One of my jobs was to organize the transfer of the rest of our much judged possessions to Turkey. Much judged because we really had to decide what was worth freighting. 110 kg of things- sewing machine, tools, winter clothes , medical supplies, and anything else in the end which slipped in the sides of these bulging bags. Had we realized then what this would mean for us later we may have reconsidered.
This was to be another week away, like a holiday, but a driving one. Last year we decided that sailing was preferable to driving. It still is but we visited some interesting new places that made it worthwhile- in the end.
We had no idea where to pick up the bags. We knew it was at the Ataturk airport. Anyone who has driven in Istanbul will know what this means. The bags arrived on Sunday . After two rounds of the airport we stopped to check if we could get the luggage. We couldn't. So this meant that we had to find a hotel. Florya Hotel seemed ok, on the net. Luckily we have a map app to help us navigate. It navigated us to a block of apartments! There was another address, of course. But Istanbul roads, and not just Istanbul , drive round and round and have minor roads running parallel to major ones. Finding ones way off either is a challenge. Steve managed to locate us a block away from the hotel, near a MacDonalds. We parked in the street. We walked to where we imagined it to be, and there it was. It was only one night after all.
In the morning our next episode in the luggage saga began. After numerous journeys, cargo , MNG, customer, men who tried to help and didn't know what to do and men who did know and helped us. A Pinter play- this is what it felt like.
After 6 hours we had our 4 bags packed into our little Getz and we drove to Koc School to meet Chris and Kim- at last this part of our coming to the country had ended.
This was to be another week away, like a holiday, but a driving one. Last year we decided that sailing was preferable to driving. It still is but we visited some interesting new places that made it worthwhile- in the end.
We had no idea where to pick up the bags. We knew it was at the Ataturk airport. Anyone who has driven in Istanbul will know what this means. The bags arrived on Sunday . After two rounds of the airport we stopped to check if we could get the luggage. We couldn't. So this meant that we had to find a hotel. Florya Hotel seemed ok, on the net. Luckily we have a map app to help us navigate. It navigated us to a block of apartments! There was another address, of course. But Istanbul roads, and not just Istanbul , drive round and round and have minor roads running parallel to major ones. Finding ones way off either is a challenge. Steve managed to locate us a block away from the hotel, near a MacDonalds. We parked in the street. We walked to where we imagined it to be, and there it was. It was only one night after all.
In the morning our next episode in the luggage saga began. After numerous journeys, cargo , MNG, customer, men who tried to help and didn't know what to do and men who did know and helped us. A Pinter play- this is what it felt like.
After 6 hours we had our 4 bags packed into our little Getz and we drove to Koc School to meet Chris and Kim- at last this part of our coming to the country had ended.
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