The ATM Machine Swallowed Our Only Credit Card While Vacationing in Athens, Greece!

After we had all our valuables - passports, bank cards and cash were stolen on the second day of our vacation in Athens, we searched everything we had in or possession for some loose change - every pocket in our shirts, jackets, pants and all the clothes we were wearing. We scraped together a total of 40 Euros plus my husband's credit card!

  Having some loose change and a credit card meant that we still could buy food and would not starve! Neither would be sleeping on the street as we could still book our hotels using the credit card for the next two weeks. We were so happy and relieved!

  As we were heading back towards our hotel, we walked past an ATM bank machine. We took a look and saw the Plus icon on the bank machine which meant that we could withdraw cash from this machine. Very excited!

With only 40 Euros in our possession, we would need a little bit more cash buying street food and beverages from the convenient stores. So I stepped up and inserted our only bank card into the ATM machine trying to withdraw some cash. A few seconds after the credit card was inserted, the ATM screen flashed in English and Greek - FOREIGN CARD! Then the machine swallowed our card and the door on the machine window lowered and it closed up the machine!

It was around 7p.m. on a Friday evening. My husband tried to retrive his card but to no avail. All the staff at the bank had left for the weekend and there was no one around to give us any help. We were stunned; our only credit card was eaten up by the bank machine and we were left now with only 40 Euros!

  My husband called the number listed on the ATM and told them what happened. They said there was nothing they could do and neither could they give him back his bank card as he had no identification to proof that he was the owner of that card.

The next morning, we went straight to the Canadian Embassy to report our passports stolen and try to get a replacement. The Canadian Embassy staff was most friendly and helpful and tried their best to help us. However, since this was the Easter Friday, the Athens' C Embassy staff told us that the staff in Canada were off and not returning to work until after Easter Monday which meant that the earliest we would get our new passports would be Wednesday the following week.

 O, My goodness! even though we have asked our family to send us some emergency money, how are we going to get it without any government ID to proof our identities?

  We just couldn't believe what has happened to us; whatever could go wrong has gone wrong for us on this trip!

  RT, Athens, Greece, 042026

What to Do When All Your Valuables Have Been Stolen In Greece? (or Wherever You Are While Travelling )

For the past few days, it has been an extremely stressful time for me and my husband. We have just landed in Athens, Greece for a two weeks holiday and we have plans to visit other countries after Greece.

Unfortunately, aLL our valuables including our passports, bank cards and all our cash were stolen from us on the second day of our holiday in Athens, we would not be able to carry on with our initial itinary as we must take time to deal with the most urgent matters.

  To limit our financial loss and to be able to continue with our European vacation, we did the following within the first 48 hours after our passports, credit cards and all our cash were stolen from us:

 

  1. Seek help from the local police and obtain a police report. There were a couple of police vehicles stationed around the Acropolis area and we approached them for help. However, they sent us the run around to a nearby police station to report the theft and to obtain a police report. Because we didn't have much cash with us, we dared not spent whatever we had on taxi and took the public transit which took us a little while to get to the police station which we were told to go.

However, upon our arrival at the station, we saw the notice on the door informing us that if we reported to this police station, we would need to wait for about 10 days for a police report. We couldn't wait for this long therefore we had to go to the police station set up speficially for dealing with tourists who have experienced thefts or related problems. It took us sometime to get to this special tourist police station and we were able to obtain a police report right away.

But I wondered why didn't the police at the Acropolis tell us about thie toursit police station right at the beginning so that we could have avoid the running around and hassels.

  2. Call your banks to cancel / block all bank cards - We had three bank and credit cards with us in my wallet but since my wallet was stolen, all three bank cards were gone too. Calling our banks and cancelling all the bankcards were urgent to prevent the thief from using our cards for unauthorized purchases. This task took us quite sometime but it must be done asap!

 

 

  3. Sought help from the Canadian embassy in Athens - In order to check in hotels, obtain cash from banks in Greece or boarding a plane we must have some kinds of phot ID or passport. The next day we went to the Canadain Embassy in Athens and applied for a temporary passport for each of us.

 

 

 

 

4. Assess financial situation and needs - Since my wallet was stolen, all our cash in the wallet was gone too. We searched all the pockets in jackets and clothes and we found a total of 40 Euros! That was all the money we had for the next few days before help could arrive! Therefore, we needed to be careful in using these 40 Euros for food only!

 

  5. Get help from family back home - With digital scammers being so common nowadays, we knew that if we sent a messagae to our family asking for finanical help, they would most likely think that it was a scam. Therefore, we asked our family to call us on our cells ( we were lucky we still had our cells!) and explained to our loved ones what happened and asked them to send us some emergency funds.

