![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I'm sailing in Greece (the Argolic Gulf) with friends for a week in late August, and while everyone else has long since booked flights I had to wait until I'd gotten my gall bladder op out of the way and then another month after that while waiting for the last wound to get around to finally closing. So when I finally came to look a few weeks ago flight prices had already shot up. But I realised if I put the return flight off until mid-week I'd actually save enough to cover at least half the cost of a few days in Athens. Only if I'm doing sightseeing not just sailing then I want the wheelchair with me, not crutches. So then I was faced with booking hotels, with no idea which ones were wheelchair friendly, and my brain just locked up every time I tried to look at the booking websites.
But I've had an unexpected houseguest the past couple of days, the friend who booked the sailing, and who does a lot of foreign travel for both work and leisure. So tonight I had him talk me through the process, and the best websites and I seem to have ended up with a decent set of bookings.
Out on Friday 21st on the 4:30pm flight from Heathrow with Aegean Air - nice convenient departure time with plenty of time to get across to Heathrow. We flew with Aegean the last time we did this and they were excellent (though I do need to ring them and point out I'm a wheelchair user as their online booking system seemed to have no facility for noting that). And that's the same flight as another member of the group, which should take some of the stress off. Only drawback is we don't land until 10pm Athens time.
Overnight in hotel number 1. We won't get to the hotel until nearly midnight, but it's the same hotel as my friend, so again with the lowered stress. His girlfriend is flying out on an earlier flight, so presumably we'll meet her there. (£32/night - incredibly cheap)
Saturday morning in Athens, I think the plan is the Acropolis, but I'll need to be wary of being a spare wheel on their romantic trip.
Down to Piraeus in the afternoon to meet up with the rest of the party who are flying in from Munich (including one friend I've not seen since 2008, and my organising friend's 14yo who I've not seen since he was 3), then hydrofoil out to where we pick up the yacht (which is huge, I didn't realise we'd booked a 50 footer until my friend mentioned it today, the biggest we've sailed previously was a 45 footer).
Sailing in a flotilla Sunday through Friday.
Back to Athens on Saturday 29th and where everyone else heads off to the airport, I head back into central Athens to hotel number 2, where I'm booked until Wednesday 2nd September. (£50/night, not quite as cheap as hotel 1, but still damned good value for a 4 star in central Athens in peak season).
Fly back on the 2nd on the 4pm flight with Ryanair (whose booking system did let me specify wheelchair user), which gets me into Stansted at 6pm, which should be nice and convenient for train back home.
So really relieved to have that all booked, but it's going to be the first holiday with the chair and the first time flying with it, so expect a bunch of panicked pleas for advice from wheelie friends as we get closer to the day.
But I've had an unexpected houseguest the past couple of days, the friend who booked the sailing, and who does a lot of foreign travel for both work and leisure. So tonight I had him talk me through the process, and the best websites and I seem to have ended up with a decent set of bookings.
Out on Friday 21st on the 4:30pm flight from Heathrow with Aegean Air - nice convenient departure time with plenty of time to get across to Heathrow. We flew with Aegean the last time we did this and they were excellent (though I do need to ring them and point out I'm a wheelchair user as their online booking system seemed to have no facility for noting that). And that's the same flight as another member of the group, which should take some of the stress off. Only drawback is we don't land until 10pm Athens time.
Overnight in hotel number 1. We won't get to the hotel until nearly midnight, but it's the same hotel as my friend, so again with the lowered stress. His girlfriend is flying out on an earlier flight, so presumably we'll meet her there. (£32/night - incredibly cheap)
Saturday morning in Athens, I think the plan is the Acropolis, but I'll need to be wary of being a spare wheel on their romantic trip.
Down to Piraeus in the afternoon to meet up with the rest of the party who are flying in from Munich (including one friend I've not seen since 2008, and my organising friend's 14yo who I've not seen since he was 3), then hydrofoil out to where we pick up the yacht (which is huge, I didn't realise we'd booked a 50 footer until my friend mentioned it today, the biggest we've sailed previously was a 45 footer).
Sailing in a flotilla Sunday through Friday.
Back to Athens on Saturday 29th and where everyone else heads off to the airport, I head back into central Athens to hotel number 2, where I'm booked until Wednesday 2nd September. (£50/night, not quite as cheap as hotel 1, but still damned good value for a 4 star in central Athens in peak season).
Fly back on the 2nd on the 4pm flight with Ryanair (whose booking system did let me specify wheelchair user), which gets me into Stansted at 6pm, which should be nice and convenient for train back home.
So really relieved to have that all booked, but it's going to be the first holiday with the chair and the first time flying with it, so expect a bunch of panicked pleas for advice from wheelie friends as we get closer to the day.
