Leaving Istanbul

My heart was certainly heavy as I took the final metro ride to the airport. I had an extraordinary time and saw numerous amazing things. It was a remarkable learning experience, one in which I collected a number of impressions that I am sure will be with me for the rest of my life. On the other hand, I found, as I am sure many travelers do, that I was getting slightly weary of the language barrier and the difficulty of conducting simple tasks. I was also getting a little lonely as I had not really spent any significant time with family and friends for almost seven months. In addition, I was getting anxious to come back and start working again. I had an abundance of time to reflect and relax so the draw of productive enterprise was a feeling of growing urgency. Yet, it was still difficult to leave as I was having to say good bye to Sirin.
The departure itself was a most miserable and frustrating affair. When I got to passport control I was made to scurry all over the airport to pay a 94 YTL (lira) fine for being one day late. As I was doing this I was loosing my mind with the absurdity and frustration of the exercise, especially as it was encroaching on my ability to catch my flight on time. Fortunately Sirin kept her head and got me through, but as usual, the people that we were dealing with spoke to her in Turkish, so not only were we put through this miserable affair, but I really did not know what was going on. She definitely showed her strength at this moment.
Shortly after I got on the plane there was a general announcement that the plane was indefinitely delayed, although we were not told the reason. After waiting two hours we were then instructed to leave the plane and were poorly directed to a place for ‘complimentary refreshments’. Still not knowing anything, we were then told that we had two options, to cancel our flight or be taken to a hotel to wait until tomorrow, as the flight was cancelled. I shouldn’t say that we were told, it was actually what we gathered from talking to each other and grilling the clerks who were doing whatever they could to avoid talking to us. From that point on we were told basically nothing and had to discover any information ourselves. As I had a couple of connections, there was no way that I could cancel, so my only choice was to wait. I tried to get some information about some possible other options, as I did not need to go to England nor the airport that was closed, but by that time the airline (British Airways) had abandoned us to a local company who could barely speak English and knew nothing. All they were to do was to bring us our luggage and bring us to the hotel, which was a slow, laborious and disorganized affair. The hotel was nice, but it felt like a prison because we could not really go anywhere for fear that we would miss some important information which never really came. Later on in the night I received a couple of notes under my door telling me to be ready at 5 to be brought to the airport. The next day I did manage to get to the airport on time and caught a 12 hour flight from Istanbul to Chicago (why couldn’t I have gotten on a flight like that the day before?). I ended up safely in Winnipeg latter on that very long day (I gained 8 hours, so the day was 8 hours longer than a normal day). From there I had to immediately drive to Regina, for my brother was getting married the next day. So after 32 hours of continuous travel I arrived in Regina and managed to get a couple of hours sleep before the wedding. I know- I shouldn’t have left coming home to the last minuet.

General Impressions

Because Turkey was the first place I have been to outside of North America, she inevitably bares the brunt of not only my impressions of her, but also of international travel in general. Therefore many of the joys and frustrations I had there are more than likely similar to what they would be in other countries. But as I lack the basis of comparison I can’t help but attributing them to Turkey.
First of all I experienced incredible hospitality. Many people were excessively generous even if they did not have abundant means. On the other hand there was also a persistent dishonesty amongst the merchants and restaurateurs, which regularly left me with that empty feeling of being ripped off, and caused me to be far more guarded and distrustful than I normally like to be. However, I think that part of it was that the manner of buying and selling goods is probably the one aspect of their society that differs the most from ours, so it was one thing that I never quite became accustom to. There are few price tags on things, which leave the merchant an extra advantage of judging what they think they can get from the tourist. On our part we really need to know what things are worth, which is hard to because we can’t see the prices anywhere, which means we have to be constantly asking, which is subtly discouraged, for if you talk to anyone they pressure you to buy the product from them.
In some places the country is extremely beautiful, for the actual area is probably one of the most perfect places to live geographically, agriculturally and climactically (which accounts for why there have been so many wars fought there for the territory). Nevertheless, the country is best with all the other problems associated with over population: including crowding, garbage everywhere, endless urban sprawl, and thousands of unfinished buildings. A good part of it feels like one is living in a construction zone.
Most of the people that I talked to generally liked it as I did, but also notice the same problems. I would recommend traveling there as I think it is still relatively undiscovered compared to the rest of Europe. I will likely try and go back myself, although it will take a while to overcome the bitterness I developed based on my experience leaving. I got the impression that they are not too fond of Canadians as our travel visa was two or three times as much as the next country and I am sure that the fiasco that I had to deal with was due to my being Canadian.
I have really enjoyed writing this blog as it gave me a chance to share some of the remarkable things I saw and did with others, giving me a greater sense of connectedness with my friends and family whom I missed dearly. It also gave me a chance to reflect on what I was seeing and doing, which helped make it a richer experience. And finally it helped me to recognize a newly found enjoyment in photography, which I hope to expand in the coming years.
If this is the first entry you are reading I would suggest going back to the vary start and selectively go through the entries that interest you most. I don’t expect anyone accept my mother to be interested in everything, but I am sure that there are things here that would interest most people that know me.