 

  6. Adjust travel itineraries - We have planned to fly to other Greek cities and another country, but without any passports or money, we modified our plans in order not to have our holiday runied by this theft incident.

 

7. Enjoy the city and the free things it has to offer - Athens is a historic and cultural city. There are lots of things to see. As we needed to stay around for our replaced new passports, we would try to enjoy what this city has to offer for free!

  RT, Athens, Greece 042026

A Very Stressful 2nd day in Athens – Nobody Wants to Experience This While on Vacation!

We are staying in a hotel near the downtown area in Athens. Our hotel staff informed us that the bus stops were just a two minutes walk across the street.

After exploring our hotel neighborhood on foot for an hour, we bought a 2 day Hop on Hop off bus tour pass in order to see and learn about the history of this great city.

We did the hop on /off bus tour in Lisbon, Portugal two years ago and enjoyed it, so we did it again this time in Greece.

Each passenger on the bus tour was given a pair of earpieces. We could plug it into the bus' sound system and listened to the explantions about the different points of interest as the bus was passing by them. We sat in the red line tour bus for the entire ride to get an overview of the city of Athens.

There were about 15 bus stops on the red line. After going through the bus tour once, we decided to get off at the foot of the ACROPOLIS to visit this world famous UNESCO site!

There seemed to be a lot of visitors heading up to the Acropolis. We thought we would go there a little later in the afternoon when it would be less crowded as a lot of curise passengers would have gone back to their cruise ships by then.

We took a walk in the Acropolis area and saw many restaurants, cafes, souvenir, handicrafts and gifts stores lining both sides of the street. It was lively and filled with visitors.

We stopped at a store selling lots of Greek souvenirs. I was looking at the gifts while a woman dressed in a long skirt and a scarf in her late 50’s approached me trying to sell me a big white tablecloth.

It was a nice handmade one but I didn’t want to buy anything and declined politely. This lady kept following me for a little while but I said no. Then she disappeared into the crowd and we continued to turn into some alleyways leading up to the hill.

We also stopped at a couple of jewelry stores browsing over the beautiful necklaces and rings made by local artisans. The weather was pleasant and the climb up to the hill was gentle.

We continued our walk and passed by a children’s park and came to an area looking like a village with some traditional Greek houses.

Some houses were a little modern while some looked like the houses we saw in children’s book. That was a special area in Athens.

We coudn't believe that we discovered this village like quiet living quarter in the middle of Athens. This scenery was enchanting!

I was captivated and I lost myself in the beautiful sight of this delightful and rustic neighborhood.

These houses looked so cute! Who would expect these little rustic houses in the middle of a big city!

 

 

  I couldn't stop taking pictures of these adorable houses and I was enjoying myself so much!

 

 

Then all of a sudden, as if being awoken from a trance, I suddenly felt something was wrong. I turned around and looked at my backpack; I was horrified! Both the outside and the inner pocket zippers of my backpack were opened!

The inner zippered pocket was where I kept my wallet containing both of our passports, credit cards and all our cash. My wallet was stolen which meant all our valuables were stolen too!

  We were beside ourselves, O NO! This was only our second day in Greece. How were we going to survive without anything?

  RT, at the Bottom of Acropolis, Athens, Greece

  042026

Athens - Exploring our Hotel Neighbourhood on Foot

This was our second day in Athens and we had a nice rest the night before. Breakfast was OK at our first hotel in Athens. We sat in the dining room and looked out of the windows and were able to see the streets and neighborhood much better than last night.

Located in the downtown area, our hotel is an excellent location and close to a lot of famous historic buildings and sites.

  After a satisfying breakfast we were ready to explore this world famous city!

  Known as the birthplace of democracy, the marathon and the Olympic Games, Athens was the first city to be crowned European Capital of Culture and is Europe’s oldest capital city.

The population of Greece is around 10.4 millions (2026) and the greater Athens area is home to 3.15 million people!

 However, the country has experienced a serious brain drain for the past decade with many young people emmigrating to other countries.

We have read and heard that Athens has something to offer to everyone, from fascinating history to outdoor adventure, good food, live music and a buzzing nightlife. We are ready for adventure in this classical yet modern metropolis.

We have planned to explore Athens on foot on our first full day of our holiday in Athens and learned more about this great city!

RT, Athens, Greece

  042026, Thursday

Our 1st Night in Athens, Greece

The flight from Philadaphia to Athens, Greece was smooth, uneventful and we thanked God that we landed safely in Athens. But the lineup at Passport Control at the Athens Airport was very long!

