The journal is a recording of my little thoughts on paper (digitally speaking) with no agenda. My words... thoughts... ideas... ramblings...
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August 24, 2006
Well the stages of the Journey to Greece and the Marathon/Half Marathon (or whatever my body says it will do by that time) are coming together.
Stage 1 - Plan the trip
----------Well, it’s about 63.45% planned out. The days in November are now locked in, PDO requested, approved and on the fridge.
-----------Have an idea on the airlines (KLM//Northwest/British Airways), the departure city (duh!), the arrival city (Athens, Greece) and a second bonus city to stay and sight-see after race day (Nov. 5th), the city will be (Amsterdam) for 5 days.
-----------Why Amsterdam? Well, sounds fun, the city looks amazingly beautiful, and KLM seem to conveniently use that airport as a major hub.
---------Oh yeah------- “race”? What? Who? ….. 
"The Athens Classic Marathon"is the first thing getting done on this 16 day journey. It’s the 24th running of the oldest and original course of the race (in 490BC it was not a race, it was a feat accomplished by a foot solder carrying news that the Greeks had beaten the Persians in the battle of Marathon), OH YEAH, he died after running the distance, cried “Victory”, collapsed and died. History is neat. I hope he was not 41 years old at the time.
They say, ”The Marathon Race has always had a prominent place in the hearts and minds of sports enthusiasts, as it represents the highest effort where the human body, soul and mind are tested to their limits as the runner presses himself/herself to the finish line.”WOW. 
This is where he died I think, none the less, this is where I will cross the finish line - alive!
Stage 2 - Lock down Flight
----------KLM is the winner... it’s an ALL KLM flight which is really nice (not to mention about 15,000 miles on my Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan!). There were so many flight options, transfer of planes etc… that it will be worth staying on one airline. The flight starts from Seattle and is DIRECT - yes! 10hrs straight to Amsterdam which is huge! Really did not want a stop in Chicago or NYC - then a 2 hour layover (which from what I hear is a good thing as that airport is not good with tight connections) in Amsterdam and then a 3 hour and change flight to Athens.
----------Leave Seattle around 12:50 PM Thursday, and land 1:40 PM or so Friday afternoon in Athens."Athens is 10 hours ahead of Seattle "so sleep on the plane, (yes I will be able to do this, because, upgrades baby).
For me, the First Class Cabin, no way am I doing this in coach, I don’t like 2 hour flights up and down the West Coast and having to sit near people who think Seat 11B is their own personal living room/kitchen and in some cases bathroom. So put me in the front of the plane, recliner seats, real cutlery, napkins and “please and thank you” with minimal bare feet and “Oh, I’m sorry, did I get you with my soda, crackers, small body flakes I keep picking and would you mind getting up so I can go to the bathroom for the 87th time since the plane door closed?”
Stage 3 - Lock down Hotels
-----------Looking at hotel options in both Athens and Amsterdam. Also looking at which islands to “hop to and fro” with no real agenda, I like that… and no blackberry (shssss, don’t tell anyone).
-----------Down to about 4-5 options for Athens, but Amsterdam is a whole other story.
-----------Amsterdam has great nice, 5 star expensive, medium expense 4-5 star locations and an incredible amount of adorable little B&B’s tucked all in and around the little waterways… decisions are tough. Travel agent (2 of them and my own internet savvy) will do some comparison shopping and figure it out. AMEX travel agency is cool. By the way… "Amsterdam is 9 hours ahead of Seattle "
Okay… that’s enough for now.