Mykonos drama

We have arrived in Mykonos (Greece) for some R & R after 5 wonderful and event full days in Turkey.  I am in the process of editing and posting some video to give a bit of flavor from this fabulous pilgrimage.

One bit of travel advice for anyone leading a group:  when in a foreign airport, never let the group split.  (We are all experienced adults, what could go wrong?) We had a little extra adventure today when we arrived at the Athens airport.  Unbeknownst to us, security in the airport was unlike any we had experienced before.  (Consequence of the killing of bin Laden?)  We flew in from Samos and simply needed to change planes.  We had 30 minutes to complete the simple task.  No problem.  Simple, however, was not in the plan!  We had to board a bus to get to the terminal, but it took two buses and 3 members were on the 2nd bus.  When we got to the terminal, I sent the main group ahead to find our gate and waited for the last 3 to arrive from the 2nd bus.  Barely 2 minutes later, the drama began.  First I learned that 4 members of the group (who shall remain nameless!) misread their boarding pass and thought the gate was A3.  Another member of the group discovered that the actual gate was B13 but was unsuccessful in stopping the wayward 4 from proceeding.  Second problem:  the gates were on the upper level and to get to it, one needed a boarding pass (which we all received in Samos).  One spouse (who shall also remain nameless!), however, had the boarding pass for the other spouse and went through the checkpoint while the spouse, who was waiting for me to inform me of problem number one, went to a different checkpoint (different stairs to upper level) but couldn't proceed.  I found the spouse with the boarding pass waiting on the other side.  Problem number two quickly solved.  Twenty minutes to go. Meanwhile the search was on for the wayward 4.  Turns out the A terminal is for international flights and the 4 had to pass through passport control.  (You know how they do things differently in foreign countries.  Who knew you needed to get your passport stamped to fly to another island within Greece?!  Evidently only 4 people in the whole airport knew that!)  I left my camera and computer bag with two members of the group in a central location and sent the rest ahead to B13.  I headed the opposite direction for the A terminal.  Long line at the passport booths.  I flagged down an official looking person in an airport uniform and explained our problem.  I gave him a description of the four (look for a young redhead--easy to spot and not the leader of the wayward 4--and gave him her name which I shall not reveal for fear that her mother will learn that I had lost her!)  Five minutes later I made it through the passport control and raced for A3, only to find the wayward 4 with the airport official on the way.  He walked us through the passport control where the officials undid the now 5 wrongly stamped exit visas. Problem one solved. We quickly headed for the central meeting point and picked up the waiting 2 and my 2 bags.  Terminal B and another boarding pass check.  Less than 10 minutes to go.  Racing down the hallway I am searching with growing concern for the keeper of my bags who is no where in sight and I think cannot possibly be moving faster than me.  I arrive at the gate where we have to go through the x-ray machines.  A couple of our members are standing in line.  Have you seen so-and-so I ask?  No, they reply.  Problem number three.  I hand off my 2 bags to Bonita, brilliantly enabling me to move faster and simultaneously creating problem number four.  Running back to the boarding pass check point down the longest terminal this side of Chicago I find the missing person who is stuck without a boarding pass (not the same person as problem number one).  Said nameless person assures me they will figure something out with the airline and has a little emergency money on hand.  I run back to B13 while texting ahead to Richard's Blackberry to talk to the airline people at the gate to see what can be done to assist our stranded member.  I arrive at the scanning checkpoint to find Bonita holding my computer bag.  Do you have an iPad in here? she asks.  Turns out iPads have to be removed from the bag just as laptops do.  Anyone who has flown in the last 10 years knows that there is this little security thing about bags in airports.  So what do you do when the security guard asks, "Do you have an iPad in here?" Do you say, "Beats me, I didn't pack this.  I am carrying it for someone else."  (not recommended) Fortunately, Greek security personnel seem to be a pretty understanding bunch and my Bonita managed to give an adequate explanation to the situation. Problem 4 solved. In any event, now reunited with my computer bag, I went through the checkpoint and found Richard and Michael to explain what little they knew about our missing member to the airline personnel.  I explained what happened and asked if they could get a new boarding pass to our stranded member.  Sure, they could print a new one.  Sometimes when communicating in a foreign country you don't always communicate what you think you did.  Reunited with our group, temporarily, I was surprised when the helpful airline person came up to me and handed a me a new boarding pass.  You may want to leave your things here, she said.  Recalling the long terminal I had just run through, I quickly again passed off my bags to other group members and headed for the first check point, then realized that it might be good to grab my phone, went back and retrieved it, then realized it might also be a good idea if I had MY boarding pass, went back again and without even stopping, ran through our group and grabbed the pass out of Sandi's hand who had quickly fished it out of my bag and I made the dash through the security checkpoint.  Time for boarding had expired.  Fortunately, the plane arrived a little late but I wasn't sure how much time I would have nor where I might find our passless and phoneless member.  Just as I shot pass the waiting line to enter the checkpoint, praise be to God, there said member was with found boarding pass in hand.  Final problem solved.  Back through the security point we went just as boarding began.  45 minutes later, we landed in Mykonos, all present and accounted for.  Whew.