turkey; istanbul

{Monday November 4}

Our last day has come :( ..I woke up with an upset stomach this morning so I curled up for a little longer. We went for breakfast around 7:30, but I just had a slice of cucumber, a bite of plum and half of a tea. After breakfast I laid down for a while, but then decided to go for one last walk.. 

Old Aqueduct

We walked towards the aqueduct, but we couldn't see much more walking than by driving by. After that, we stubbled across a three storey plaza with several home decor fabric stores. I was quite excited to find this and was really hoping there would be some leather there as well, but unfortunately it was all home decor. 

From there we walked back towards our hotel and stopped a a shoe store and a couple other shops. There was a pair of boots that I really liked but they didn't fit. I did get myself a new cardigan tho, it's a nice navy knit with chiffon in the back for $15 USD. 

We got back to the hotel around 9:40 and finished packing up, then headed downstairs for our shuttle at 10am. Apparently the shuttle got changed to 10:30 and no one told us, so that was a waste of time. 

We ended up getting to the airport at 11, so leaving a bit later wasnt a problem. We had to go through security before even entering the airport, then we were able to proceed and get our tickets. The guy said that there was no more seats in economy so we got put in comfort class.. Not sure if that's the same as first class or not but we shall find out soon. 

After getting our tickets, we went through passport control and another security check. From there, we had about an hour to walk around the airport before our flight. I bought myself a Tshirt that says Istanbul on it, and used up what was left of our lira. 

I'm still not feeling very well, so I then sat down with our stuff while mom went for a walk. 

We had to go through 2 more passport checks before we took a bus over to our plane. Sure enough, we are in almost first class!  Comfort class is between business class and economy class. We have big cozy lounge chairs, complete with footrests and wide armrests. I was a bit upset to see that there were no tvs, as I was planning to spend a few of the hours watching a movie. 

It took me a good ten minutes to figure out that the tv folds out of the armrest, as does our tray table and a reading light. Quite handy actually, so now I'm excited for the flight. 

We were a little late leaving, taking off at 2:24pm.  It was a sunny 19 C when we left Istanbul. 

We had drinks, roasted hazelnuts, hummus, grape leaves, lunch (chicken or salmon), more drinks, dinner (salad or pasta), more drinks and cake throughout our flight. I didn't feel like eating much and I lost whatever I had eaten somewhere over Greenland.. So that was fun.  At least it was really nice to be in comfort class because there was lots of room to curl up and be comfortable. 

We landed in Toronto around 5:40 to a dark 6 C.  Mom requested a wheelchair for me; i felt a bit ridiculous but it was quite efficient getting through customs.  Once we picked up our baggage, we met Dad and my brother, and were headed home around 6:30pm. Amazing how 2pm and 6pm suddenly had 10 hours between them. 

All in all it was a wonderful trip, with many memories to recollect, and many many pictures to now sort through.  I am very glad that I chose to this experience for my birthday this year; I can now say that in my 25 years I have travelled to 25 different countries.

J. 

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