Day 9 - Travel Day - Riomaggiore to Milan to Athens

Day 9 was a big travel day for us. Luckily we did some packing prep the night before so the morning of our departure from Riomaggiore wasn't as hectic as it could have been. 

We woke up and finalized the last pieces of our luggage and ate the last bits of food from our fridge. I'm glad we bought that pizza for the morning and for our travels. Our hotel host offers assistance with luggage from the hotel to the train station, so we waited for our helper to arrive. (Link to our hotel, Creuza de Ma)

When our helper showed up I hoisted my 50 lb suitcase on my shoulder and followed him down our hotel stairs as he carried Deanna's suitcase. We wound our way down the path and into the marina. We bobbed and weaved our way back up the hill into the town hallways for the last time and onward through the "underwater" tunnel. We finally emerged on the other side of the mountain at the Riomaggiore train station. I gave him a little thank you and we took our place on a bench waiting for our train. 

It was already pretty hot out at 10am, so we were glad to see the train show up with out too long of a wait. We jumped on and found a corner to stand in by the stairs and entryway. La Spezia was just the next stop away, so it was only about a 5 minute train ride. 

When we arrived at La Spezia station we hopped off and started walking through the thick crowds at the station. People were congregated in large tour groups and it was difficult to get to the exit. It was quite frustrating, but we eventually popped out the other side into the town of La Spezia. The goal here was to pick up a rental car that I had reserved online. The rental car place was only a few blocks away so rather than get a ride I decided we'd walk. We began rolling our luggage along the sidewalks and down into the main promenade of the town. This area was really cute. It was full of shops, fountains, art, and a generally nice vibe. I wish we had known what La Spezia was like, it would have been worth spending some time here. 

We found the Budget rental place and went inside. At this point my entire back was covered in sweat as well as the place on my shoulders where my backpack straps rested. Inside the car rental place there were already people at the counter and some people waiting. The folks working the counter desk were one man and one woman, both probably in their late 60s or 70s. The woman was only answering the phone and talking forever and the man was taking mental pauses here and there and getting distracted by little things the woman would say constantly. It felt like an hour for him to finish the current customer that was at his window, but he eventually did and the next person started getting help. It probably took him about 20 minutes to process him and get him his rental. 

Deanna waiting in the front of the rental office

Sweat

When it was my turn I went up to the counter with all my documents out. They both were very excited to see that I was from San Francisco. They mentioned in broken English that they had been to Sausalito many years ago and loved it. They also mentioned a restaurant by name, but I don't remember what they said. After a few minutes of the man going through my reservation he said "oh no, problem, we don't have your car." I wasn't surprised to hear this, so I just rolled with it and said "ok, no problem, I'll take what I can get."

I was observing their systems while they worked and noticed that they would take a copy of everything and put it in a never ending "to be filed" stack. They would then take another copy of some forms and put them over in the back on top of a filing cabinet also in a rather large stack of other forms. Then the lady would look through her basket of keys to see what keys they had. So apparently they weren't tracking their cars at all on the computer, but only through the basket of keys in front of her. 

When our order was complete we both followed the man outside as he lead us about a block away to a really small and uninspiring looking car. We piled our stuff inside and got in. This car was as stock as it could be and stick shift. So I started it up and backed out of our very narrow spot and into the very narrow and crowded street behind us. I shifted back to 1st gear and we were on our way. I quickly remembered how to drive stick liked I had never stopped. 

Our road trip wound through lush green valleys, by small towns, through deep tunnels, and through well known places like Parma. We stopped at a highway side Automart to pick up some food and drinks before getting back on our way. It took about 3 hours to get to Milan. At the Milan airport I think I did 3 laps around the airport before finally making it to the right rental car return driveway. It is not very clearly labeled for Budget returns. The dropoff was fast and we got our luggage and started into the terminal. 

