Fortunately, we did get off to a good start this morning. We managed to grab a cab only seconds after stepping onto the path outside our apartment. Good news is, it was a flashy one ! Interestingly it was also 10 euro cheaper than Bruno in his beaten up Fiat. I think he charges more because his passengers are just desperate to get out.. I say fortunately, because as we walked in the front door to the departure area, we were confronted with a similar queue to that in Paris. Hundreds of people and about 4 out of 12 check-in counters manned. Once again, we got to know some of our fellow travellers fairly well and swapped stories of adventure. The two young back packers from the US had us giggling as they tried to stuff the contents of two back packs into one. They managed to do it while sliding the entire contents along the floor as the queue progressed. Not as silly as it sounds, they were slugged 60 euro for the extra back pack when they left Venice.. The whole baggage thing is an absolute rort with these discount airlines. There is no baggage allowance in your tickets. Our bags, both less than 17kg each cost and extra 105 euro… After spending an hour or so in the queue, we managed to get to our gate with 10 minutes to spare.

Something I found very unusual, we flew from Italy to Athens, and apart from showing our passports at Naples airport, and they were casual at best, we haven't had to show them again.. We passed through Athens airport, collected our luggage and walked out the front door. No passport check at all? Not even an immigration desk. Strange when you consider it could have been anyone sitting in my seat on the plane… Fingers crossed, we'll be allowed to leave!

We have found Athens to be a very friendly and helpful place. People have stopped a couple of times to help us with our lost looks on our faces.

Unfortunately, the acts of 3-4 ratbags this morning has soured our visit. As we boarded a busy train heading to the Acropolis, we were set up by a gang of pick pocket thieves. On entering the train they pushed and shoved us until they separated me from Lauren, with this freakin fat p****in between us. As one distracted me by knocking my hat, another faked a fall against me, relieving me of my wallet at the same time. All of this happened as we were pulling into the next station and before I could work out WTF was going on, they were gone…

About 200 euro and most of my cards… I've cancelled the cards and we have a backup travel visa card that Lauren has kept for emergencies, just like this one…

It could have been much much worse, so I'm am thankful we have our passports and a way to continue our adventure after this little wakeup call from the universe… Stop looking like a tourist!

The delay getting back to our apartment to cancel cards etc had put us too late to go to the Acropolis today (white marble, 38 degrees and no shade = uncomfortably sweaty), so we have decided to visit the acropolis museum and see what else is around the area