Mebbe
 

The timing is good for me, just a question of where my miles are. Would you put me on the maybe list?

Done

Who besides Dovster is arriving early? And of those (incl. Dovster), who wants to do some recon trips? Piraeus (port city) will be the key recon trip since we didn't go there last time.

Also, who wants to learn the Greek alphabet? With a bit of effort (not much, really) you can learn to read the signs & find your way around. I'll be at the DL DO in Oct. & will be willing to spend some time with anyone who wants to learn it; also can do some tutoring as people arrive. My background is with classical Greek, but with regard to being able to read signs & stuff, that's good enough for government work.

Put me down as a maybe. I am a dual Greek US citizen. I will be in Greece at the time of the DO but staying north at Larisa. I am going to try to head down to Athens but I need to see if business will keep me north. Hope I make it. Thank you

I am not certain about the recon trips. I have spent a lot time in the Greek isles, so visiting the sea doesn't mean much to me.

As far as learning the Greek alphabet is concerned, while it might be a good thing to do I suspect that I should first learn the Hebrew aleph bet.

I am really sorry but I am going to have to cancel my trip to Athens.

I just got a telephone call from Aegean Airlines, informing me that my TLV-ATH trip will not depart at 13:15 as scheduled, but rather at 05:40. In Israel, you are supposed to get to the airport three hours before departure, meaning in this case 02:40.

I live three hours away from TLV and doubt that there will be a train at that hour and won't impose on anyone to drive me there.

Then, to top it off, they told me that my return trip, which was scheduled for 11 am, has been pushed up to 01:30, getting me into TLV at 03:30 -- another non-starter.

I told them to cancel.

I looked at El Al but it is not flying to Athens on either my outbound or inbound days and the prices it wants are ridiculous.

So sorry to hear that Dovster as I was looking forward to meeting you. I guess Cyprus Air isn't any better price wise and ferries in the winter can't be relied upon. Hopefully something will pop up.

I've finally started to look for my hotel and need to get off my duff and get something for at least the first night.

Hi everybody, I just booked my flights and the hotel. Will stay at the Airotel Parthenon since the only *wood property in Athens the Grand Bretagne is a little bit over my budget. I will arrive late friday or early saturday at 12:10am with Swiss from Zurich and leave sunday at 6:10pm on LH to Frankfurt.

I would pay to share a guide at the Akropolis. Mars hill on sunday sounds nice but not 100% sure yet. Have to read a little bit about Athens first.

I've added caspritz78 as "definite", moved Dovster to "interested", and added gpapadop to "interested". Have I missed anyone?

Sorry to hear about the schedule changes, Dovster, but look at it this way: It's a Greek airline; they could always be on strike.

"recon" will mostly involving sampling the eating establishments. :D

My nephew will join me for that weekend. Please add a guest to my place.

Alas I probably will not be able to make it, which is unfortunate as I love Athens & a few of my favorite FTers will be attending.

But not being a HON who was smart enough to snag an award ticket on the TATL portion of SMD2 ;), that's going to be a pricey Do for me (understatement) which means a few of the others are now a no-go such as Athens. With London Do, Capital Do, VIE Do, Chicago Seminar Do, SMD2, and the upcoming London Do next February, I've tapped out my Do budget until business improves or I come into $$ some other way.

If either of those 2 things happen I'll post back & head over, but unless they do I'll just say have a fabulous time!

Cheers.

SkiAdcock, I hope that things come round for you and you are able to enjoy SMD2. Maybe I'll see you next Feb at Presidents Do in London.

No possibility or willingness to staying in Tel Aviv the nights before/after?

I don't want to fork out the $$$ for TLV hotels but there is a possibility that my Used Italian Girlfriend's Ramat Aviv house will be available. I won't know that for another month or so.

You could probably work something out with someone that has points that can be used for a Points Break room or C&P at Sheraton TLV if they have availability.

Well lili I guess I won't be staying in the Plaka area after all. Used this link for the $20 off a priceline line bid along with a $59 bid for a 5* and landed the IC. The $59 bid didn't take the first few days but did this morning.

The best spot to me in the Plaka was the Kimon Hotel. The price and location were the best for myself. E-mails to the Kimon did not yield any further discounts than their web booking engine. I also liked the Acropolis House hotel but the price for ensuite bathroom with a balcony was a little to much.

Sunday at the port of Piraeus sounds great but I do also want to find time to do Mars Hill(Aeropagus) as well. Perhaps Friday morning before the scheduled activities get started, I will head that way.

These are my flights in case anyone else is on them. I did find a return that didn't have multiple overnights in Europe.

Wed 15DEC DL 2564 CVG-JFK
Wed 15DEC KLM 644 JFK-AMS
Thu 16DEC KLM 1581 AMS-ATH
Mon 20DEC DL 133 ATH-JFK
Mon 20DEC DL 2013 JFK-CVG