When I did, the room was in complete darkness - no light at all. What might be a plus in other situations - no irritating streetlight right outside the window - put me in a near panic. I was in a strange room and I had only a faint idea where the furnishings were. I fumbled for the lightswitch by the bed. Nothing. I thought we'd been hit with a blackout.
Suddenly, I understood. There had been a thin square wafer of plastic attached to the room keys. It was supposed to be put into a waiting slot by the door, where it would act as a switch to turn on the lights. I'd skipped that step.
Normally, it's a great, green idea - you can't leave the lights on accidentally when you leave the room. Now I was in complete blackness and had no idea where I had put the key before flopping down on the bed.
I finally found the key by groping around on the carpet where it had fallen, probably from my clutching fingers, and I managed to get to the door and feel the walls until I found the slot. (The "next generation" of these slots are always slightly illuminated, but that wasn't the case with this one.)
That wasn't the end of my electrical adventures in that hotel room, either. Later I plugged in my transformer and battery charger and went to take a shower. Suddenly, the lights went out. I picked my way through the dark wet bathroom and went out into the main room, where an acrid smell met me. My transformer had fused, and now I was again in total darkness, still dripping from the shower, and dealing with an electrical emergency. Just for good measure, my transformer had knocked out the power not just to my room, but to the entire floor, so there wasn't even light coming through under the door.
Moral of this story: a small flashlight in my purse would have saved me time and frustration. If this had been an emergency, it could be a lifesaver. And if you need to find something quickly in the dark, you're more likely to be successful if it's as big as your purse. I prefer a traditional cylinder-shaped pen light, even though I may have to take it apart or demonstrate it at security. To avoid this, try to get one with a plastic casing rather than a metal one. You can even get a flashlight that includes a smoke detector and personal alarm. There are also tiny LED squeeze lights designed to attach to a keychain, but those can be easy to lose and the light they cast is not very strong.
By the way, this type of key light switch can be a problem if you have only one key for a room and your partner wants to take a shower, or lie down for a nap, while you go out. Greek hotelkeepers will hate me for this, but sometimes blocking the slot with a small piece of cardboard or another card-shaped object will enable you to leave the lights on in the room while letting the other person take the keys with them.
The Secret of the Air Conditioner
While I'm on the subject of turning things on in Greece, many lower-cost Greek hotels are stingy with their air conditioning. It's not uncommon to have to pay extra to be given the treasured remote to operate the air conditioning unit, which is often mounted near the ceiling and has no buttons to push. What many desk clerks won't tell you is that most of the new units have sensors attached to them and they will not operate if the balcony doors are not firmly shut. If you have trouble getting the air conditioning to work, check this first.
Compare airfares to Greece here: Find Greek Airfares
Compare Rates on Car Rentals in Greece: [Rent Cars in Greece Note: Use the Eleftherios Venizelos option if you need rates from the Athens International Airport at Spata.
