Istanbul was Constantinople, but that's nobody's business but the Turks...

Travel Day: Day 1

Friday, 30 March 2012

Today is D-Day. The day Maureen and I had been looking forward to for months. Our Turkish adventure, which has been nothing short of marvelous (and I mean "marvelous" in the most literal sense of the word) up to now, and we haven't even left the Beltway, is about to begin.

Let me back up and tell you how this adventure came to be: My Latin teacher buddy, Liz, and her husband, Ryan, went on a Turkish/Greek cruise last year. She raved about it enough that I, too, wanted to go to Greece and Turkey for Spring break. I got her travel references and began the booking process.

I should have known that the trip would be ill-fated when the day I booked, paid, etc. was the day that the Concodia went down off the coast of Italy. I had no sooner submitted the payment when the phone rang and Donna D instructed me to turn on the TV. "Awwww... shit. The idea of a cruise is not so appealing now as it was 5 minutes ago..."

Fast forward 3 weeks: I get an email from my buddy at the cruise department of the Turkish travel agent I'd been using (as per Liz's recommendation), Güçlü YAMAN. I have no idea whether this is a man or a woman, and I have, for the first time in my life, no mental image of the person with whom I am conversing on the internet. But I digress... The latest correspondance is to communicate that the starting time, date, and location of the cruise have all been chnaged by the cruise line. Instead of leaving at 9 am on Sunday, 1 April, we will be leaving at 7:00 pm on Saturday night. This is a problem. This is a serious problem, as we are not set to arrive in Istabul, the original orgination point of the cruise, until 7:40 pm on Saturday night. I was asked if I could change my travel dates to the following week. After a mini-meltdown via email, and after I had thrown around some legal terms I learned from my YEARS of watching my judges on TV, (terms like 'material breech of contract...') the cruise company had agreed to comp us a night in a hotel in Istanbul Saturday, and pay for our airfare to Ismir, where we would meet the cruise and continue on our merry way. Until Athens, when we will have to change boats, because the cruise line had also decided to change the origination point. What a mess! But, alas, it would work out. We (well, really, just Maureen) were confident that it would be just fine.

Fast forward to Friday, 30 March, today, D-Day. Maureen started her day with a bomb threat at Annandale HS. Not the way you want to start the day you are FLYING half way around the globe, It was my turn to be optimistic: "Maureen, look at the bright side: at least you are not teaching anything today :) "

Maureen finished her day without a hitch, Donna D came to pick us up and transport us to Dulles, and we were off!

The flight between DC and London was rather uneventful except for the fact that we were travelling first class. When we booked, we wanted to use a companion ticket. The only non-black-out date that had ANY sort of availability was also a first class ticket. So, we paid for it partly in miles partly in dollars. When we checked in at Dulles, Maureen got a "Welcome, Miss Hunt, to first class!" My miles and my companion ticket got us there, and I didn't get even so much as "welcome back." Oh well. No worries, I think. We will be airborne soon enough and it won't matter one whit who got what sort of welcome. We go to the lounge and wait over a couple four glasses of pino grigio: all is right with the world... for the time being.

I did not sleep one bit, fending off leg cramps from hell. Maureen slept only a wee bit better than I did. We arrive in London, terminal 5 of Heathrow. Since we did not check our bags, we were able to de-plane and move quickly to our next destination: terminal 3. But, first, we had to take the people shifters across. We got to the bottom of the escalator, where we found a young girl barking orders: "PICK A SIDE. YOU WILL HAVE ONLY 20 SECONDS TO BOARD THE TRAIN!" I turned to Maureen and said, "Golly, I close my eyes for just a moment, and I wake up in Nazi Germany!" The train eventually comes and we head to Terminal 3, home of the 3rd world airlines. There is, however the requisite duty free shopping, Starbucks and Pret-a-Manger, which was a very good thing, since we had a 6 hour layover. I cannot remember why we didn't opt for the 11AM flight to Istanbul, other than the price may have been much higher. But, we took full advantage of the time by both getting make-up makeovers at the Bobby Brown counter in the Duty-Free. When it came time for lunch, we opted for Pret, which was a terrific choice, since all I wanted was a hard boiled egg. When I asked the young man arranging sandwiches if I could have just an egg, he went to the back and moments later appeared with an egg, peeled and in a small cup. "No charge, ma'am." Really? That was the nice surprise of the day. It is a good thing I got my egg, since the meal on the flight was a HUGE disappointment... But, I will get to that in a moment...

