Turkey: Day #1 – Travelling

Well, my trip is finally here.  I’ve kept a bit quiet on the blog over the last few weeks because life has been HECTIC getting ready for my trip to Turkey.  It started yesterday technically and has just ended.  In total, somewhere around 20-22 hours of travel to get from Ottawa to Antalya.  So, let me fill you in on how it went.

It started with a sorrow filled goodbye to Lindsey.  We had our own Saint Patrick’s Day lunch celebration at the Royal Oak before heading out to the airport.  I got to the airport, said goodbye to Lindsey and was prepared for a great and extended time alone to think, regenerate, process, all that fun stuff that introverts like to do so much of.  I did the whole self-check-in thing and got into line and heard my name called.  There was Edith Sparrow sending off her daughter and son-in-law on the same flight I was taking.  So we spent a few minutes chatting, and then I got to the baggage guy.

My one suitcase is large and a little cumbersome so while he was trying to get it on the scale, I guess he cut himself on a piece of hard plastic that was sticking out.  He pointed it out to me and then made sure (by repeating many times) that I knew it was dangerous to have it like that.  Here’s where it gets funny.  He then grabs a roll of their weird airport tape and proceeds to wrap my bag around the spot that has the plastic piece out a bit.  He wraps it, not once, not twice but like 6 times!  That totally got the classic James eye-roll.  I couldn’t help but think of all the work I was going to have to do to get it undone once I got to Turkey, that was far enough away that I was able to let it go, and head on my merry way.

I am no sooner out of the check-in area when I run into some students from church!  They told me this heart-breaking story of how their flight down south got cancelled and how the company wouldn’t refund them and they had to pick a new spot to go and leave the next day.  It really was too bad.  I said goodbye to them, headed downstairs and went through the first security check.  Usually, that’s the only security check, but this day was just beginning.

So I wait around for a bit, talk to my mom, say goodbye one last time and then get in line to board my plane.  I get through the boarding pass check and start walking down the ramp when I am met by like 6 security guards.  I start to sort of stare at them because I’m just not used to seeing so many of them at the entrance to the plane, and this one guy just kept staring me down.  I’d try and look beyond him to my destination and when I’d look back, he’d be looking at me.  I tried to ignore him but then he got in front of me, and started to ask me all these random questions about where I was going and what I was doing and what I had in my bag.  It was really, really weird.  This was the first time I had ever been ‘randomly’ screened.  I kind of thought he was joking at first so I had this big stupid grin on my face and I think he just sort of got frustrated with me and told me to get on the plane.  I guess it sort of makes sense to do that when the plane is travelling across an ocean.

Well, the first flight was good, I had hoped I would be able to sleep but no matter how hard I tried I was just too wired and too excited to sleep so I watched like 3 movies in a row instead.  I watched Terminator: Salvation, The Blind Side (better than I thought it would be) and Where The Wild Things Are.  I got some great ideas for a sermon series out of Where The Wild Things Are so Fuel can look forward to that when I come back!

Anyway, I get off the plane in Frankfurt, Germany, and I am seriously stoked.  I LOVE Europe.  Like way more than I think normal people are supposed to like Europe.  It just feels like a second home.  I love the cars, the people, the expensive and small portions of food, the excessive wearing of track suits by russian alpine ski teams.  I love it all.  So I get through the tangle of hallways and end up out in the main area of the airport where all the shops are.  I say goodbye to the people who took the same flight as me and I get in line at the McCafe.

The McCafe is the new thing McDonald’s is doing where they serve real coffee, real food and charge Starbucks prices for it.  I have to be honest everyone, their desserts looked fantastic!  As I was standing in line, I hear someone calling out my name.  I’m thinking to myself, “Oh no, something’s happened to my bag or my passport or something.”  Turns out it was someone I knew from back home!  They were on their way to Turkey too and were on a flight into Frankfurt from Toronto!  Hilarious, I was so looking forward to some alone time and within like 2 minutes of saying goodbye, someone else ends up in the picture.  Ha ha.  So, we got some real McDonald’s instead of the McCafe stuff and I promised myself I would only order stuff off the menu that we didn’t get in Canada.  At this point it’s like 8am Frankfurt time and like 3am Ottawa time.  I’ve convinced myself to stay up as long as I can and I’ve got a six hour layover so I don’t really have a choice but anyway, there I am, with my friend, at McDonald’s ordering this fantastic Chicken McMuffin!  Yep, a chicken mcmuffin.  If you can believe it.  Europe is awesome.