We arrived probably about 4 hours before our boarding time. We made our way to the baggage check in area but nobody from Aegean airlines was there. I asked a nearby employee from another airline about it and they mentioned that you could only check bags within 2 hours of your flight time. "oh." So we went upstairs with all of our luggage and had some wine and a snack while we waited for time to pass. When it was around 2 hours away from our boarding we went back down to the Aegean airlines gate and hung out in front of the line. 2 ladies appeared soon and started prepping their lines. Within a few minutes a line of about 30 people was already formed behind us. Thankfully we were first! 

The lady called us forward and we were on our way in about 2 minutes after dropping our suitcases. We were both hungry so we stopped at Wagamama to have an early dinner. I had a curry chicken katsu and Deanna had what appeared to be pad thai, but she didn't order that. It all tasted pretty good and I had a sake with my meal. 

We went over to gate A3 which was indicated by the departures board and our paper tickets that we received. We bought some chips and waters and took a seat by an annoying kid and his dad. Our gate was currently boarding a different flight and airline so we sat by and watched as they were all loading. As time passed something started to feel a bit off, so we went over to the gate to double check that we were in the right place and boarding group. The gate description had not changed to our Airline or flight number. It still said Ryanair or something else. Panic started to set in for both of us. Our flight was boarding in 19 minutes!

We walked over to the departures board and watched as the Athens line item updated and rotated between the various Athens flights. Our flight popped up and the gate indicated was A78! YIKES. So we started a very brisk walk through what felt like the entire airport in search of gate A78. Along the way we would stop and double check our flight again to make sure nothing changed. Still A78. We were sweaty and stressed but pulled up to our gate with 2 minutes to spare before they started calling for boarding groups. Disaster avoided. When we got on the plane we were seated in the emergency row that was only 2 seats, which was amazing. I had forgotten that I was able to make changes and get us good seats for that flight. That took away all the stress of having to run across the airport to make our flight. 

When we landed in Athens and made our way to the baggage claim I stood there while I received 2 phone alerts about our gate change to A78 from A3. Then I received an email about the gate change. Thank you for the prompt updates Aegean airlines. lol. 

We grabbed our bags and proceeded out of the airport exit and found a gentleman with my name on a sign. I confirmed he was our ride from my scheduled taxi service and we followed him to his waiting Mercedes taxi cab. The cab was very clean and smelled nice. Our driver put his foot to the floor and got us to our Athens hotel in pretty quick fashion. 

Our hotel, the Niche Hotel Athens, sits atop ruins from the Valerian Wall (click for info). We checked into our hotel and went up to our room. The room was very nice and clean. We called downstairs to ask for them to bring up an extra luggage stand for our suitcases. I'm not sure why every hotel room doesn't already provide at least 2 luggage stands in the rooms. It's logical to assume that more than one person will be in a room and that more than one suitcase will want to be off the ground. We constantly have to ask for these when we travel. It's annoying. 

We were pretty tired, so we didn't go out and were already mostly full from our early dinner at Wagamama. We decided to go to bed. 

That is the end of day 9. 

Remember all photos will be linked here: Full Photo Dump

Day 1 & 2 - Travel Days - San Francisco to Frankfurt to Milan, Italy

Hi, Mack here.... I’ve always been someone that prefers to be early to the airport. I never understood the people that stay at home until he latest possible moment and then scramble and run and stress their way to their terminal gate. No, I’m the kind of person that arrives 3 hours early and just lives in the airport for awhile. I like to think of that as part of the trip, not just a means to getting somewhere.

So here we are. Deanna and I got packed and ready to go to the airport around 2pm for a 6:30pm boarding time. We arrived at the airport about 2:45pm. We walked in the United international terminal baggage check area and nobody was there at all. No kiosks were full, no lines were to be seen. So a lady comes up to us and begins to assist us with tagging our luggage. "Okay, thanks," I tell her. Then she directs us to the quick drop luggage line for United. We head over there where it is yet again a ghost town. I even look back at her and yell across the huge room “is this the line I should be in?”, just as a lady appears in front of us to help take our bags.

