Our arrival in Athens was a bit bumpy. In new surroundings after a long flight without much sleep, juggling bags on public transportation, we let our guard down and got pick pocketed. It was one of those classic operations where a group of thieves create a distraction and fleece your pockets when you’re at your most vulnerable.
Suddenly when we arrive at our metro stop the metro car is more crowded than it was and the exit is blocked. A nice man is trying to help you get out at the same time distracting you asking you about a paper you left behind that isn’t yours. We both thought the incident seemed suspicious but checked our wallets and noticed nothing stolen.
It was a different story when we reached the hotel room and Don realized that the cash he had in a zipped pants pocket was missing. We thought the front pocket would be safe enough, it wasn’t. A valuable lesson that cost us some cash but nothing more serious.
After 20 years plus of traveling around the world and never getting caught, we feel stupid. However, it could have been worse, much worse. There is a good reason you should use a money belt, especially when you are coming in from the airport on public transportation after a long international flight.
Aside from that unfortunate incident, arriving in Athens and using the direct line from the airport to central Athens worked relatively well. The connection at Syntagma Square, however, was very crowded and we had to push our way on to the red line train for the one stop to the Acropolis near where our hotel was located.
Of course you can’t let one negative situation ruin your trip, so we learn from our mistake, sharpen our game and move on.
May 4, 2016
For links to all the posts in this series see the Greece page.