So it's been an interesting flight so far. Not that anything particularly dramatic has happened. When I'm flying, that's a good thing. But it's hardly been totally boring, either. I'll fill you in on some of the news as I hurtle through the atmosphere at 550 mph.
Cryin' Kids
So about 3 rows back, there's a woman who's flying with 3 kids. That's a brave woman, people. I think her youngest isn't having a good time, and by default, neither is anyone within audible range. No one has said anything, and the Mom does her best to soothe her kids, but it's still rough. Not for me, but for the kids. Flying isn't the easiest thing to do in Coach, and it's got to be exponentially worse for little kids. Adults can adapt to their environments. I think it's tougher for toddlers. I've got some Fig Newtons that I think I'll offer the kid next time she has one of her crying spells. But I hope she doesn't need it. Hopefully she'll get some sleep.
The Cramped Quarters
When checking in at the ticket counter, I tried to do the upgrade to Business Class. But that didn't happen. We are on a *VERY* full plane, and I don't think there are any seats available anywhere! The San Francisco to Frankfurt route must be popular, because Scilla and I took off first, and Wil and Becca are following in our contrails on another flight. As inevitably happens, I get stuck behind the person that loves to recline their seat so far back that I could do dental work. It doesn't help that he keeps pushing his seat back, so that my personal space is thoroughly invaded. I'm contorting myself just to tap this blog out. It feels like a "Truman Show" moment… as I look around, I don't see anyone else with their seat so far back!
Seat Swaps
Scilla and I switched spots when we first got on the plane. We're sitting on opposite sides of the aisle, but she wanted to straighten her left knee, so we traded. I'm sitting next to an older couple who are on their way to Lisbon. They like to get up a lot. Richard is partway in my seat. Marilyn wants to sit next to the Window even though she likes to get up often (I offered to switch with her, but she wanted the Window). Earlier, as the flight attendant was handing Richard some water, his hand knocked it over, and now I'm sitting with wet pants. (Ladies???) But it's cool. Marilyn likes her Bloody Marys, and Richard has already put the hurt on some Scotch and some Red Wine. They're pretty cool, and I'm enjoying their company. :)
Sleep? Who needs sleep?
I'm not really sleepy. Which is probably a bad thing considering I only got 3 hours of sleep last night (last minute packing is a bitch). It's 9pm Califronia time, and we've been in the air for 7 hours now. By the time we land, it'll be past midnight in California, but morning in Frankfurt. I may try to catch a catnap so I'm not hurting too badly.
Time Occupation
I watched "Up in the Air," and I thought it was pretty good! I passed on "The Blindside" since I've already seen it, and I didn't catch the beginning of "The Invention of Lying," so I'm letting that one pass, too. "Where the Wild Things Are" is playing right now, but blogging seems like a better use of my time. I started reading a book when we took off, and I'm already more than halfway done with "The Art of Racing in the Rain." It's pretty good, and a big reason why I haven't slept yet!
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We are flying above Scotland now, and I can see day breaking through the windows. We have about another 2 hours to go, and I'm starting to get frustrated. I am really irritated with the jerk in fro to me. Because his seat is pushed so far back, I can't put my head on the tray to get some sleep. I can't lean back and sleep, and would *LOVE* to be able to lean forward and sleep. Anytime that I contort myself tight enough to do it, he pushes back in his seat, which moves it a number of inches onto my head. Even when he gets up to use the can, he leaves his seat all the way back. It plays to one of my biggest pet peeves about people who are so ignorant of their lack of courtesy towards others. I could push my seat back to give myself room, but then I'll be doing the same thing to the tall woman in the seat behind me. He's seen my lack of space, and he doesn't seem to notice how rude it is. In fact, to type this, I have my MacBook's screen folded down over the keyboard, and I'm typing without watching the screen… he's *THAT* far back!
I dunno. Maybe it's the 8 hours of flight that have shortened my fuse. Maybe it's the lack of sleep. In any case, I can't wait to land!