I weigh my suitcase and it comes in at exactly 50 lbs. Hell yah. It pays to have a scale at home. We give our luggage to to the lady and head over to the security checkpoint. As we approach there is literally not one person in the TSA pre check line, but the standard line is quite long. We go through tsa pre check swiftly and get to the X-ray scanner. The TSA pre check line says that I don’t have to take anything out of my backpack. My backpack that is full of 1 jetson nano, 1 netgear M1 modem, 1 Inseego M2000 modem, a capture card, various overwrapped and dangling wires, 2 pretty large batteries strapped to an organizing board, 2 other large batteries jammed in my side pockets, a jacket, a laptop, an iPad, countless bags of extra cables, chargers, sunglasses, umbrella, and on and on… I may have overpacked that backpack. Anyway, my backpack goes through the machine without any extra attention. “WHEW” Almost every time I go through standard security I have to be double checked or I have to pull all my stuff out so they don't worry about the cables and battery stuff.

After we clear security we head toward the food areas in the G terminal. As we are scouting about and analyzing the offerings we realize we are standing right next to a United Lounge sign. I happen to have 2 one time passes for that lounge. Score! So we go in there and setup shop on a couple of comfy lounge chairs. I ordered a whiskey and ginger and Deanna had a vodka ginger. Then I made a big plate of chips, salsa, guacamole and sour cream. We continued to drink and snack for a bit.

A little after 4pm we headed over to the Mustard’s restaurant in the same terminal. This restaurant is a participating establishment in the Priority pass dining club. This wonderful club lets cardholders take 1 guest with them to any participating restaurant and both you and your guest can get a $27 off per meal. No limits or restrictions on what you do. Pro tip if you have this and come to SFO…. You can go to the Yankee Pier in Terminal 3 and the go to the Giants Clubhouse in the same terminal and dine twice or have drinks at one and food at the other.

We checked in with my priority pass card and sat down to order. I ordered fish and chips, Deanna ordered an “adult grilled cheese” and we got an order of onion rings to share. Oh, Deanna also ordered a cider and I had an old fashioned. The fish was delicious and hot. The fries tasted good but were less than hot. I bet they would be amazing right out of the fryer. The shoestring style onion ring tower was amazing. Deanna loved her grilled cheese and the bite I had can confirm how good it was.

After our early dinner we did a quick pit stop back in the United lounge and then headed to our gate.

People change when they come to airports. It’s the same with driving, dmv, etc. When people come to airports they tend to lose their sense of logic and reason and often their manners. It's kind of weird to observe. Anyhow, when we got to the gate there was nobody in the boarding group lines at all. I like to get in line as early as possible, even though we have reserved seats. I can’t stand when I’m late in the group and I get to my seat and some person has put their baggage in the cubby above our seats. So my goal is to be part of the first portion of passengers in my group on the plane. So about 10 minutes before boarding we moved into position at the front of Group 2’s line. I noticed some elderly people and people with strollers in our lane just kind of milling about. At this stage it felt like the gate people were not doing a good job of organizing the lines and most of the preboarding people started crowding in our line.

They just continued to let the preboarders through on the Group 2 line. After that they called the Group 1 people and they also started going through our line but then the attendant finally redirected them back to Group 1 line. Someone yelled out "well it's not very clear at all!" lol as he walked back to the other Group line. After that we boarded and had a nice back row in the Premium Economy. Lots of space for our luggage and no issues.

Our flight to Frankfurt was around 11 hours. I started out finishing Ted Lasso, then went into Peaky Blinders. I nodded about 5000 times but never truly slept. I put my head down a lot and tried to sleep at some point but couldn't. Being so tall it's hard to get my head in a position of comfort when sitting up. Or maybe it's just me. Our flight was pretty mellow for the duration. The food was kind of terrible though. I didn't even take a picture of the breakfast I disliked it so much. We hit a bit of turbulence over the UK and when we got closer to Milan due to thunderstorms.

