London Forecast: Rain.. Surprised?

Well, being hungover in Athens was a good lesson for me.

I spent the entire day in the hot sun with vast amounts of water and I sweated it out.

Saw the Acropolis, and then wandered down the Ancient Agora where a Greek guy followed me around for about an hour, pretending he wasn't following me around.

Finally he called out to me, told me his name was Yannis (aren't they all? Anglicized it would be similar to John) and asked if I wanted to go out for coffee.

Since I wasn't feeling up to coffee and wondered why he followed me around the Agora for an hour before he bothered asking me out, I made some long drawn out story about how I was meeting friends and didn't know Athens well enough to commit to anything and since I was mobile-less... well, he got the idea.

I didn't ever admit to being a good liar, and everyone knows I have trouble getting to the point, so he stopped me, shook my hand and went and stared at me from behind a tree while I walked away.

Bizarre.

Since it was getting later (and darker), the Agora was becoming more secluded and stalker boy didn't appear to be moving from his perch, I decided to cut my losses and wander back to the hostel to pack up my things for my flight the next day.

Stopped on a little market street and picked up some Ouzo, Metaxa and Halva for gifts, and then packed up everything as best I could and decided to go find some food.

Grabbed a smoothie and a turkey sandwich from the supermarket, and people watched for bit.

When I got back to the hostel, the Aussie who had been ever so patient with drunken and disorderly me the night prior was waiting for the lift.. the one he rescued me from.

I hid my face and muttered, "I am so sorry", and he turned and started laughing.

"No worries", he says.

"Are you feeling any better?"

I shake my head and explain my theory on why Athens is the worst city in the world to be hungover in, and he laughs and talks me into coming upstairs to have a beer in the terrace bar for happy hour.

So I went, because the concept of 'hair of the dog' seemed mildly appealing, and amazingly it worked.

Hung out with 3 Americans who were all traveling solo, and an Aussie couple joined us after a few.

In case you're interested, the name of my hostel is Athens Style and I highly recommend it, if for nothing else than the awesome view of the Acropolis lit up at night from the terrace bar. (I do intend to review all the hostels I stayed at when I get home and have a chance to)

I got into a conversation about my pending trip to South America next year, and Josh, one of the Americans started telling me about Peruvian food. The conversation became so animated that we literally talked ourselves into being hungry, so we went out and found ourselves Gyros and more beer.

Got back at near midnight and passed out cold.

My alarm went off at nine the next morning, so I had a shower, found a computer and confirmed the phone number of Ania, the lovely Australian girl I met in Florence who offered me a place to stay in London, and hopped the train to the airport.

The concept of public transport to the airport is something I wish Edmonton would look into already. It cost me 6 Euros and 45 minutes of my time to travel 20km outside of the city to the airport. This, as opposed to $50 and AN HOUR of my time spent with a cabbie who doesn't speak much English to travel 17km. Think about it city council?

In any case, I got to the airport in one piece, checked in, and then sat for almost 2 hours as my flight to London was extremely delayed.

Nodded in and out of consciousness for most of the flight, coming to for long enough to smile and ooh at the Austrian alps, and then struggled with ears that wouldn't quite pop on the descent into the UK.

My flight was supposed to arrive at Gatwick at quarter past 2, but it didn't actually arrive until quarter to 4, so by the time I had got my luggage sorted, made me way through another inquisitive customs agent (they are SO tough getting into the UK) and got myself a train ticket to London Victoria, it was after 4, and I was due to meet Ania at King's Cross/St. Pancras at 5.

Ahh. Run.

Made it to St. Pancras at quarter past 5 and looked everywhere for Ania, who was nowhere to be found.

Found a payphone and finally got through to her mobile and hopped the tube to Liverpool Street to meet up with her.

Dropped my bags at her place and we went out to get a cocktail and a burger so we could catch each other up on what happened after we left each other in Florence, especially since the last time we saw each other, I was going for a walk with 2 cute Albanians and she was sitting with 4 cute Americans. Teehee.

As a side-note, the last time I was in London it was beautiful, sunny and warm. This time.. well, typical London. I was happy when the pilot told us the forecast was for overcast but warm when we were leaving Athens, but it turns out meteorologists around the world are just playing the guessing game because it was pouring here and I got to use my rainjacket for the second time since I hit Europe.

Called mom to quickly let her know I'm ok, and that I'll call more from Calgary when I get in, and we went back to Ania's flat to sleep.

Ania's at work today and I've been bumming around her flat all morning eating Jaffa Cakes and drinking tea. Need to go hop in the shower and then head to the Tate, since that's one of the only things I missed last turn in London.

I fly out tomorrow, and I'm having mixed feelings. On one hand, I'm so broke I can hardly pay attention (Hello Mastercard!) and on the other, I really wish I had just stayed and worked in the Cyclades for a few weeks just so I had the money to extend my stay for a little bit.

This trip has been the single best experience of my life up to date. Fuck, I'm going to miss Europe.