For my birthday trip this year I decided to goto Athens and Ancient Greece with Cyprus. I'd been very busy the last few months. In April I sold my condo and moved to a bigger unit in the same building. July were the two sale dates so I had an overlap the move my stuff up.

As I wanted to keep my original parking spot and resell the new one this caused a lot of confusion and problems with the two purchase/sale agreements, the lawyers, and the tax office.  Once empty the  new unit was in bad shape so I've been busy cleaning and painting most weekends. Also the old owner had three years tax arrears so I was pushing my laywer to get this all sorted out as I should not inherit any balance.  

In addition there are issues at work and I have been actively in the job market. Due to all the distractions I wanted a simple trip that didnt require a lot of planning online. Originally I wanted to goto Asia but with the delays in China visa, organizing tours, and researching online I just didnt have the time to put that much energy into it this time.  

Greece, Rome, Paris are the three destinations I have avoided the most as the most popular and crowded. I prefer to go off the beaten path but Athens is something I wanted to see at some point. Back in 2008 when I was supposedly a travel agent I did book an agents only discount tour but had to cancel when my dad was diagnosed with cancer. In 2015 I did transit thru Athens airport on my Balkans trip and liked it so wanted to return. 

As mentioned, there are issues at work. My flight was at 440pm meaning I would have to leave work at noon but I had no vacation time left for a further half day. My manager has spent most of the year ignoring me and not talking to me so I simply left at noon putting him as my out of office for two weeks without telling him, showing him the same courtesy he has to me, and will deal with the consequences when I come back! 

I took the airport train from downtown to the airport in 25 mins. At the airport while checking my emails another company I had interviewed for responded back that they were willing to offer me a position but can not offer more then 3 wks vacation when I had asked for 4 wks since this is what I currently have had in my last three jobs. I frantically typed my response before we boarded the flight hoping they would receive it before the close of day on Friday. 

As I was seated on the left this time rather than see downtown Toronto I saw North York. Later I could make out Ottawa in the distance but not clear enough to photograph. We did fly directly over Montreal and I was able to see the airport, the outline of the island, downtown Montreal, and some of the places I had biked last summer. 

We then went towards Quebec City but again not clear enough to photograph. It was then evening so nothing to see for the rest of the flight until arrival in Europe the next morning. 

This was an Air Canada Rouge flight, their no frills option. We had no tv screens, no overhead vents, and when they came with meals they ran out of chicken so I had to have pasta which was more of a snack than a meal. 

Seated next to me was a lady originally from Siberia Russia. We talked for a bit about my travels to Russia, plans for this trip, and her experiences with the education system for her three kids who were noticeably absent from her own two week sailing vacation to Greece. 

She would have been happy to talk for the entire 9 hour flight so I had to take my opportunity, put my eye patch on, and blanket over my head to try to get some sleep. I was able to sleep somewhat for 5 hour but hurt my neck in the process.