Today was my big flight day from Athens to Barcelona! As you will find out, buying the cheapest tickets you can find on the internet does not always eventuate in smooth travelling.
I spent the morning packing my suitcase since I'd accidentally fallen asleep while packing the night before. Unfortunately because of this, I didn't have time to eat breakfast, which is a key element in this story.
I took a taxi to the airport but when trying to communicate with the non-English speaking driver I had to wave my arms around like an airplane until the driver understood where I wanted to go. Apart from that he was a fun driver who did a lot of dancing to traditional Greek music on the radio. I was really sad to say goodbye to Athens but it was a nice send-off with such a jolly Greek taxi driver.
Arriving at the airport, I was incredibly early because it seems that within the EU, you only need to check in about 1-2 hours before your flight. I arrived 3 hours before my flight was due to board, as I would have done for flying overseas from Australia. So I had a bit of a wait until the lady arrived at the check-in desk, but because of my earliness, I got to be the first person to check in and avoided a huge queue.
So I hadn't eaten breakfast, and walking through the duty free shops, I was struck with a sudden food-deprived urge to spend money. I ended up buying a fairly expensive bag but I don't regret it at all! It was my first ever duty free purchase!
I was pretty hungry by the time we boarded the plane, but I figured that instead of getting something at the airport I would eat on the plane. Mistake! My tickets were so cheap because they didn't actually serve food, and you had to pay for sandwiches or other foodstuffs kind of like when you fly with Jetstar. Unfortunately my love of budget airfares had led me to do little to no research on whether my flight actually served food. I tried to buy something but I was stuck on a window seat, and every time the cart passed by the couple next to me waved it away. So I had nothing to eat during my four hour flight either.
I forgot to mention, my flight actually went from Athens to Helsinki, and then Helsinki to Barcelona. Again, to justify the logical fallacy of choosing this flight over one that went directly to Barcelona: it was about $150 cheaper than any other I could find, and at a really convenient time of the day so I could sleep normally, and I figured why not spent an hour in Finland? The fact that I would spend 8 hours total flying didn't really occur to me. That and I think I had one beer before I bought my ticket. Don't judge me.
I arrived at Helsinki airport starving and thirsty, but felt it would be most important to check in to my next flight first before I had something to eat. However there was no one available from my airline at any desk anywhere who could check me in. I spent a good half hour running around trying to find someone, until I saw the tiniest of signs at the randomest of desks that said I could check in at my departure gate half an hour before boarding. So boo on you Helsinki airport for being confusing and non-transparent. Thankfully my flight was delayed but I only had enough time to eat a ham and pickle sandwich and buy some snacks and water for my next flight, before I had to check in and board the plane. I could have spent that initial frantic half hour looking in Marimekko or the Moomin shop!! Damn you Helsinki airport!
Moral of the story: keep it simple and book a direct flight next time.
The best thing about flying in to Helsinki was looking down onto the city from the plane. The houses looked like doll houses surrounded by a Lego forest. So cute.
The flight from Helsinki to Barcelona was pretty good because I had snacks and some cute Spanish kids to make faces at. On this flight I spent my time reading instead of worrying about when I was going to eat next. So when I arrived in Barcelona, I felt much better compared to when I arrived in Helsinki.
I took a taxi to my hostel and because my plane was late, I was a little bit late to check in. But the manager didn't seem to mind and gave me a special map to all the sights of the city, which I really appreciated.
My room is really nice, with a tv and big bathroom and a bright red feature wall. As soon as I put my things down, I flopped on the bed and turned on the tv, only to find a dubbed version of the film Ghost World! One of my favourite films. So I saw it as a good omen for my time in Barcelona.
I was doing some research on tours of the city when I accidentally fell asleep fully clothed again. I'm going to start getting ready for bed earlier because I'm starting to worry that I have narcolepsy.
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