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34 incredible hours from front door to hotel room
In case you find this kind of narrative interesting, here's the story of how I got from Barrhaven to finally almost falling asleep in Halkidiki, Greece!
830am Monday morning: My father picks me up from the front door, and zips me over to the train station. Due to my lateness packing, I step out of the car as the train pulls in! The VIA ride is awesome! Plenty of room and comfort, and unusual sights. For example, we passed a junkyard that had dozens of columns of cars crushed down to about a yard, piled dozens of yards high! Then who knew we had so many horse farms between Ottawa and Alexandria? I must admit being spooked though by one place where a few horses were lying completely on their sides?!
about 11am Monday: The very long wait at the Montreal airport starts. Lufthansa will not open until after 3pm, and so I enjoy one of the best creamiest ice-capps ever! Then when check-in opens, I am informed that, contrary to what I saw on the web, I have extra luggage that will cost me an extra $50?! I refuse to flinch, and eventually I am offered the idea to repack my bags right then and there, reducing one to almost a shell that can be boarded with me. Luckily, I have no delicates, the spectators smile sympathetically, and I hit the overnight flight with good expectations.
Montreal to Munich: My total number of meals from all the flights includes a dinner, 2 breakfasts, and a lunch. The food we pick up in Germany seems noticeably better than what we got from Montreal, but to be honest, only the cheeses are decent, LOL! The coolest part of the overseas flight is heading towards Munich in the pre-dawn light, and there are planes whizzing by the other way in the strange high-visibility darkness above the cloud line just before dawn. I assume these planes are heading to Western Europe from Germany, and they are so close to us that they are in view for 2-3 seconds at most, just ripping across the sky. My half-Russian/half-Dutch/married-to-a-German neighbour surprises me by concluding that Montreal is "provincial", when compared to great cities of Europe, like Munich, which we are about to land in. We land in 2 degrees, ouch!
Munich to Athens: OK, now things get incredible from my first window seat. It is bright daytime, and the cloud ocean is bright white for as far as the eye can see. And then as we fly over Austria, we see the Alps peeking through it! Absolutely extraordinary visual effect! As if that is not enough, then the clouds start parting to reveal the broad Balkan mountain ranges, and finally, as we reach Greece, the clouds just disappear completely, highlighting the indescribably deep rich blue of the Aegean Sea! Landing in Athens is over 20 degrees warmer than Munich, and many of the passengers laugh at the first thing we notice by the airport, the big blue IKEA, man those Swedes are everywhere! Actually, I notice that many of the store signs in Greece are bigger than we are used to in Canada. I also notice quite a few chess sets out waiting for the last flight! ;)
Athens to Thessaloniki: There is a side of Greeks that knows how to live! After many simply tiring hours of travel, I cannot help but notice that for the first time, every single flight attendant is female, and they are all sleeveless, and they serve us croissants stuffed with cocoa filling, LOL! :)
Thessaloniki to Halkidiki: The pickup process at the airport gives a good sign that these Organizers are good! The 90 minute or so drive is a bit rough, going past absolute gorgeous mini-mansions sprinkled between collapsing abandoned buildings with loads of graffiti. As we approach the truly stellar resort though, one of the little English kids on the bus cannot help himself, and with a wonderful accent, cries out : "aaahhh, class!" :)
Once a I get onsite, everything starts moving at warp speed. I have to arrange a new room, even though they are massively overbooked, as I have been booked to share a BED, rather than just a room! At the same time, the Organizers need pieces and clocks to be set up, and there is corollary arbiter planning, including an official technical meeting, and interestingly intricate planning for tomorrow. With almost 1500 players, this tournament is truly a genuine event, but everyone in charge seems enormously capable and experienced. Even though many of us speak multiple languages, everything seems to converge back to English. 87 countries are represented, and due to the capacity challenges, the directives at the Technical Meeting are mostly at least as strict as previous years, with the exception that the default time is 30 minutes. Thank goodness, with 1500 players!
It is now almost closing time at the hotel bar. My new friend Andreas (a Greek IA) and I are quaffing huge beers while catching up on emails. I have a room, but just need to pick up from the front desk, some sheets and a pillow for the pull-out couch. The mission initiation has succeeded!