Well, my friend and I leave the mcdonald’s and head down to the duty free shop where we begin to browse the men’s section of cologne’s looking for something I could wear.   We didn’t really find one but we had a lot of fun rummaging through all the products and smelling all the cologne’s.  Some were alright and some were just horrible.  One smelled like rubbing alcohol and one even smelled like a marker!

We went back to McDonald’s and I got this burger I saw there, a chicken burger, but it was called the CBO for Chicken, Bacon and Onions.  The onions were deep fried to a golden brown and there was some kind of special sauce as well too.  They also had potato wedges instead of just getting regular fries so obviously I ordered them.  Anyway, after that my friend hopped on his flight and I headed down to where I was supposed to be.  I got on my flight, headed to Istanbul and slept the whole way.  I could barely stay awake for lift-off, ha ha!

I got to Istanbul and I thought that because I was clearing customs and switching from an international to a domestic terminal as well as switching airlines that I would have to pick up my bags and send them through again.  So I waited and waited and waited at the carousel for my bags to come, and they never came!  I was like, NO!  You see, earlier on in the day I had decided that I wouldn’t change out of my Sunday morning clothes because I wanted to look like a travelling business man all day.  I had no other clothes except the dressy stuff I had on and I did not want to spend the rest of the week switching between a sweater and a dress shirt. So I went to the baggage claim office and started to fill out my information when I looked at my baggage ticket and saw the word ‘Antalya’ written on it.  I thought, wait a tick, based on the fact that my baggage ticket says that, chances are my bags are going right to Antalya!  And sure enough, that’s what the baggage people thought too.  By now, I’ve got like 15 minutes to get my ticket and get on my flight before it leaves so I book it through the terminal.  I get out of the international terminal and start looking for the domestic terminal and some Turkish guy, probably trying to help, starts yelling at me and trying to get me to go with him, but I didn’t understand what he was saying so I just yelled out, “I don’t speak Turkish!” and kept running down the hall.

Not sure that was the best way to handle it but I eventually got my ticket, went down to the boarding area and guess what, more people I knew!  Some people who had been on a flight with me earlier in the day and someone who had been in Istanbul for a few days already.  Go figure.  So, we get on the flight and I look for my seat and of course, I’m on the aisle side with two very large Turks beside me, the one directly beside me being so large, he needed 2 extra belt clips in order to be able to wear his seatbelt for the flight.  That was intense.  Anyway, so that ride was fairly uneventful, no movies or anything so I tried to sleep a little more but the flight was only an hour to Antalya so not much going on there.  I get off the plane and once again go to grab my bags and I’m a little nervous because I’m not sure where my bag is.  A friend of mine and I wait at the baggage carousel for a long time, right up until they turn off the belt and just wait for people to pick up their bags.  No bags for James.  Now I’m really freaking out because what am I going to wear and what if my bag doesn’t return before I leave for Africa?!   I started walking around with this concerned and confused look on my face and this lovely Turk lady, by the way, the Turks are incredibly friendly and hospitable people, I am very greatly impressed.  Anyway, this lady sees me and asks what my name is and then tells me my bag is on the other carousel across the barrier, so I go to look and sure enough, the first bag, literally, the first bag I see is mine.  I had been praying a lot throughout this that I would get my bag and God answered!!

We hopped on a coach bus and drove the 45 minutes out to the resort where they made us eat before we could even register, then we registered, I got my room and here I am!  Stay tuned for more from the great Turkey Adventure!