Ironically, our last morning in Athens was our most leisurely. We departed the hotel around 8:45 AM for the Athens International Airport and checked in for our flights to New York-JFK and then on to Minneapolis or Chicago. The line in New York-JFK for visitors to the United States to go through US Immigration/Passport Control was unbelievably long and made us thankful that we were able to go through the shorter, although still busy, US Citizens' line. Everyone (and especially Judy) breathed a sigh of relief that their luggage made it at least as far as New York. We made it through JFK's security with only a few extra beeps for those with artificial joins and got to our gate, only to find that our flight to Minneapolis was delayed. We ended up arriving in Minneapolis about 40 minutes late, but at least our luggage all made the trip with us!
Overall, our stay in Greece helped to change our original perceptions formed by mass media here in the States. Some of us were expecting to see more garbage, homeless and despair than what we actually saw. Yes, there were abandoned buildings, but probably not any more than one would find in economically depressed areas of the United States. We all came away with the impression that Greek citizens are proud of their heritage (and rightfully so!), are hard-working and above all else, want the world to know that while the Greek government may have its problems, the Greek people are more than happy to welcome you to their country.
Our time in Greece was memorable, but we are all happy to be home, telling our friends and family about our experiences and dreaming about our next trip, wherever that may be!
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