Trip in review: More Athens

Any time you eat in Greece, you're going to get way more food than you can ever eat. And they'll keep it coming. And it is all very, very good!
 

Trip in review: Athens

Longtime readers may know that after we take our high school students on field trips to Europe, I draw a series of cartoons to recap the trip.

This year we visited Greece and Italy with Mythology students. Our first day in Athens we were dropped off downtown. One of the first storefronts we encountered was a museum with an interesting theme. It was not our destination, nor did we stop. But it was a surprise!

I thought it best, however, to use the edited version for this website so we keep our PG rating. Thank you for your understanding.

 

We're going to the promised land!

I think many of us can relate to how Moses felt as he led the children of Israel.
 

The countdown begins!

The end of year countdown always begins with a look back at the "other stuff." This year that was primarily our European trip and theDisney cartoons from the book. 

 

A travel journal, part 10

The good news is, the U.S. Consulate in Barcelona was able to give me same-day service on my emergency passport!

I was the second one in line when they opened Monday morning. After all the paperwork, forms and fees, they said I could come back in the afternoon and pick up my passport!

I could have floated back to my hotel. It's a good thing I took a taxi instead because they were going to kick me out of my room. Luckily I was able to extend for one more night. Otherwise I would have had to sleep at the airport!

One thing about the emergency passport — it's purple rather than the standard blue for U.S. passports. That means I got a little extra scrutiny each time I went through a security checkpoint. Curiously none of the agents were surprised to hear that the theft happened in Barcelona!

I made it home without further incident. As Dorothy said, "There’s no place like home!"

Finally, a happy face!

Saying goodbye to Barcelona.

It's required by Portland law to take a photo of your feet on the carpet at PDX at the beginning or ending of your trip.

A travel journal, part 9

The unthinkable happened. We tell the kids to keep their passports safe and secure. Barcelona, beautiful city that it is, is also well-known for its pickpockets.

On our last day we stopped to have lunch in a mall (El Corte Inglés) that has a rooftop restaurant with great views of the city. You have to go through security to enter the mall. The bottom floor has stores like Gucci, Prada and Versace. Fancy place. The restaurant, La Rotonda, is on the ninth floor and you have to go through additional security to enter.

We picked a spot near the cashier. It had a security camera above the table. It felt like a fairly safe place. I had my satchel with all of our important papers next to me; I was touching the strap.

One moment it was there; the next it was gone — including my passport!

In stead of spending the afternoon at the beach, I got to spend it visiting three different police stations to file a report. It was a Friday afternoon — siesta time — in Spain, so of course the U.S. consulate was closed. No chance of even starting the process for a replacement passport. And we were scheduled to fly out early the next morning. 

Not a situation you want to find yourself in!

They told me that there was a small chance I could fly out with the group. I still had my wallet with my REAL ID, my only glimmer of hope. The only bugaboo was a stopover we had in Zurich. 

Nope.

I went with the group to the airport early the next morning. They turned me away at the airline counter. It was the Zurich thing.

I had to stay behind while everyone else went home. The tour company was able to book me a hotel room near the airport for three days, which should be enough time to get an emergency passport. And the airline was able to reschedule my flight, so I didn't have to pay any rebooking fees.

Bu t I was stuck there. In a country where I didn't speak the language, with no passport, all alone.

I didn't take a lot of photos that afternoon. Here's one of us going to the first of three police stations.

A travel journal, part 8

One of the fun things we had an opportunity to do while in Barcelona was to attend a night of flamenco dancing. Unfortunately, some of the kids didn't understand what flamenco is, so they opted out of a wonderful, educational and entertaining evening and decided to go shopping instead.

Just a short walk from our hotel was a beautiful beach. The water was warm and the weather was beautiful.

One of our boys was so excited to go wade into the water that he forgot that he had his phone in his pocket. Oops. Bad news is, the phone died. Good news is that most of his photos were stored in the cloud.

TOP: The beach was a short walk from our hotel. We were ahead of the tourist season, so it was pleasant and not crowded at all. 

BOTTOM: Our three-star hotel was a little quirky and about an hour's drive from Barcelona, yet it was a nice place to stay.

Editor's note: We're almost done with the travel journal and we'll soon be back to our regular programming. Stay tuned!

