DAY 90-91 - London to Athens

Arriving in London we found our way to the Hostel for the night.  After scaling the 6 flights of stairs we seriously contemplated not having to go down them again until checking out the next day.  But nevertheless this was not to be!  We arranged to meet Abby's friend the lovely Nicola who we were leaving some of our excess baggage with to meet the tight requirments of Ryanair (15kg!) . Poor Nicola didn't know what she was signing up for but was sweetened by the fact that Whitey ran back specially (yes an extra 'up and down' the 6 flights of stairs!) to get her gift that we had left behind.

Finding ourselves back at Heathrow the next morning it was hard to believe it was only 3 months ago we were there as fresh-faced, paled skinned Kiwi's with our whole adventure ahead of us.  Now as "seasoned travellers" somewhat less pale and still Kiwi's we booked in with Aegan Air with thoughts of finally finding some sunshine on our journey.  The flight over was fairly turbulent but otherwise reasonably uneventful - other than Kath's great suprise that she was sitting next to some New Zealander's for the whole trip and hadn't realised! (and no just to clarify she wasn't sitting with the rest of the Pack!)  She was shocked she hadn't picked the accent while talking with them and then she was further shocked when they inquired where she lived in the UK as her accent sounded British!

Arriving in Athens we walked out into the oven-like heat and the sun blinding our eyes - success, we had found the sun!

After a chilly nights sleep due to some over-excited air-con which had us wishing we had brought warm jersey's with us, we headed out to look around Athens before meeting our OakHall tour group later in the day.

The searing heat had us shade-hopping down the streets and eventually seeking refuge in a large department store which kept us amused and cool!  A very tasty feed of Macca's possibly the best ever - especially the McFarm, gave us the stamina needed to get back on the train out to the airport, hunt out our new tour group and relax in organised tour goodness!

Melting in the 40+ heat while waiting for the train