So i was a little calmer knowing that i could at least leave Athens today at some point. We also met a young girl and her sister who were from New York and they helped me get my mind off of the situation so that was good.

So back to the desk we go at 7:30 am.. the girl tells us we have to wait till final boarding call to see if we make it.. so here we are pacing back and forth.. with no sleep and hungry. The time took forever to pass.. finally the final boarding call came.. however before that i was standing besides the british airways desk by the man i call saviour and he basically said , "madam it is no point you standing here you should go up to the check in desk" so there we were just waiting.. there were 2 guys ahead of us.. who either knew someone who worked for british airways or knew someone who worked for them.. and they were trying to get on that flight as well.. and as soon as i saw that they got on i panicked because we were suppose to be first on the list.. .. and then finally they called our names.. and we were officially the last people to get on the plane... we had to hurry through customs and security.. basically ran to the airplane and just made it on time.

So frazzled we are on the plane.. we are not sitting besides eachother.. but that was ok we were both on the same flight and thats all that mattered. So breakfast came.. it was alright.. i didnt eat much.. then i fell asleep from being so tired. The flight to London is short 3.5 hours.

Lets just say Heathrow was a GONG SHOW!!!!! So busy and when you have to make a connecting flight you want to have more than 1.5 hours.. so we went through the tightest security i have ever been through.. you might has well gotten naked.. it went fairly smooth though for being so many people. We then had to go to the Air Canada desk to get our boarding ticket for the London to Vancouver flight. However.. the people at Athens only gave us a ticket toVancouver and not to Edmonton.. we didn't really understand because we were trying to tell the lady we had already paid and booked seats a long time ago but it got changed to a connecting flight from Vancouver to Edmonton instead of direct flight to edmonton. The lady said anyone can book seats and not pay.. this confused us alot.. and i told Tyson to just give her the orginal print out of our recipt from when we booked our tickets along time ago. So we did and the lady basically said why didn't you give this to me in the first place!! This is exactly what i need.. now everything will work out... again we almost had a heartattack but at least we knew we could get to Vancouver!!

So to get to your terminal in Heathrow because the airport is MASSIVE you have to take a bus to the terminal. We basically sprinted to our boarding gate.. and then once we saw we had some time.. i sent Tyson for some snacks and to email everyone at home to tell them we made it to Heathrow and are on our way home. I was getting a little worried because people were beginning to board the plane and Tyson still wasn't back yet.. .. If anyone knows me i hate being late for anyting and i like being super early for everything!! So this was playing on my nerves alot! But he made it back with some chips and a pop to share. I would have loved to explore heathrow airport but no time..

The plane to Vancouver was lllloooooonnnnnggggg but we got good food.. i didnt eat again that much.. felt naseuas and decided to take a gravol to knock me out. The flight is 9 hours pretty long.. the movies were alright.. i can't remeber what the first one was called, but then they showed the incrediables and shooter i think.. i can't remeber i didnt watch them. It was free alcohol so Tyson had a beer and a glass of wine.. how classy of him. We got 3 meals and a light snack.. it was pretty good service!

We then had to go through Customs and get our packs in Vancouver i was again getting impatient for the bags to arrive thinking either british airways lost them or we were going to miss our connecting flight to edmonton. So we hurried and powered through people to get to our gate. We made it with time to sit for 10 minutes before we boarded the plane.

The flight to vancouver was easy peasy.. we were watching Shrek 3 but then we had to turn it off to land.. such a short flight. We were finally in Edmonton and we hadn't showered or slept in 48 hours.. we were tired but all that didn't matter when we saw our parents. We were happy to be home!!! We went out for drinks and appies (appetizers). Then we went back to my parents house and opened up all the boxes we had sent home .. it was like christmas.. really cool! Then i had the best shower ever and the best sleep in a long time!! Felt great.. woke up really early the next morning though and was excited to explore the house some more and our soveingers.

Now we are home and Tyson starts work tomorrow... and i look for work .. we found a place to live so thats good.. now just got to get back into a routine!!!! Already thinking about the next trip!

Sara and Tyson