 

A travel journal, part 7

Barcelona is a big, beautiful city with so many things to see and experience! 

One of the unique sights is Park Güell, a park designed by Antonio Gaudi (and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site). If you're not familiar with Gaudi, imagine if you will a park designed by Dr. Seuss brought into the real world. 

It could have been an amazing visit...but, for reasons never fully explained to us, we had one guide when we should have had two (group sizes are limited). So we got half a tour of half the park. And they made our teacher stay behind. 

I'd highly recommended visiting the park if you're ever in Barcelona. However the same cannot be said for the tour company, bless their hearts. 

Another mind-blowing site is the Sagrada Familia, a cathedral also designed by Gaudi and another World Heritage Site.

It's been under constant construction since 1852, and they keep saying that it will be finished in the next year or two.

The outside is covered with stories from The Bible, and every nook and cranny is filled with detailed designs. Definitely worth a visit. Maybe it'll be done by the time you get there!

TOP: View of the city from Park Güell. It's wild!

MIDDLE: Detail of Sagrada Familia depicting the Nativity.

BOTTOM: They were filming a commercial while we were there. A couple of our kids were captured on film!

 

A travel journal, part 6

One of our exciting stops was in Pamplona — the site of the running of the bulls! Although it only happens once a year, it's a year-round draw. We walked the course and saw the pen where they hold the bulls before they're released. Many of the shops show a countdown clock until the next run in days, hours, minutes and seconds.

It's interesting to note that Pamplona is also a site on the Camino de Santiago, a spiritual pilgrimage that leads to the shrine of the apostle James in Santiago on the west coast. A stylized scallop shell marks the way.

That these two events share the same path intrigues me.

This is as much of a travel tip as anything. 

One of the girls on our trip was given a credit card and told she could buy anything she wanted — except a suitcase. What she had was good enough, they said.

From the beginning he bag was held together by duct tape and bungee cords. And the more stuff she bought, the more the strain showed on her suitcase. Finally one of the chaperones made her buy a new suitcase and told her that if there was any problem, she'd be more than happy to talk with her parents.

Almost every trip we have two or three people buy new luggage. Here's the tip: if you send a kid on an international trip, don't send the cheap luggage. When you pack for a trip, be sure to leave plenty of room for things you might pick up. You won't be sorry!

Markers show the path for the running of the bulls (above) and the Camino.

A travel journal, part 5

It may seem that a lot of the travel cartoons focus on food. Napoleon is often credited with saying that an army "travels on its stomach." The same it true with a tour group. If you can get some good sleep and eat some good food, then you'll have a good trip.

In this particular hotel, there were two tables set up for breakfast. One had fruits, pastries, juices, cereals, breads, cheeses and more. That was for the regular guests. Our table is as described, with the addition of a couple of carafes of water.

I saw more than one member of our group "accidentally" grab breakfast from the other table. Can't say that I blame them!

We have certain travel rules set up for safety. One of those is to not wander off alone in an unfamiliar area at night without letting a chaperone know. It's easy to get lost. And if you've ever been lost at night in a foreign country where your understanding of the language is rudimentary at best, you'll understand why this rule is in place.

It only happened one time. Never again.

Lunch that day was in San Sebastián, Spain, where they have a variety of excellent food, including these wonderful empanadas that helped us survive the meager breakfast!

 

A travel journal, part 4

One of the boys on the trip Really wanted a croque monsieur sandwich while he was in France. With the food challenges we had, it was difficult for him to find one. One of our last opportunities to get one was in the beautiful seaside city of Biarritz.

He finally found a restaurant that had croque monsieur on the menu — but it wasn't available that day!

The good new was that there was a McDonald's right next door to our hotel. It was a popular spot that evening. We kept them busy!

They may not have had a croque monsieur, but the had some amazing chocolate and a fantastic cheeseburger with pommes frites!

 

A travel journal, part 1

We're doing something a little bit different this week! As we do every couple of years, we took a group of students to Europe over spring break. When we get home from our trips, I usually do a series of cartoons to recap the trip and smile at some of the things we experienced. Because of some unfortunate events, I wasn't able to get to those cartoons until just recently. So here are some highlights. I hope you enjoy!

