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Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Country #27 ... Greece


Woke up drunk still and had to meet Dimitrios , sorry i was still a mess buddy :( I had to pack up , check out and take a taxi to the airport . My coach from Iraklis is a taxi driver so I had arranged for him to pick me up . When I got to the airport I mustered up the energy to smile and be chirpy so I could get as much help with my luggage .... It's always better to be in a good mood when checking bags ... And of course it helped ! The girl behind the counter told me to say my stick bag was a golf bag ;) free of charge ! But I had to pay €25 for my gear which was way overweight but she let that go too  ! 


The chipper attitude disappeared when I saw a couple trying to skip lineup to get on plane ! I saw them sauntering by everyone and said to them "don't you see the lineup" ? They sure did and went back , probably angry because they felt like they were special or something ... Back of the queue ya douche ! When I got on the plane I slept for the half hour flight ;) 


Leaving the airport with a taxi , no way I'm taking transit with all this gear ! My driver pretty much ripped me off as he pretended to not know where he was going , when I arrived my fare was €28 I gave him 2 twenties and he gave me 5 back ??? I said I saw the fare where is the rest and he claimed it's fixed price of €35 from airport ! I should have choked the bastard but just wanted to get into my room :( 

I wasn't really bothered by it either and was in fact hungry so I decided to wander around and find a place for a nice souvlaki which was around the corner from my hotel ... Hotel Adrian :) yeah I couldn't resist booking it since it was my name ! After I ate I came back to hotel for a pre skate nap ....


Had to take a taxi to the Ice n Skate rink and when I arrived it was in middle of factories which seemed odd as most rinks are usually situated in malls in these warmer countries . I honestly was a bit spooked when we pulled up but then noticed it was the rink and not some horror story ambush LOL . Iosif Kapetanifis owns the rink and was the person who really made this all happen . He was there to greet me and it was pretty cool that all the guys were excitedly expecting me . Tonight I am skating with the Athens Warriors ! 


Dimitris is their goalie and he was happy to see another goalie :) he has been a goalie for the last year and a half and I was more then happy to give him a few pointers . We got along quite well , he is a trooper as he seemed pretty ill :( but it didn't phase him . He introduced me to everyone and we got ready and stepped onto the ice . Due to the weather the ice was foggy and got worse over the next 2 hours that we were on the ice . The ice is not the greatest but as I always say ... It's better then nothing . It's a multi purpose ice rink with curling dots ;) 

At first the guys were running drills then we had a quick 3 on 3 game ( it's a small rink ) then we played rebounds ;) I took it easy as I wanted to help the guys with some positivity , you don't show up and try to dominate ( unlike that jerk from Puerto Rico said I do ) *thats another story. * after our ice time we shared some stories and I gave all the guys some Hockey Community stickers and told them they should all sign up , so if you're reading this and haven't yet then don't waste anymore time. :p 

We had a couple beers and I hung around with Iosif for about an hour after the guys left chatting about his rink , etc... I had to get a taxi so Iosif called one and I was off . Thank you Athens Warriors for letting me skate with you all ! Can't forget to thank Iosif for hooking this up and for the beers. . You're a great guy and I look forward to getting on the ice with you tonight ! I should take a nap now ... Cheers. 




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