Athens Marathon

The hilarity of my taxi adventures continue as I take on the taxi drivers from Sharm el-Sheikh airport. After being told that the price would be $18 for a ten minute ride, I had to...

A few things can't be missed when you are in Cairo. The first is undoubtedly the Pyramids. The second is molokhia. Molokhia is a traditional Egyptian soup that used to be reserved for the kings. In Arabic, according to my mother, molokhia means 'kingly'.

Waking up at Le Meridien Pyramids is like waking up Christmas morning. The excitement of drawing the curtains open to see one of the Wonders of the Ancient World in my backyard is incomparable. The view is surreal.

I thought I'd change it up and provide a review of EgyptAir's flight from Athens to Cairo. I also flew EgyptAir from Cairo to Luxor and and Cairo to Sharm. The details of this review are applicable to those flights as well.

Priority Pass Lounges are hit or miss: Mexico City's was terrible but the one in London Gatwick was very nice. The Athens Priority Pass Lounge in Terminal A is called the Aristotle Onassis Lounge, a very fancy name for a lounge.

Despite being one of the students from hell, I was excited to learn about Greek culture and hoped that one day I would be able to go to Greece. At that time my PanAm award miles was empty leaving me to wonder how I would get to Athens in a lie-flat seat.

I went to Athens last month, not to run the grueling Original Course Marathon, but to search for delicious gyros. The intense research undoubtedly resulted in a slower marathon time and the tzatziki most assuredly was a contributing factor to my dehydration cramps.

I came, I saw, I limped, I conquered though it did not go as smoothly or as quickly as my first marathon in Alaska which I completed in 3:54:13. This time I was suffering from tendonitis and could barely walk let alone run days before the race.

Here is a bold statement: The King George Athens is one of the best hotels in the world. If you exclude the view in the Maldives or the tranquility of Seychelles and focus only on the property itself, this argument holds water.

The Hotel Grande Bretagne is traditional luxury at its finest. Everything is fancy and sophisticated in keeping with Athenian culture.