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Well, we've landed in Frankfurt. We have a 4 hour layover, and Scilla and I have met up with Wil and Becca. We've been swapping flight stories, and now the conversation is meandering. I'm eager to get to the hotel.
But I gotta tell you guys about the bathrooms! (No, I didn't take pictures in the Men's Room. That's weird.) The stalls are über-private! (I think it's okay for me to use an umlaut because I'm in Germany). The stall doors and walls come down to about 3 inches off the floor, and the tops soar almost to the ceiling! There's no crack between the doors and the walls where you run the risk of being a sitting duck (nyuk nyuk nyuk) to a peeping Tom (or some crackhead with a camera in the Men's Room)! I thought it was pretty damn special. But then again, I really enjoy my privacy. :)
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We got on the flight to Ankara around 2pm. It was close to about 5am in California. I hadn't slept much, and I was looking forward to the flight so that I could hopefully get some sleep! I had a Window seat with no one in front of me, and didn't make it much past the takeoff. I slept, people... and I slept HARD! I didn't realize I was asleep until the meal service woke me up! It was good sleep, y'all. Only an hour, but it was BEAUTIFUL!
The meal was a Turkish dish (which was appropriate since we were on Turkish Airlines). It was rice with an eggplant that had been stuffed with cheese and chicken. Sounds weird. It actually tasted pretty good! :)
I catnapped here and there, read some of the book (which I'm almost done with), and stared out the window as we flew over Europe and the Black Sea. As we began our descent, we started to hit some turbulence, so the plane was shaking here and there. Nothing crazy, so I wasn't too worried. But this guy who was sitting in my row on the other side of the aisle didn't like it. He was pretty built, probably in his early 40's, and as we hit the turbulence, we would moan as he held onto his friend. It made me realize that being in a plane can be a very frightening experience whether you're a toddler or a grown man. I'm thankful I don't have any of those anxieties.
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We landed in Ankara safe and sound, and then began the Quest to get to the hotel. It didn't look too tough, and we got our Visas, made it through Passport Control, grabbed our bags, walked right through Customs (it's nothing like it is in the US!), and then started looking for our driver. We didn't see him. Apparently, he was waiting outside, and in the process of finding him, we had exited the airport, but then had to go back in for our things, so we had to go through Security again. But it wasn't a big deal, and soon, we were speeding down the streets of Ankara to our hotel in black Volkswagen Passats. After a few close calls (I'm not joking here, people... 4 inches from another car at 120kph!), we made it to our hotel.
It's a nice joint... the staff is friendly and the rooms are clean. The beds are a bit small, but that's expected. Our room has a beautiful view of the Kocatepe Mosque, the largest in Ankara. And after traveling for 26 hours, it's a welcome sight.
We put our stuff down, freshened up for a bit, and then we were back on the street looking for food. Our concierge suggested a street for us to check out for restaurants, and we walked in the drizzling rain eager to take in Ankara.
Well, it was a bit quiet. There weren't tons of people, and I'm guessing it's probably because it was Sunday night. We walked around, watching the soccer fans cheer loudly as the game played on the TV. We found the McDonald's, the Burger King, and the Starbucks, so we're good. It's practically like we're back in the States! :)
We settled in on this restaurant called 'Mangal.' It was clean, there were cloth tablecloths, and the waiters, although they really didn't speak English, were very helpful. The food was good. I got lamb kabob, and for dessert we got shredded oven-baked pastry stuffed with soft cheese, and topped with pistachios while swimming in syrup. It was delicious! To top off the experience, we were sitting in a covered patio portion of the dining room, so the dripping rain pitter-pattered on the tarp roof, playing us its song as we ate our first meal in Ankara.
As we finished the meal and paid, we walked back to the hotel, stopping at the ATM to grab some local currency. We're now back in our rooms, and we've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow. We're going to visit the Cappadocia region... a cavernous section of Turkey about 4 hours south of Ankara. We'll be spending the night there tomorrow, but we'll be back in Ankara on Tuesday night so that we can be rested before our business visits start.
Have a great day, folks. Be safe and be kind.
With love,
SoJo
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