PARIS

It rained in Paris. Not that unusual for spring, but it rained hard. One day, after visiting the Louvre we were supposed to go to dinner at a restaurant about a mile away. Our guide went back and forth on whether we should take the Metro and get out of the rain or walk. She chose to have us walk. Not only was it a downpour, there was thunder and lightning! We were soaked by the time we got there. The quote in the cartoon is almost verbatim.

The next day we were scheduled for a bus tour of the city, stopping at some of the sights for a photo opportunity. But because of the rain, many of our stops were just drive-bys. We circled the Arch de Triomphe several times, but only one side of the bus had any sort of view. 

Luckily it cleared up in time for the Seine River cruise and the Eiffel Tower, but the morning was disappointing.

Now I can't complain too much because, yes, we were in Paris! A little more sunshine would have been nice, though.

Join us tomorrow for part 2!

This is the best photo I got of the Arch de Triomphe this trip. 
 

 

An eye-opening experience for the mouth

It’s always the food that surprises them. Crêpes are amazing in France (as are the French fries) and pasta and pizza are awesome in Italy. 

The language often surprises them, too. Especially when they realize the people in country are saying the exact thing they studied in class! It’s like they discover that they’re in on a secret code!

Packed full of jam

Maybe it was timing — the week before Holy Week may not be the best time to visit the Vatican. But whatever the reason, it was crowded! And with one of the must-see sights being the Sistine Chapel, that's where everybody was! 

Because there were so many people — and I swear, it was a fire marshal's nightmare! — the docents were funneling people through there as fast as they could! We were shoulder to shoulder with a couple of thousand other people, shuffling like lemmings from the entrance to the exit. I was able to get a quick glimpse of the ceiling, but not nearly the feast on the masterpieces that I had hoped.

I'm sure it was amazing!
 

Flying the friendly skies

We just got back from taking a group of students to Europe for a spring break trip. It was mostly fun — except for the trip home. 

For some unexplained reason, the airlines couldn't access the tickets for half of our group. They were paid for, they were visible in the system. But none of the airlines could print boarding passes because someone else had them locked in the system. At one time we had six people from three different major airlines — Lufthansa, United and Air Canada — on a conference call trying get our boarding passes to print. And it was the same with each connection!

Each time they were able to print out boarding passes and we made it just in time to catch the flight, but then we had to do it all again at the next airport.

We all made it home, all on time, and all on the same flight. We even had all of our luggage! But what a crazy ride!

 

Best foot forward

Today's lesson is on the Fall.
 

Sketchbook: Speak your language

We were happy to make it back to the USA, where we understood everything. Maybe a little bit too much!

It took a few days to readjust. Still working on it, actually.

And that brings us to the end of the trip cartoons! We're back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. Thanks for the indulgence!

The songs of Zion

Church in Athens was awesome! There are two branches that meet in the same building: a Greek branch and an English branch.

We went to the Greek branch because of our flight schedule (we stacked up our baggage in the foyer). There were people there from all over the world: Sweden, France, Canada, the USA, Greece (of course), and others. The business and prayers were all in Greek, but the talks on this particular day were both in English.

What was cool was that everyone sang the hymns in their own language! It felt like the "unity of the faith" that the scriptures talk about. It was an awesome experience!

That's the night the lights went out

So there we were, on the waterfront in Istanbul, just before midnight. Our rendezvous point was in front of the subway station, but our taxi driver didn't show up.

I wasn't worried yet.

There were fewer and fewer taxis, and the ones that were empty were picking up the locals.

I started to worry just a little.

And then, at the stroke of midnight, all the lights went out. Closing time for the subway — and the rest of the neighborhood ! Yikes!

We were finally able to flag down an open taxi who was willing to take us to the airport — at double fare! But at that point, we were willing to pay!

All shook up

Almost as soon as we walked out of the temple, out phones started going off with messages from people back home wondering if we were OK.

Wha —?

We soon learned that while we were incommunicado, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake had hit just outside of Athens. It shook things up a bit, but nobody was hurt and there wasn't any significant damage.

Apparently it struck while the hotel staff was servicing our room. It looked like whoever was cleaning stopped in mid-mop. There were bags and rags left in our room, and the bed was only mostly made!

The one thing that made me happy, though, was it gave me a chance to make this joke — there are few places other than Athens where it would work!