Days 247-250
Trip Start
Sep 14, 2006
1
169
Trip End
??? ??, 2007
Athens, Greece
Friday, May 25, 2007
So I'd been in Sydney for a few days and the plan was to get a job and work up to September before flying home for my friend's wedding and then on to India in October. I'd already bought a flight to do this and just brought forward the Sydney to London bit of it. I still intend to work these next few months but it will be in England and not Australia.
Sunday 20th and I packed my bags in my dorm for the last time and left behind the kind of stuff you don't need when you're going back home - rice, washing powder and the blanket I'd been using on the train. I got the shuttle bus to the airport nice and early and waited for my Sydney to Hong Kong flight with Cathay Pacific. It felt weird going to the airport. I haven't flown at all on this trip so it felt like I was finally conceding to this mode of travel.
That flight was 10 hours and it went slow, I kept thinking about how many longer trips I'd done on trains with much more ease but it didn't really help. We arrived in Hong Kong about 5am and I saw a daylight which would not turn to darkness for another 20 hours as I would be quickly reclaiming all the time I'd lost more gradually along the way. In Hong Kong I switched planes to a Finnair flight to Helsinki. That was another 10 hours and I slouched in my seat waiting for the boredom to restart.
This original Finnair flight was booked for September 10th and what I didn't know was that this was only the second day that the service was operated. It turned out that yesterday's flight was cancelled as permission to fly over Mongolia had not been received! And guess what, they were having similar problems again today! This was panicking a girl across from me and I began to wonder if my connections were in Jeopardy. The plane was full of Chinese people (understandable, we were in Hong Kong) and I was reminded of their lack of tact thanks to this Western girl fretting about our late departure. As the airport stewards boarded the flight with their walkie-talkies and liaised with the girl many of the Chinese passengers simply gathered around her to see what the fuss was. I remember a similar occasion in China where I was in a spot of bother and the local Chinese just gathered around and nosed in. It's not really what you need during a moment of stress and I felt compassion for the girl. That compassion was turning to a selfish concern as the time dragged on - would I miss my connection from Helsinki to London? would I get to Athens in time?
When we touched down in Helsinki I had 45 minutes to clear security and board the BA flight to London. Phew, I was on my way home. That flight was just two and a half hours but it still dragged and I hadn't really slept at all since Sydney. However a friendly face was waiting at Heathrow as I met up with Prinz, one of my best friends, the groom at the wedding I had come back for in September and also my partner for the Champions League Greek adventure.
We spent Monday night at Prinz's parental home in Watford and hit the motorway on Tuesday morning to the John Lennon Airport in Liverpool. The flight to Greece was chartered by Liverpool FC and the first few rows were reserved so Prinz and I sat in row 5 and speculated who the seats in front of us were for. No one that famous...., a few club officials, Fabio Aurelio (our injured Brazilian left full-back) and a few wives and girlfriends.
Our accommodation in Athens was a boat! We checked in to a moored EasyCruise ship (thanks Stelios) and had a drink in the bar. Prinz got the match tickets by being well connected and we were conscious that there had been much controversy over ticketing for the final. A few other 'pool fans asked us where we'd got them from but we kept a low profile as many fans had travelled without tickets.
Wednesday was match day and after a Pizza Hut lunch and a beer we headed straight to the ground where we'd heard there would be entertainment in a safe environment (and overpriced beer we speculated). There was little entertainment and plenty of alcohol free beer! One hot dog stand owner was pouring shots of whiskey into glasses and handing them around - the police couldn't see and didn't seem to mind this!
We got in to our seats nice and early. Later on in the night we heard about how fans with valid tickets had been denied entry because the ground was already full with fans holding valid or counterfeit tickets! Then the following day we heard how some fans were tear-gassed. The ground didn't have proper turnstiles and the whole thing was a fiasco. I'm just glad we were OK. A few seats across from us I over heard an argument where one guy had had his ticket stolen while he was in the ground. The thief had then left the ground and sold the ticket and now there were two men claiming the same seat!!
Anyway the main event unfolded out in front of our eyes. Liverpool started well enough but went one-nil down just before half time thanks to a lucky AC Milan free kick which deflected off Inzaghi's hand and in to the goal. During the second half AC Milan seemed to be playing better than us but the referee was keen to help them out with every decision he could. Milan doubled their lead and really knocked the stuffing out of us on 82 minutes. We got one back on 89 which gave us something to shout about but the ref didn't even play out the three minutes of added time and moments later we were racing out of the stadium to get the first trains back to our boat. On reflection I think that being there made the defeat easier to take, at least we got to shout and sing and channel the energy.
The next day we had planned to go and see the Acropolis but I didn't feel like it. We weren't in Athens for that and I was still jet-lagged and suffering from a cold. Our flight back to Liverpool was late and we got back to Liverpool at 2am and Prinz drove us to Sheffield getting back at 4.30am Friday morning.
So there it is, I'm back home now, will hopefully find a job and save some money up so I can resume my trip in October in India. I'll continue on this blog then as well as I'm sure you're not interested in day-to-day events here in England!
Comments
Nick from Freo YHA
Hey mate, I don't think we ever exchanged e-mail addresses, just mobile numbers, so send me an e-mail some time. NBTATCHELL@HOTMAIL.COM
Nick