Adventure Awaits in Athens & Aegina!

October 20, 2026 - Dulles International AirPort

A new adventure to Greece is here. I’m boarding in the next 45 minutes. I’ve had time to read a couple of my stockpile of magazines since it’s recommended that international travelers need to get to the airport so doggone early!

That’s three hours early for me.

Thankfully, I breezed through security, and even had a nice salad in an airport restaurant to pass some time. There, I met a cute waitress that I immediately suspected is Ethiopian but didn’t want to ask initially. Once she waited on me for a while, and asked if I needed anything, I detected a strong Amharic accent. That was my opening to ask her where she hails from. When she blurted out, “Ethiopia,” I replied back, “I knew it!”

We laughed and she asked me where I was traveling to (after discussing my trip to Ethiopia several years ago and how much I love Ethiopias food), I told her Athens, Greece. She immediately mentioned she has a cousin in Athens, and she owns has an Ethiopian restaurant!

How lucky is that? I love the serendipity of it all.

Quickly, we looked up the restaurant on our phones. I’m going to try and eat there once I’m back in Athens from the island Aegina.

Knowing I still had time to read, I headed down to my gate (way at the end of the concourse!) to find a seat. It was wide open since I was still quite early except for two crew people sitting in the one row of seats i thought would be good.

The crew was talking shop, and included me on a few things they were discussing. Friendly, they both welcomed all the other crew who hung out with them, and me. Since I’m flying United Airlines, I asked several of them if they know my friend, Leslie. YES! They all exclaimed! Leslie is one of my quilting friends and I know she is high in the ranking of seniority with all flight attendants in the USA.

It was fun to listen to their banter. They all waved once they all boarded way before we passengers.

I know we are going to have a good flight based on the crew!

I’m in the boarding line!

bSoleille!

Terri