A different kind of adventure

Full of excitement I got on the plane. It felt strange. The 8 months in which I didn’t leave Berlin-Brandenburg felt like a lifetime to me. And now I was on a plane again, leaving from an almost empty airport. Like last year my destination was Greece, only this time I would land in Athens and this time I wasn’t alone. I’d been to Athens before, but on a work trip and although we had a lot of fun and saw some of the inner city, I still hadn’t made it to the famous Acropolis. This would be my chance.

After a smooth flight it took forever to get the luggage. It was getting late and I hadn’t had dinner yet. I chewed on a bread roll I’d taken from home, looking around. There were plenty of people at Athens’ airport. After an hour the baggage belt finally started moving. I pulled my bag off the carrousel and headed for the metro. Of course it took some time before the metro was there and me and my travel buddy started to get hungry and were just so eager to arrive.

When we had to change at Syntagma square he got on a train, whereas I saw the doors close. He managed to get out, because there was no way I was going to fit in. It must have been somewhere between Syntagma and Metaxourgeio. I had my hand on my little purse throughout the rides on the metro, but I also had my big backpack and a small suitcase to navigate through the metro tunnels. When I walked to the hotel, which was only 3 minutes from the Metaxourgeio station, I noticed the zipper of my little purse was open. At that time I didn’t think much of it, but as soon as we entered our apartment I realised my wallet was gone. Gone… with everything in it.

In exhaustion tears started to well up in my eyes. I’d been so excited to spend the evening in a Greek taverna, tasting the tzatziki and showing my boyfriend the joy of travel. Instead I sat on my bed shaking, no appetite, thinking to myself how I could be so stupid. We retraced my steps back to the metro, even inside the station, but of course came up empty handed. I was devastated, because I now only had my spare Dutch credit card, but more importantly, I’d lost my driver’s license and the plan was to rent a car on the islands we would visit.

Instead of showing Greek culture and hospitality that night, I showed a vulnerable side of me as I saw my carefully planned holiday fall to pieces. Maybe 8 months of staying put caused me to let my guard down. Maybe the universe was sending me a message: relax more. In any case, my holiday changed, but I wouldn’t let some random thief ruin it. I still had 2 weeks in a gorgeous, warm country and after a good night sleep I was excited to start exploring.

I’ve been back for a week now, applying for new cards; the gym, the bank, the health insurance… Back from holiday and into bureaucracy. It’ll probably take weeks before I have a new driver’s license, but in the meantime, I can keep looking for my next destination 😉