One Bus Ride, Two Plane Rides, Two lightening bolts and a missing suitcase: GREECE 2012

For the next two weeks, I will be writing to you from Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey.   My trip started with a bang.  I took a bus (yes a bus!) to New York City where Elena Saviolakis, the Daughters of Penelope Executive Director, and I met the rest of the AHEPA family travelers.  After a three-hour delay we were off to Athens.  Our flight had smooth sailing until we reached a torrential downpour of rain.  Our plane was struck by lightening not once, but TWICE!  Luckily we landed with only a few scratches on the plane and a few scared passengers.  Once we arrived in the Athens airport and made our way through security, it was time to pick up our baggage.  I saw one bag come through- but not the other.  As the baggage line came to an end, I realized that the airline had lost one of my bags!  After this crazy, but exciting day, we finally made it to the hotel.  I went straight to sleep…jet lag is not something you want to mess with when you are in Athens and have meetings with so many important people.  

American Ambassador 

I started my day overlooking the Acropolis (yes the Acropolis!) while eating Greek Yogurt and honey for breakfast.  I had to get my strength up to power through our busy day in Athens!  Our first meeting of the day was the American Ambassador to Greece.  We discussed issues between Greece and the US and the AHEPA discussed possibilities on facilitating efforts to help Greece.  

After an informative meeting, we were graciously invited to have lunch with one of the local AHEPA chapters.  They chose an excellent location for our lunch.  It was the Yacht Club of Greece.  The view was beautiful and the company was great…who knew that AHEPA Supreme Secretary Phillip Frangos has a sense of humor!  After lunch, we were invited to meet with the Canadian Ambassador to Greece.  After meeting the Ambassador and his wife, I discovered that she was actually a Maid of Athena when she lived in Ottawa, Canada.  She spoke highly of the organization and talked about her experience as a Maid.   After another informative meeting we headed back to the hotel and you guessed it…another meeting!  Grand President of the Daughters of Penelope Nicky Stamoulis, Grand Secretary Anna-Helene Panagakos and Executive Director Elena Saviolakis met with the founders of W.I.N Hellas (www.winhellas.gr).  This is a domestic violence awareness organization in Athens.  There main concern is prevention and there method for prevention is education.  As you know, my president’s project is Domestic Violence/ Penelope House.  This organization intrigued me because they are combating domestic violence in a country where it is prominent (1 in 3 women are subjected to violence) and also not recognized. 

Coming up….a meeting with the President of Greece! Look out for all of my blogs from the OLD COUNTRY.  I look forward to taking you all with me on my trip!