But no warning could prepare us for a full day's worth of traveling, as we all soon found out.
Right form the start, I knew we were in for a rough day. We woke up bright and early to board a bus from Lausanne to the airport in Geneva at 8:00 a.m., and since breakfast at the Lausanne hotel did not open until 8:00 a.m., we had to quickly take our breakfast out of the dining room and bring it with us on the bus. I managed to hastily grab a croissant and a small box of cereal. The ride to the Geneva airport took about 45 minutes. During the drive, we were able to catch a glimpse of Mount Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps.
The Geneva airport experience was a nightmare. We arrived at the airport and went over to check in our bags. We got in line just in time, because the the length of the line behind us grew to a monstrous size. I am not exaggerating when I say that there must have been at least 200 people in line behind us. It was definitely an apocalyptic sight to behold. For some reason, the check-in desks were serving about five to six different airlines instead of just one, which seemed very ill-conceived. Adding to the traumatic experience was the the fact that I was asked by the check-in attendant to go pay for my luggage at a different station, and then come back to claim my boarding pass. As I went through this brutally inefficient process, I thought I would lose my sanity.
After I had finally claimed my boarding pass, I went through security. Then (and I'm not kidding), it was a fifteen minute walk to the gate. Our Aegean Air flight took off at roughly 11:15 a.m. and we landed in Athens, Greece a little after 3 p.m. To put it mildly, the flight was not pleasant. The cabin was smelly, the food was strange-looking, and the group of people behind us were making a lot of noise. In addition, one of our group was being bothered by the passenger behind him for trying to recline his seat, and another member of our group had trash spilled on him.
I was relieved when we finally got off the plane in Athens. We collected or luggage, then hopped on a small bus that would take us to Olympia. During this this time, we met up with our guide, Nike. During our time in Greece, Nike will help us in translating Greek, and is an expert on the history of Ancient Greece. At the start of the bus ride, Nike gave us a quick lecture on how Ancient Greek athletics were an important factor in bringing about democracy and western values.
About an hour into the drive, we stopped for lunch. We had lamb kabobs, which were very good. At this stop, we also observed the Corinth Canal, which divides the Peloponnese and the Greek mainland.
The bus ride was fairly pleasant until we reached the Gulf of Corinth. Then the wheels fell off, literally. I was relaxing and listening to some Greek pop music, when all of a sudden, the bus started to violently bounce up and down. We pulled over on the side of the road to inspect the damage. It turned out that that one of the tires blew out. The tire was absolutely ravaged and needed to be replaced. This really was the day from hell. It took about an hour, but luckily Professor Ryan and the driver were able to replace the tire and call for roadside assistance. We boarded the bus and were back in business.
Thankfully, nothing too dramatic happened for the remainder of the trip, and we arrived at the Olympia hotel at about 10 p.m. Despite all the issues, the day ended on a high note. The hotel was really nice, and we ordered delicious pita sandwiches for a late dinner.
It was certainly a day I will not soon forget.
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