A Greek Odyssey: From Crete to Athens to NYC

This is part five of a two-week trip to Greece. If you missed them, here are parts one, two, three, and four.

day 12

To get from Crete back to Athens, there are two options; 8 hour ferry, or 1 hour flight. We, of course, chose the flight. We flew out of Chania on Aegean airlines, which was my first time flying a domestic flight internationally (confusing sentence, I know). While certainly not the smallest airport I’ve been to (hello, Escanaba, Michigan), with only three gates it still makes the list. There are also no jet bridges, we walked out onto the tarmac and they loaded the plane with the stairs from both the front and back of the plane. They greeted us all with little gummy fruit candies, and our in-flight snacks were tiny prepackaged baklavas. There was less legroom than the standard U.S. airlines (Southwest, American, Delta), but with short legs and a short flight, it wasn’t a problem at all.

Per our travel day routine of the trip, we checked into our room, freshened up, and went out for dinner. On our first day in Athens on the front end of the trip, we stopped for coffee at Little Kook which is right on the edge of the Psyri neighborhood, but we otherwise hadn’t spent time in that part of the city yet, so that was our goal for dinner. Walking there from our hotel was interesting, as we mostly walked down very quite streets that were closed for the evening to the point where it felt like we were going nowhere, then all of a sudden we were in the bustling center of lively Psyri, full of busy restaurants and live music. (So busy that I had to yeet myself out of there after dessert as I got too overstimulated.) (Do the kids still say yeet?)

Day 13

On the front end of our trip, we bookmarked a few gift shops we knew we wanted to come back to on the back end of our trip, so that we could make room in our luggage along the way. (Pro-tip for packing light: bring your oldest pj’s that need to be tossed anyway and ditch them before heading home.) So, on our last full Athens day, that was our first stop. But, this time we decided to finally take the train.

There was a station right outside our hotel, and to be honest from the street level, it looked like it’d be a little sketchy down there. But, once we entered the station, we were surprised by how clean and bright it was, more so than any other subway station I’ve seen. Buying a ticket was super easy – we got a 24-hour pass for €4 each – but finding the right platform was a little tricky, mainly because the particular station we were at had so many entrances. We only visited two other stations, and they seemed a lot more clear, especially now that we knew what we were doing.

We picked up the last of our souvenirs and then had lunch at a literal hole in the wall (which I can’t wait to tell you more about in my next blog post). While walking around the city we started to see signs that, once again, there was going to be a public transportation strike the following day. So, we went back to our hotel and scrambled to book another private transfer from our hotel to the airport for the following day. After that, my friends wanted to do some more last minute shopping at the pharmacies near our hotel, while I chose to have some downtime at the hotel bar.

About five days after our visit to the Acropolis, we read that the scaffolding on the Parthenon had finally come down for the first time since the 1970s. (Supposedly? I keep seeing different years online.) Between that and all the rain on the front end of our trip, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather on our last night and have our last dinner in Greece at a rooftop restaurant with views of the Parthenon. We ordered our food, got our appetizers, and over an hour later (why? who knows) we finally got our entrees. Despite the wait, the food was delicious and it was a bittersweet night gazing at the Parthenon and the city lights, and reflecting on all the adventures over the past two weeks.

day 14

Though long, my flight from Athens to New York City was thankfully uneventful. I forced myself to stay awake for the duration as an attempt to thwart jet lag on the way home. We landed at JFK around 7:30pm local time, and the only flight back to Nashville that same day was at 8pm. I knew there was no way I’d make that, even with global entry, so I had a 16-hour layover before flying home the next day.

With the layover being overnight, I knew I wasn’t going to really be able to do anything in the city. I looked at booking a MinuteSuite for a place to sleep, but at the time I wasn’t sure if I’d be checking a bag on the way home, which would mean I wouldn’t be able to go back through security after going through customs until closer to my flight time. I was going to just book a basic Hampton Inn right outside the airport, but I decided to price the TWA Hotel and it wasn’t much more money*; a small enough difference to pay for the convenience and a chance to do something at least a little touristy while in New York.

My friends also had overnight layovers, so we helped each other stay awake long enough to wander around the hotel and look at all the fun little rooms and nooks and crannies. There’s a large sunken dining room bar, a few 1950s style diners, and lots of midcentury inspired gathering areas – including a giant Twister room – and mannequins showcasing old flight attendants’ uniforms. They even have an old TWA airplane that they’ve turned into a cocktail bar named The Connie. Jet lag had us beat, so we unfortunately didn’t dine anywhere in the hotel, but it was a really fun stay regardless. The one place we didn’t get to explore was the rooftop pool and bar.

day 15

After a good night’s sleep, an even better shower, and a pretty standard flight, I got back home to Nashville early in the afternoon. I am totally that person who, unless I get home super late, unpacks right away. By the end of the day I had all my clothes in the laundry baskets, suitcases back in the closet, and my souvenirs found their new homes. I’m also that person who didn’t even make it back to my home airport before booking my next flight out of BNA, so stay tuned for my next adventure. (And for that long-promised Greek food blog!)

*Pro-tip: I had looked at booking the TWA over the summer right after I booked my flight, but it was stupid expensive. I just happened to look again about 6 weeks before my trip, and the price had dropped about $200.