Game On, We’re in Greece - Jet Lag & Newness

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Arriving in a new country is always a little disorienting. Greece, with its different alphabet and language, adds an extra layer of confusion. We went into it knowing the first day or two would be messy—and they were. 

After a red-eye flight from Albuquerque and a layover in Atlanta, 14 hours later we landed at the Athens airport at 10am—1am to our bodies. The first priority was adjusting to the new time zone. For three days before we left the U.S., we took melatonin around 1–2pm to start shifting our internal clocks toward a Greek bedtime of about 10pm.

Despite being warned not to hop into just any cab at the airport, that’s exactly what we did. Exhausted and bleary-eyed, we stumbled into the first cab in the queue outside Arrivals, instead of using FREE NOW (Greece’s local version of Uber). Just as our Airbnb hosts had warned, we were charged double the typical daytime fare. The usual rate is 35 euros—we paid 70. When I asked for a receipt (as clearly required by the sign in the cab), the driver simply said “no.” Freshly jet-lagged and standing on unfamiliar ground, I didn’t have the energy to argue. Mercy. Lesson learned.

I fully expect to fumble through my first few days here. That one was anticipated. Tomorrow, I get another shot at getting things right—like finding a local SIM card for Rob. (I ordered mine from Amazon ahead of time, with fingers crossed it would work.) We’ll also track down some euros and start grounding ourselves in this beautiful new culture.


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