Gross plane food

This salad was edible

We landed in Frankfurt and had a little over an hour layover. We filled up our water bottle and hit the restrooms. We had to go through a brief customs check in Frankfurt but it was quick. Not a very memorable airport.

Frankfurters, get it? 

We loaded onto the Lufthansa plane and found our seats. This leg of the flight did not let us choose our seats. We were assigned a window seat and a middle seat together. As I got on the plane and found our aisle I was already dreading the narrow row. Luckily this flight was only going to be about an hour. An elderly lady sat next to me. She spoke clear English but I think she was Italian. We didn't speak. I don't like talking to people on busses, trains, planes, etc. I think I Just don't like the idea of everyone hearing our discussion.

Our flight was pretty simple and straightforward. They gave us bottles of water and a small bar of chocolate. 

Thanks Lufthansa!

Thunderstorms from the plane

When we exited the plane we turned on our phones and could track our baggage using our airtags that we have in our checked bags. It's pretty neat to see them move around the airport. It's calming knowing their are with us. Thanks Apple! ;)

I received a text from our pre-booked transfer/ride from the airport to our hotel. I told them that we were waiting for our bags and would be out soon. We waited by the baggage claim for what felt like hours and eventually our luggage came out. We swooped it up and headed out front of the airport exit. As we exited I saw a sign with my name on it and found our driver. Pretty cool to have our name on a sign, I've never had that before. Our driver lead us out to her waiting van and we loaded up and headed toward the city center. The drive was about 25 minutes from the airport and wound through the city streets in Milan. We enjoyed comparing the city's look and feel to that of Paris and Rome. They all have similar features and vibe.

We drove down a one way alley to the front of our hotel. Just a opening in a wall with a name above the door. It seemed very low key. We went inside and immediately were impressed with the decor and art work that adorned the courtyard at this hotel. Hotel Milano Castello is pretty nice. Every day at 6pm to 9pm they have a happy hour at their bar. Guests get one drink free during that time as well. And they have free breakfast included in the price. We took a lift(elevator) up to our room and could finally exhale and mentally relax from the trip. We put our keycard in the slot to turn on the lights and air conditioning and began to unpack a bit. 

After we both settled down a bit we got hungry and decided to venture out a bit and look for food. I had done some research on restaurants I wanted to try in the area too, so we did have some targets in mind.

We began our walk looking for a restaurant that I bookmarked that was very close to the hotel. When we were in front of where it was supposed to be we could not see any business. We looked in a window and saw some empty dining tables which must have been the place. But unfortunately this was definitely closed. We later found out that this is the peak time for locals to take their own vacations, so a lot of restaurants and businesses in Milan are closed for a few weeks. 

After that we walked down to the very touristy promenade Via Dante and began our stroll. There were a good number of restaurants lining this plaza and they were all similar in vibe and lacking much character. It was kind of hard to decide which restaurant to try. We settled on one place at the end of the plaza that had the best view of the Castello Sforzesco.

I order a giant aperol spritz and Deanna had the regular size one. For dinner Deanna ordered the mushroom risotto, I had the cheese ravioli with sage butter, and for an appetizer we had buffalo burrata bruschetta. The food was pretty good for being such a tourist location. The burrata was amazing and so was the sage butter that came with the ravioli. I would up dipping Deann's risotto in the remaining portions of my butter. It was yummy. After we wrapped up Dinner we headed back to the hotel. 

Hers and His

Burrata Bruschetta

Cheese Ravioli with Sage Butter

Mushroom Risotto

I plugged in my amazon fire stick and loaded netflix so we could wind down to some Seinfeld for a bit. I was also able to check in on Twitch which was nice and convenient. The firestick is so much better than the chromecast I have. 

Okay, well that's the end of day one. 

Remember all photos will be linked here: Full Photo Dump