830am Monday morning: My father picks me up from the front door, and zips me over to the train station. Due to my lateness packing, I step out of the car as the train pulls in! The VIA ride is awesome! Plenty of room and comfort, and unusual sights. For example, we passed a junkyard that had dozens of columns of cars crushed down to about a yard, piled dozens of yards high! Then who knew we had so many horse farms between Ottawa and Alexandria? I must admit being spooked though by one place where a few horses were lying completely on their sides?!
about 11am Monday: The very long wait at the Montreal airport starts. Lufthansa will not open until after 3pm, and so I enjoy one of the best creamiest ice-capps ever! Then when check-in opens, I am informed that, contrary to what I saw on the web, I have extra luggage that will cost me an extra $50?! I refuse to flinch, and eventually I am offered the idea to repack my bags right then and there, reducing one to almost a shell that can be boarded with me. Luckily, I have no delicates, the spectators smile sympathetically, and I hit the overnight flight with good expectations.
Montreal to Munich: My total number of meals from all the flights includes a dinner, 2 breakfasts, and a lunch. The food we pick up in Germany seems noticeably better than what we got from Montreal, but to be honest, only the cheeses are decent, LOL! The coolest part of the overseas flight is heading towards Munich in the pre-dawn light, and there are planes whizzing by the other way in the strange high-visibility darkness above the cloud line just before dawn. I assume these planes are heading to Western Europe from Germany, and they are so close to us that they are in view for 2-3 seconds at most, just ripping across the sky. My half-Russian/half-Dutch/married-to-a-German neighbour surprises me by concluding that Montreal is "provincial", when compared to great cities of Europe, like Munich, which we are about to land in. We land in 2 degrees, ouch!
Munich to Athens: OK, now things get incredible from my first window seat. It is bright daytime, and the cloud ocean is bright white for as far as the eye can see. And then as we fly over Austria, we see the Alps peeking through it! Absolutely extraordinary visual effect! As if that is not enough, then the clouds start parting to reveal the broad Balkan mountain ranges, and finally, as we reach Greece, the clouds just disappear completely, highlighting the indescribably deep rich blue of the Aegean Sea! Landing in Athens is over 20 degrees warmer than Munich, and many of the passengers laugh at the first thing we notice by the airport, the big blue IKEA, man those Swedes are everywhere! Actually, I notice that many of the store signs in Greece are bigger than we are used to in Canada. I also notice quite a few chess sets out waiting for the last flight! ;)
Athens to Thessaloniki: There is a side of Greeks that knows how to live! After many simply tiring hours of travel, I cannot help but notice that for the first time, every single flight attendant is female, and they are all sleeveless, and they serve us croissants stuffed with cocoa filling, LOL! :)
Thessaloniki to Halkidiki: The pickup process at the airport gives a good sign that these Organizers are good! The 90 minute or so drive is a bit rough, going past absolute gorgeous mini-mansions sprinkled between collapsing abandoned buildings with loads of graffiti. As we approach the truly stellar resort though, one of the little English kids on the bus cannot help himself, and with a wonderful accent, cries out : "aaahhh, class!" :)
Once a I get onsite, everything starts moving at warp speed. I have to arrange a new room, even though they are massively overbooked, as I have been booked to share a BED, rather than just a room! At the same time, the Organizers need pieces and clocks to be set up, and there is corollary arbiter planning, including an official technical meeting, and interestingly intricate planning for tomorrow. With almost 1500 players, this tournament is truly a genuine event, but everyone in charge seems enormously capable and experienced. Even though many of us speak multiple languages, everything seems to converge back to English. 87 countries are represented, and due to the capacity challenges, the directives at the Technical Meeting are mostly at least as strict as previous years, with the exception that the default time is 30 minutes. Thank goodness, with 1500 players!
It is now almost closing time at the hotel bar. My new friend Andreas (a Greek IA) and I are quaffing huge beers while catching up on emails. I have a room, but just need to pick up from the front desk, some sheets and a pillow for the pull-out couch. The mission initiation has succeeded!
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