Report From London. Day 1 cont..02-08-2018

The best laid plans often go by the wayside when events take over that you have no control over. This is part II of what has turned into the longest day.

At 3:30 pm the Aegean Airline desk opened up and I was first in line at the counter. I presented Linda's and my passport, along with our confirmation number to the gate agent for the 4:30 flight to Athens. Imagine our dismay when the gate agent told us we were not on that flight, that our seats had been cancelled, and the flight was full and there were no seats available. He directed us to go to the South African Airlines gate, that the young lady there would help us. So while we were on our way to South African Airlines, Harry, Amanda, Emily and Jake boarded the Aegean flight to Athens.

To set the stage here, we went through security in Montgomery to get to Atlanta. When we got to London and deplaned we had to go through security to get to Terminal 3 to get on the Aegean flight. When that fell through, South Africa told us to go to Terminal 2 to see a Delta Agent. We had to go through security again. When we got to the Delta counter it was run by a gentleman from Virgin Atlantic. He wore a turban and was the nicest person we had met all day. He sent us to the British Airways counter, they booked us on a flight to Athens, leaving at 7:30 pm. Then we went back to the Delta counter and they gave us meal vouchers to compensate us for missing our flight. We then had to go to Terminal 5 and through security again.

While all of this was going on, I was in contact with Georgio, our driver in Athens. I told him that we would not be there until 10:20 pm instead of 2:00 pm. The 6 of us. Georgio said no problem. He would pick us up at 10:20. After we lost our seats in Aegean, I contacted Georgio and told him that Harry, Amanda, Emily and Jake were airborne and on the way. He assured me he would take care of them. After we got our new airline assignment I sent Georgio another message and told him we would be arriving at 01:15 Friday morning. Georgio said he would be there and take care of us.

Our trip to Athens started in Montgomery at noon on Wednesday and we got to Athens at 1:00 am on Friday. We got to our hotel about 3:00 am. A long day.