Prior to leaving on *THE BIG TRIP*, I was worried about getting my prescription (a very common blood pressure medicine) filled while overseas. I spoke to our health insurance company and to a DC pharmacy and they both claimed I could get a 'vacation override' so I could carry a larger amount of meds with me. That turned out to be a lie. It took over 3 weeks and numerous calls (and several visits) to the pharmacy and insurance company to find out that it was a lie. So I wasted a lot of time and had no way to guarantee getting my daily meds. Great!
The other day, we stopped at a pharmacy in Greece and asked the pharmacist if it's possible to get the meds I need. She told us she would be getting a delivery of the meds on Tuesday, so we returned the next day and she not only had the meds, but had them sitting at the counter waiting just for me, in the exact quantity we had mentioned needing. I didn't need to have my doctor talk to her or the insurance, and buying a med supply for over 3 months cost less than just my copay in the States. I doubt I'll even bother filing a claim since it will just lead to some sort of American healthcare-system induced headache. We've learned about plenty of convoluted Greek systems but it's eye opening to see how straightforward and easy (and friendly) a health-related process can be.
On a totally different service-related front, there are lots of repair shops here. I had a camera fixed here in Thessaloniki and Sam had a pair of shoes fixed also for very cheap. Her beach/patio flip-flops broke the other day and on a lark we took them back to the friendly shoe repair guy to see if he could fix them. He did! Has anyone ever repaired flip-flops before? As a side note, flip-flops are called sayonaras (σαγιονάρες) here.
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| Pharmacies are everywhere |
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| Maybe the first repaired flip-flops in human history?! |
