Oh, travel adventures. I have had so many in my lifetime, but today definitely ranks up there as one of the most eventful...and I haven't even taken the first flight yet!
I awoke from my “nap” at half past midnight. The plan was to take a 5 minute cab ride to Taksim Square and take the 1am Havas Bus for 10 lira to the airport. Unfortunately, the cab driver decided to take me the scenic route and go the longest way possible to get to Taksim Square, which took an extra 10 minutes and I arrived at 1:04am, missing the bus by 4 minutes. I was not pleased. As I was trying to explain this to the guy from Havas bus and the cab driver, a random guy on the street asked me in English if I wanted him to translate. Pretty soon I was surrounded by 5 Turkish guys, all speaking in rapid Turkish. One of them pulled out a wad of bills and gave one to the taxi driver and he disappeared. The English-speaking guy explained that another cab driver had paid him 10 lira to go away (the fare would have been 18 lira). The next bus wasn’t until 4am, which is when my flight is. He asked me why didn’t I take a taxi, I explained I didn’t have enough lira – the taxi fare to the airport would have been about 70 lira since it is 50% more expensive between midnight and 6am. He said “why you have so little lira?” I said I was leaving Turkey today. He asked “aren’t you coming back? You should come back and visit me!” He then proceeded to negotiate with the taxi driver who paid off the other taxi driver, who agreed to take me to the airport for 40 lira, which was exactly what I had left. The English-speaking guy introduced himself as Tony and said he had lived in LA for awhile. He said “let me give you my number…call me when you get to the US and I’ll send you a ticket so you come back to Turkey.” Riiiight.
The other taxi drivers put my luggage in the taxi and opened the front door so I could get in and sit next to the driver. The driver spoke a tiny bit of English and introduced himself as Usin. He said he was from Istanbul. As we drove through the city, he pointed out various landmarks. He asked me what I did – I said I was a student. Then he asked me for my email address. I told him I was married and my husband wouldn’t like that. That seemed to keep him quiet for awhile. When we got to the airport, he asked if I would like to get a sandwich and cola with him since my plane wasn’t until 4am. I politely declined, saying my husband wouldn’t approve. He asked me again for my email address, I told him again that I was married. I gave him all the lira I had and thanked him for the ride.
At the airport, I had to go through security to get through the front door, similar to Egypt. I finally found the Turkish Airlines check-in desk. And checked in, successfully scoring an exit row. I asked for them to check my bags through to the final destination. A sign told me that checkin had to be completed 60 minutes before the flight departure time, so I was glad I’d come so early and hadn’t tried to cut it close. As he printed off the luggage tags, I noticed that SFO was not on them. I mentioned this to the gate representative and he said “I’m showing your final destination is Ottawa.” Really? “Yes, you are flying to Frankfurt, then Toronto, then Ottawa.” Not exactly. Then I looked at the boarding pass and noticed he’d checked me in as Cassandra Sparks. I showed him my itinerary and again my passport and he checked me in again, this time as me.
Right now, I’m in the Istanbul airport. Slumbering people are draped everywhere like cast off blankets, trying to catch a few hours of sleep before their early morning flights. After unsuccessfully attempting to nap on the cold steel chairs, I went through passport control to get to my gate. I passed through duty free and sampled a few more Turkish delights (love those free samples of yummy treats!) Now I’ve found a café with free wifi. I really wanted to get some more Menemen before I leave, but it’s 3am and the kitchen is closed. They didn’t seem to mind that I’m sitting here using their internet without ordering anything.
A sign at the airport reads "Thank you for visiting Istanbul...come back soon." Oh don't worry, I'll be back!
No comments:
Post a Comment