As I mentioned in the last post, getting out of Athens ended up being quite stressful. (And, yes, I realize that I wrote that post a super long time ago. I went back to work, we’re still moving into our house, so IT’S ALL HAPPENING OVER HERE.)The apartment we stayed at in Athens was about a 40 minute drive from the airport. When we arrived, we downloaded the preferred local taxi app and took taxis pretty much daily — into the center or wherever. Uber doesn’t exist in Athens, so cabs and buses were our only options for getting around. (We opted for cabs because buses with kids+strollers is sort of a nightmare a lot of the time).

The night before we left Athens, KC and I stayed up late strategically packing all our bags — making sure nothing was over the weight limit, ensuring we had everything we would need in our various carry-ons, and planned everything down to the last detail so our departure would be as smooth as possible the next morning.Our Turkish Airlines flight was scheduled for 10:10am, flying from Athens to San Francisco with a layover in Istanbul. We planned to leave the apartment at 7:15am the next morning, assuming that even if we were running late (which, with kids, you pretty much always are) we would be out of the house by 7:30am and at the airport around 8:10am, giving us two hours until our departure time.

The next morning went swimmingly. We got up at 6:30am, woke the girls a little after 7am, and were walking out the door around 7:20am. I had Lark in the carrier, KC had Prim and the majority of the bags, and we were on our way out the door, when I pulled up the taxi app to hail a cab and a message suddenly popped up…

ATHENS: 24 HOUR TAXI STRIKE.

No cabs. Zero. None.I started silently panicking. I tried pulling up Uber just to see if it was a possibility — nope. I vainly kept requesting cabs via the taxi app to no avail.

The minutes were ticking by as we wondered what to do. I pulled up Google maps to plot out the route via public transit and was informed that it would take at over an hour and a half to get to the airport by bus — basically getting us there in time to watch our plane depart from outside the airport.

Perfect.I saw no solution. Finally, in a state of complete stress, I called the family whose apartment we were staying at. They informed us that there was a bus that went to the airport that stopped a few blocks away. Despite what it said online, they assured us that the bus took less than an hour. By this point it was closing in on 8am and it appeared to be our only option, so we grabbed the kids and all of our bags, and made a run for it.

The bus stop was a ways away (like, a solid 15 minute walk sans kids/luggage), so with two huge bags, a travel crib, a stroller, two kids, and three carry-ons, the walk felt like it took an eternity. I should also mention that it was easily 90 degrees outside, we were stressed, and I was wearing Lark in the carrier, so the sweat situation was REAL, guys. We got to the bus stop a little after 8am and I nervously waited with the kids and luggage while KC sprinted to the nearest ATM to get some cash, because we had gotten rid of all of our euros, assuming we would be paying for a cab via the app that morning.

The airport bus finally showed up at 8:20am and the driver informed us that it was about 50 minutes to the airport. We were a complete sh**show loading all of our luggage and kids onto the bus — basically every parent’s worst nightmare. KC paid our fare, we found two seats and sat down to await our fate amidst zero air conditioning on the slow-moving vehicle.We pulled up to the airport at 9:20am — less than an hour before our flight was set to depart and a mere 30 minutes before the gate was scheduled to close. Somehow we managed to check five bags (which included an extra trip to the odd/oversize luggage counter to check our stroller and travel crib), made it through passport check, security, and run (and I mean RUN) to our gate and board just before it closed. We were the last people to board the plane, but WE MADE IT. And let me just take a minute to give a shoutout to the Greeks, because jeez Louise they are just the NICEST people. Everyone was so sweet to Prim and Lark while we were visiting, but especially in the midst of this very stressful and chaotic morning, people were so above and beyond nice to us.

I felt like such a wreck boarding the bus to the airport, and being American, assumed that everyone on the bus was annoyed and judging us since we so clearly didn’t have our sh** together and it took us so long to board the already crowded bus. Rather than just giving us dirty looks and assuming we were awful parents (hi, Americans), a few stops before the airport, a woman came up to us and said, “You were planning on taking a taxi, weren’t you?” I felt simultaneously flustered and relieved and said, “Oh my gosh, yes, we just found out about the strike this morning as we were leaving.” She responded, “I saw you when you got on the bus and I knew.” Then she handed us a euro and explained that there were coin-operated luggage carts available near where the bus stopped at the airport. She insisted on helping us with our bags when we got off the bus, and two other people also stepped in and asked to help us take our luggage off the bus as we were exiting, since we had our hands full with the two kids.

Everyone who worked at the airport helped us skip most of the long lines for passport control and security so we could make our flight. It ended up being such a positive experience (albeit still so stressful) amidst what would have otherwise just been an altogether terrible morning.And PS: if you’re ever considering taking Turkish Airlines — let me be the first to recommend it. It’s so nice!