Friday 9/9 Leaving Istanbul... Heading slowly back home.
We woke up in time for breakfast! How exciting. I was not a big fan of the selection but Alli was loving the olives, fresh tomato and feta cheese. We had already secured the shuttle from the hostel to the airport, so we sat outside the hostel enjoying our last moments in Turkey. When the shuttle arrived I thought, "wow all this space just for two people... Cool" After all we had just as big of a van pick us up days ago. .. What did we know. Flash forward an hour or so, and the people were stacked on top of each other, weaving and backing up through narrow streets. Alli and I became very nervous about us actually catching this flight.
We exited the van and dashed inside the airport. Security check right there, of course Alli got stopped.... Everyone is baffled by her harmonica. Then we buzzed around, found information.... Tried the e-ticket, once, twice, three times... By the fourth go we knew this wouldn't work. We ran to the check in counter and took a number.... 20 numbers were ahead.... There is no way we will make this flight with less then 45 minutes to go. Alli had the idea to go to the baggage check in.. The man kept saying, "you are late, you have no time" and we babbled that we knew, but he checked us in. With a couple more worlds of run... We sprinted to where he said, (might I mention that I chugged several things of water at this point... So I was uncomfortable for sprinting)
We dashed through the airport and saw a huge winding line for passport check. Omg! We are not going to make this flight! We went to a security personal and he sent us further down the corridor. We ran, and found ourselves at a second long winding line... This line looked to take over an hour to wait in! At this point I bust out in tears. Alli went to the police and the one guard on duty sent us to business class line which only had about 7 to 10 people in it. With a sigh of relief we entered this line... But an attendant looked at out ticket and kicked us out... More waterworks, and the police and the attendant were yelling at each other in Turkish, but in the end the police woman won and we reentered the business class line.
My discomfort-level was rising, but we started to have hope that we would make it. Alli got through first and told me our plane was in "final boarding, we HAVE to run!"... We took off down the corridor, tears starting to well up in my eyes. By the look of the signs we were 18 gates away, and this airport was HUGE! Panting and slightly sobbing, clerks shouted as I passed," why so upset miss, I will help". But I could not hear them, I was trying to keep what little of my vision I had left on Alli's backpack and hat.
By the time we made it to gate 204 I broke down entirely, trembling and now openly weeping as I handed my passport to the guard. He asked me what was wrong and all I could get out was, "(sniff)....I.....(sniff) I"m..... (sniff) laaaaaate!" He said don't worry go ahead. We threw out bags through security again. Not without the next personal asking me what was wrong, and honestly that just made it worse. How having completely emotionally and physically drained myself...(and honestly Alli wasn't in much better of a state) we boarded the plane. I threw my backpack at Alli in the seat and marched to the back of the cabin towards the restroom and splashed water on my face. oh my sweet Lord, I thought, You let us make it! And started to laugh to myself.
It took a while for the plane to take off, and by the time we were taxiing the shock of it all had worn off and we couldn't believe we made it. "Kait, honestly, why does everything have to be so hard for us!"' Alli said. We played cards, enjoyed the in-flight movie "Jump the Broom", and seriously enjoyed the meal. As the stewardesses handed us pony bottles of red wine, we could not stop giggling... We felt as if the earlier part of the day wasn't real... Like it never happened.
We arrived in Madrid determined not to let that happen again. We checked our baggage into some lockers at "left luggage" and with our prior madrid skills quickly bought passes for the metro and headed towards Tribunal. Weeks ago felt like years, but we knew we found solace there once... Why not again. As we exited the station we quickly regained our footing and headed towards our favorite street. There was a candy store there, where we were excited to buy Spanish candy for friends and family. One of the employees, Mexican by birth but working on his Masters in Spain, helped us grab the most authentic of Spanish candy. Being so grateful for tips on candy and where to hang out this evening we departed.
Down the road a bit was the square we ate in last time, we decided to go the opposite way and found €1,50 sandwiches and €7 cocktails. Deciding, "We deserve this", we plopped down. We tallied 6 sandwiches, 2 mohito's, 1 margarita, 1 bloody marry, and 2 caffe de leche's. Considerably happier we remarked at the dogs playing in the square, the copious amount of children, and the gaggle of people gathered around police men... Who ended up just checking lose ceiling tiles of a local building.
A stroll around the area just made us happier... What nice way to end out trip. This day has honestly and whole heartedly improved! After a duck into a dollar store, we found ourselves attracted to a small bar. We found our seats and looked at our menu....1€beers and 1,50 wine....there has to be a mistake.... But 2 waters a beer and a wine later we knew the the prices were right. We hunkered down at a table and played cards for hours... Keeping the wines and beers coming. The bar tender gave us things to munch on as well. We have noticed it is a custom to feed your customers at bars... What a concept!
Some of the happiest reflection and communication and many many hands of cards later. We decided since it was now after midnight, we should head back before the metro stopped running. The square we entered into after exiting the bar was packed with young people, sitting and drinking and taking. Now we had seen a couple of people in here when we passed before, but now people were spilling out into the streets, it was overwhelming. In no time flat we had hit the metro, and made our way back to the airport and retrieved our luggage. 2am.... 4 hours until the flight, and 2 hours until early check in.... We hunkered down in a corner... We are Not rushing around anymore!
<3
Kait and Alli
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