Grandson's last full day in Corfu

Last night we went to Spiros and Vassilis Restaurant for the grand final evening.

Boo Hoo. All good things come to an end and grandson must return to bosom of his family. We've had a great time with him.

What a blessing it's been to get to spend this uninterrupted special time with him. It's been a real pleasure for us, and I think for him too.

He probably had the most doubts to begin with because when he arrived he really didn't know us very well, and had never been with us without his parents around. Then too, he was away from his friends, and as we knew no other 14 year olds, who spoke english well enough to be his buddy here, he had no one his own age to "hang around" with!

He handled it beautifully and basked in the enjoyment of being an "only" child. He worked and earned some money his first few weeks here, doing some real "heavy" jobs with T. More than anything else though, he "played" with us. His running battle with T over darts, badminton and horseshoes, will never die. He learned how to play Cribbage, Set Back and Euchre- and win at them. He even managed to teach himself TEN great card tricks (Magic!). He's a little miffed over me winning at scrabble, but overall, he's game to keep trying!

~~~

The day passed quickly, as I stopped to make everyone breakfast and then it was time to remember all the things we did and play another couple of games of set back and then darts and swimming in the pool and lunch of spaghetti carbonara and in between times I put together a nice dvd of all the pictures and little videos I've taken since he's arrived. (almost 2 gigs worth! i must have been besotted!)

All too soon it was time to drop grandson and T off at the airport. (T is flying to Athens and spending the night with grandson so he can catch his flight bright and early- at noon- tomorrow.

Don't Ask.

Of course there's a flight that leaves at 7:30 AM from Corfu, but from the days (long gone by) of wacky cancellations and delays the airline refuses now to book you the same day.

[Personally i think it's a bit of a scam, as spending a night in Athens seems to be the gimmick here...]

I can't tell you how many times I have had to take last flight of the day, arriving in Athens at midnight the night before only to sit up in the airport to catch my connecting flight that leaves at 8 AM. That makes sense in a bizarre way, as the earliest flight to leave Corfu leave at 7:30 AM.

But in grandson's case, if he took the early morning flight, he still would have had to sit in Athens airport from 8:30 AM until 10 AM earliest for checkin for a noon flight.

So they will be staying at a nice little three star hotel owned by a friend in Glyfada, a suburb of Athens.

I've had their phone call and they have arrived safe and sound. They'll have plenty of time for a nice breakfast tomorrow and a leisurely ride back to the airport. T must return on the next earliest flight back to Corfu. Unfortunately he'll be stuck in the airport until 6:30 PM. Bummer.

Though I'm sad grandson's gone and feeling a bit deflated, I am happy he'll be seeing his family and friends and telling them of all the wonderful things he did and how much he missed them all.

Travel -I think- is good for the soul.