Waylaid in Istanbul

Wednesday, December 18, 2019
İstanbul, İstanbul, Turkey
1/18 - Okay, so the travel adventures started early.  The flight out of LA departed an hour late and I only have a one-hour layover – not good!  As a cherry on top, there was a 300 pound guy next to me spilling over the armrest.  Luckily, I was still able to sleep most of the 13 hour flight to Istanbul.  Sure enough, I missed the connection and had to rebook for tomorrow, same time, which now means I need a 2:00am pickup from the airport in Rwanda and immediately head out on the four-hour drive straight to the national park in Uganda to start the gorilla trek that same morning!  That is, if I can get in touch with the safari people while in the Turkish airport with a crappy Wi-Fi connection. 
We got shuttled to our hotel for the night and I was able to exchange emails with Insight Safaris and arrange for the change in itinerary as well as cancel my pick up from the Kigali airport to the hotel I was supposed to stay at tonight.  So, it’s all set (…hopefully).  Mental note – never book a one hour layover on an international flight!  I met Abraham, an Eritrean living in Las Vegas who was off to see friends and family in Uganda.   He had to escape Eretria after being denied an exit visa and now would be thrown in jail if he ever returns.  He told me stories about hacking the Wi-Fi outside the gates of the South Sudan embassy to get online and his mandatory military service after school.  Sounds like a tough country to live in.  We made plans to sightsee Istanbul tomorrow if we have enough time – our return shuttle leaves at 4:00pm for our 7:30pm flights.
1/19 - The airline booked us at the Park Inn, a Radisson hotel about 30 minutes from the airport.  Crashed right away and got up around 8:30 local time for the free breakfast.  Nice buffet with (yay!) Turkish stuffed grape leaves!  No sign of Abraham so after two double cappuccinos, I went to the room and got my book.  Back in the lobby I saw Abraham and we decided to share a cab to downtown.  We got dropped off by the Blue Mosque, now under serious renovations, but still an amazing structure. We walked past the Hagia Sophia and down allies lured by the aromas of roasted corn, fragrant hookahs, and sizzling kebabs… and of course the ubiquitous carpet merchants.  Why don’t they believe me when I say I like my hardwood floors?!? 
          We wound our way up through the narrow streets to the Grand Bazaar – possibly the world’s oldest shopping mall!  Hundreds of stores, shops and stalls selling hand-woven carpets, Turkish delight candies, aromatic teas – said to cure everything from arthritis to your love life!  We passed clothing shops, coffee shops, and lamp shops – some with dusty, old brass oil lamps that I swear a genie would pop out if you rubbed them.  We stopped for some fresh squeezed pomegranate juice, then cabbed it back to catch our shuttle to the airport.  No issues this time – other than trying to get as much sleep as possible on the flight – big day tomorrow!         
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