The beast is out and packed and this time only weighs about 9.4 kilos, or about 20 lbs. Not too bad for packing for 2 different climates!
Our flight over was interesting! Aside from leaving at 8:15 am, which meant that we had to be at the airport at least by 6 am, there were issues with issuing us seats, we had a strange “family” sitting behind us which consisted of a young mother, a toddler, and an older young adult, (late teens, early 20’s) with some cognitive issues. The toddler was a screamer, a high pitched, caterwauling-earth-shattering-keening that would just erupt suddenly when he, the toddler, was prevented from getting what he wanted. That coupled with the older one’s muttering of strange phrases such as “you smelt it, you dealt it” over and over again. The mother’s tone of voice never wavered, always soft, soothing, and frankly, freaky. Fortunately for us the toddler fell asleep for about 1/2 of the flight and the older one was totally into his movies. The issues began in earnest when the toddler, “Jamesie” awoke from his nap and decided that everything that “mummy” offered was responded to by an emphatic “NO, NO, NO, NO, NO...”, then high pitched scream!
There should be a separate area for people traveling with small children, as this just becomes a more and more frequent occurrence and annoyance. (I’m hitching up my pants and wagging a finger right now in a curmudgeonly fashion.)
As we are getting ready to exit the plane and are gathering our things, I am putting on my jacket and notice the aforementioned young man starting at me. I turn my back to him and finishing getting dressed. When we reach baggage claim, I notice him getting off the escalator and he then jumps out from behind a pillar and says hello to me. I’m thinking, Jeez, of all the luck, I’ve got a guy tailing me who is a bit daft.
We exit without further issue and hit the subway. We were fortunate in that there was a tube stop close to the hotel. We only had to make one change and that was for only a single stop. As we are walking to the hotel, so much was coming back to me. Bill, Johnny, and I stated in this hotel about 10 or 12 years ago!
We checked in and headed out for a quick bit as it was about 10 pm local time. We hit the place on the corner, a Turkish place, called Tas. We have eaten there before and it was as good as we remembered.
At a table behind us was a larger group of about 8 Americans. They were really loud. Having cross conversations and virtually shouting at each other their observations. This led me to comment to Bill, “Jeez, Americans are loud!”
The room is small, compact and well designed. It was so nice taking the pack off and getting to lie down. It was a little tough to fall asleep, but I finally succeeded.
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