Monday October 1 to Wednesday October 3

It's 9:15pm Athens time (4:15am Tuesday at home) and I'm sitting in the lounge at the Athens airport after a  longish day.  

I think it was around 9am, the last time I posted.

10 of the group departed the hotel at 11:15 this morning. I know that Lois & Elizabeth were going to spend a week in Kalamata and if all went to plan, they should be arriving there about now.  I know that they had to catch a local bus in Athens at 4:30 this afternoon.

4 of the Sydney siders were spending another 4 night in Santorini and they checked out  when Wendy & Graham & I did, as checkout time was 11:30am.
Jenny & Stephen, also from Sydney are staying an extra night at the hotel and flying home tomorrow and Wendy & Graham are flying out of Santorini for Athens, at 9pm tonight, so I hope they are on a plane as I type this.

I was picked up by a minivan at 3pm and taken to the airport. I noticed that there was a lineup of people outside but walked straight in and joined a queue. There were 4 of them, all for the Athens flight. I asked the couple in front of me, if I was in the correct one and they said yes and that the queue outside was also waiting.  Oops, seemed I jumped the queue, so I went outside and joined the end of that one.
Shortly after, we were all allowed into the terminal.  The time was probably 3.20 by then. So we all stood and waited, even the people who were at the counter.  Seems that they were having a problem with their system. To cut a long story short, we eventually all got checked in and the flight took off pretty much on time BUT because my Santorini to Athens flight was not on the same booking as all the others, I had to collect my luggage on arrival in Athens, and then wait another 2 hours until the desk opened for the Dubai flight, before I could check it in.  Never had to go through customs or immigration when I arrived in Athens but did have to go through security and immigration to get to the Dubai departure gate.
Boarding isn't for another hour, so I'm enjoying the peace of a shared lounge.  Very basic and fairly small but it is away from the crowd.

I've got a 5 hour layover in Dubai.  Arrive there at 5am local time (11am at home) and depart for Melbourne at 10:15, (4.15pm) so I'll do a short update from there, if there is anything worth talking about.  

No photos taken today.

6:45am Dubai local time
The plane departed on time and I pretty much then went to sleep. I had checked the menu and was going to have a salad but decided that I was too tired, so turned the screen off, layed down and went to sleep.  I'm still tired and will probably sleep again on the flight to Melbourne. The next flight starts boarding at 9:45 and it's a good 10 to 15 minute walk from the lounge to the gate.  I might go and have a look at the shops, just to keep myself awake until the flight.
One thing I did do when I got to the lounge here, was find the showers and had a refreshing shower and changed my clothes, so I'm feeling refreshed from that.

4:40pm Canberra time
I arrived safely back home just before 10am this morning.  Since then I've emptied the suitcase and done 2 loads of washing. It seems that the only thing I have lost on the trip, was my pedometer and I think that might have happened on the plane from Dubai to Melbourne, as I put it in my pocket after having a shower & putting on clean clothes, while at Dubai airport.  Maybe it came out of my pocket while I was sleeping. 
Back to cold weather and some rain here today.  Just need to stay awake until a reasonable hour before going to bed.

The trip to Greece was wonderful. The people are so friendly, the weather was wonderful and warm and the group on the trip got on well together. The archaeological sites we saw were amazing. I'd re-visit Crete again but not Santorini but am glad that I have been there.
Goodbye or as they say in Greece, Αντίο.  At least I think they do.