This lineup reminded me of the long queue we had to endure at Disney World. It went around and around and seemed endless. We waited for almost an hour before getting through the customs.

But the airport seemed to have the automatic passpport checking machines all set up but they were just sitting there not being used. Perhaps, there were problems with these machines. What a pity!

At the Athens Airport, we were able to buy a SIM card and had some of our money changed to the local currency, therefore we were able to order an Uber ride taking us to our hotel. Since it was in the evening, we couldn’t see much in the dark.

After being dropped us off at the hotel and finished checking in, we went out to the neighborhood looking for a restaurant for dinner. Not wanting to be far from everything, we booked a downtown hotel. However, located away from the main street, the area where we were in was not well lit with only a few street lamps. We saw bold graffiti everywhere on many of the store front steel doors.

Our first impression of Athens was somewhat doubtful. ' Are we in a bad area of Athens? Did we make a wrong decision to be here?' we asked ourselves.

  We did find a small nice neighbourhood restaurant where we enjoyed some genuine local Greek food!

 After our very first delicious Greek dinner, we strolled around the area to check out the neighborhood. Though the local market was closed. there were still quite a few shops open after 8 p.m. We bought some nuts, herbal teas etc. and look forward to start our Greek holiday the next day. RT, Athens, Greece Day 1

Art at the Airport and a Friendly Exchange at the Philadelphia Airport, USA

It was a small commuter plane going from Toronto To Philadelphia, USA, and the plane was less than 1/2 full. The plane ride was uneventful and it took about an hour.

 

With a 7 hour stopover at the Philadelphia International Airport before our connecting flight to Greece, we had plenty of time to kill.

We didn't mind the stop over at all as we could relax, enjoy a lunch, coffee, and do our computer work.This was our first time travelling through the Philly airport.

Strolling around the airport, we discovered Art at the Airport.

We admired large art projects done by local artists adorning the walls, and at Gate 22, a waiting lounge all spruced up by other artists' big paintings plus a playing area for those young at heart.

  Arts have the effect of making a place beautiful and welcoming as well as elevating our mood.

I felt happy when I saw these arts projects. Well done, Philly, love the artwork at your airport!

 

What made our 7 hour stopover at the Philly Airport more pleasant was my encounter with a lady named Angel working at one of the takeout food counters at the food court. Always willing to try different food wherever we travel,

I ordered a Pretzel bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. Polite and cheerful, Angel made small talks with me while serving me. That made me feel welcome and relieved. We were travelling at the time while the TSA workers have not been paid for almost a month due to the US government shutdown and we dragged the thought of going through a U.S. airport.

We were a little concerned that TSA and other airport staff might be fed up, overworked and frustrated which could lead to being short tempered, lost of patience and be rude to passengers.

  We totally understand that TSA employees have been working without pay and have been overwhelemd with taking extra shifts due to some colleagues quitting or calling in sick. Therefore, this nice lady's kind words and good customer service helped lessened my anxiety of flying in U.S. cities.

  I liked my pretzel sandwich but I knew it could taste better. I went back to the counter and asked Angel what sauce could I put on my pretzel sandwich. She patiently explained to me the different sauces available. It was quite a choice. I asked for the honey mustard and wanted to pay for it. Angel said, " No worry, you were here before. Therefore you can have it for free."

 

Wow, these days, who would give you something for free? I happily accepted it and enjoyed my sandwich with the mustard sauce. After the sandwich, I went back to Philly Pretzel Factory to buy a cup of coffee because Angel was so kind and welcoming. She saw me and said. " You are back again!" To which I replied, " You are so kind therefore I want to come back and buy the coffee from you." She was tickle pink by my compliment. We started a conversation about each other's family and had a friendly exchange.

  The boss who was preparing the pretzels not too far from us, overheard our conversation and because of my compliment, he offered to give me a free coffee! I could not accept that and gave my coffee money to Angel for her to buy herself a coffee.

 

Angel's kind gesture of making time and doing samll talk with me and her boss' generous offer of giving his return customer a free coffee touched me and warmed my heart. Trump's super aggressive behaviour and unfriendly and unwelcoming policies are making many people from around the world uncomfortable and avoid travelling to the US. However, knowing that a lot of Americans, like Angel and her boss are kind and welcoming makes me feel better and hopeful about America.

I would like to give a shout out to Philly Pretzel Factory at the Philadelphia International Airport. Thank you, Angel and your boss for being so welcoming and making a Canadian feel welcome during our stop over in your country!

  RT, Philadelphia International Airport, USA

  032026