E hatisitsoe: 17.07.2019
Upon landing at Kos Airport, we were picked up by buses on the taxiway. The drive to the airport main building took, I kid you not, a maximum of 20 seconds. Why they don't let us walk there remains a decision of the Greeks and forever their secret.
While sitting on the bus and standing at the baggage carousel, the news about an article from PR-Online spread. It was written that several suitcases were left behind in Germany due to problems at Düsseldorf Airport. If you're burning with interest, you can find more information about it (https://rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/duesseldorf/flughafen-duesseldorf-probleme-bei-der-gepaeckabfertigung-koffer-werden-nachgeliefert_aid-44124445).
Well, be that as it may. The suitcases arrived relatively quickly on the conveyor belt. It didn't take long for Fiona's suitcase to be spotted and taken off the belt.
Some time passed and Mike's suitcase was still not in sight.
It was a bit like in football. You're trailing 0-1 in the 89th minute. And then the impossible happens, within a few seconds, you suddenly take the lead 2-1. And the game is over. Over. Over. Something like the Miracle of Bern and Rahn in 1954.
So, once again for all the anti-football people and translated into German: Mike's suitcase suddenly appeared.
After that, we tried out the local, not perfectly shiny, but satisfactory airport toilet.
Now we were looking for the counter of AlltoursX. They explained the way to our bus (X9), which we managed to find directly. Luckily, it was still slightly cloudy, typically Greek, so we could easily complete the task without sweating too much.
After some waiting time on the bus, it was the sad certainty. About half of the bus passengers would have to go to the hotel without their suitcases for the first time. They will probably be delivered with the next flight from Düsseldorf.
You could say we got lucky. Although it could also have something to do with our artificial intelligence and perhaps our ability.
The typical Greek hospitality was demonstrated to us by the driver of bus X9. He offered us an ice-cold bottle of water, which we initially didn't want to accept because we weren't ready to pay for it. However, he made it clear to us in no uncertain terms that he wanted to give us the bottle as a gift. So we couldn't refuse the offer anymore, also because we didn't want to disappoint him.
The rest of the bus journey was relatively uneventful until we spotted gas stations. We were almost speechless. One liter of diesel for €1.50 and Super for €1.87. And cows grazing in a pasture without a fence nearby. They are fixed in the ground and have a collar. Where have we ended up?! But if the hospitality stays the same, even this can be forgiven.
As you are used to in holiday destinations, the bus drivers maneuver the buses at high speeds through the narrow streets, but with the driving style of our X9 bus driver, we had nothing to fear and felt very safe.