As we ate our respective lunches, Maureen kept watching the gate board. Our 2:00 flight had a "gate opening at 2:15" notice. Hmmm... not a good sign. Then, at 2:15, the message came up that the flight was delayed to 3:00. We went to the gate, and boarded at 3:15, departing at 4:00. The flight was missing only the chickens in coops in the last few rows. The entourage assembled was exactly what one would expect on an Eastern European flight... I will leave the description with your own imagination. I will say this: think of extreme stereotypes of everything you know about Turkey and there you have it. It was a bit of a culture shock for us. And, yes. It was a full flight, and I took one for the team and sat in the middle seat.

I had ordered special meals for the two of us at the time of booking: one fruit platter and one raw vegetable platter. I figured this would be the safest alternative, food-wise. I knew that BA would feed us well, especially in first class (we had poached lobster over asian slaw starter and hot chicken over lettuce for a main. Both absolutely amazing...). When the meal arrived, two fruit platters came, except Maureen's had a banana. They were identical. I said to the flight attendant, "Excuse me, but we had one raw vegetable plate and one fruit." To which she replied, "Yes, one fruit, (pointing to my plate which had a sticker saying 'fruit') and one raw vegetarian, (pointing to Maureen's vegetarian sticker)." I said, "excuse me, but these are the same." "No, one vegetarian, one fruit." "Noooooooo. Two fruit." "One say fruit, one say vegetarian." I was getting frustrated at this point, not having slept in what felt like DAYS! "THEY ARE IDENTICAL!" Then the flight attendant walked away. Just like that. We were left with our very sad looking fruit plates. However, I am glad I opted for the fruit as opposed to the crap they were serving to the masses. What upset me was that she was trying to convince me that the two were different when they were the SAME! Even my four old niece can tell the difference between SAME and DIFFERENT. It was a simple case of 'don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.'

We eventually arrived in Istanbul, de-planed, went to the visa line, paid our $20 US and got a nice sticker and stamp for our passports (Maureen and I are always disappointed when we go somewhere and don't get a memento for the passport so this made up for all the trips to Portugal without any record.)

We emerged from the arrivals hall and found a man holding a sign with our names on it. He drove us across town, through all the sites lit by urban street lights and the big bright moon to our hotel, which happens to be in the most vibrant section of town. I am grateful that we were not stuck out by the airport. We actually feel like we have been to Istanbul now, if even for just 12 hours.

We came in, decompressed for 5 minutes and then set out to explore. We ended up in a lovely bistro and had two mezzes of aubergine-yogurt and red peppers and chilis to go with our lamb entrees. So good. But, when the bill came, it was just a slip of paper with the number 80 written on it. In no position to argue, and not knowing what the conversion rate was, we slapped down a credit card, declaring that it was the best meal, no matter the price. It was only the next morning that we discovered that the conversion is $1 to 1.78 Turkish Lira. So, the meal was about 45 bucks. Totally worth it!

We headed home with full bellies and fell into our respective beds, only to be woken at 6 am by my alarm. Time to get up and embrace the day! We went for a 3 mile run in the city center here near our hotel. It felt really good to get out and moving and the weather was perfect running weather: not at all cold! After our lovely run, we found a Starbucks (another time, I will write about the idea we have to do a book about all the Starbucks around the world we have visited...) and had a latte, feeling so self-satisfied for having run and having been productive on a Sunday morning, of all days!

Now, we are waiting for the driver to take us BACK to the airport for our flight to Izmir, where we shall meet the ship. Then, the real adventure begins...

Reflecting on this first leg of our Spring Break, I cannot help but be very thankful that I have had the opportunity to take this trip. I am very aware how very blessed I am. The week prior to the trip was a very bad week. I tend to forget how lucky I am, getting bogged down by the stupid details of life, forgetting to look at the big picture. Sitting in the Starbucks this morning, in FREAKING ISTANBUL, having run, having lost 143 pounds in the last 16 months, I had this overwhelming feeling of happiness. My life if very full and I am lucky to have such good friends and close family with whom I may share my life. A great way to start Holy Week, indeed.