That one time in istanbul

Going to Turkey for a weekend was not the best idea. Honestly, I should of stayed longer! I would’ve never expected my experience, especially when it started out in the weirdest way. 

  Once off the airplane, I wasn’t sure if I had a ride to the hostel or not. There was a mixup with emailing the Hostel about a free shuttle, but as I was walking out the door of the airport, I saw a little lady holding a sign with my name on it. I thought that was a big relief until she had me wait by the road and walked off. she gave me the sign to hold up so the van would come get me. I was super confused because it was taking entirely too long, so I put the sign away and started to feel uneasy. 

   That’s usually the time that I listen to my gut and I figure out another ride, but that wasn’t the case because I couldn’t even fine the area for the taxis. I just sat there and waited until a sketchy leather coat wearing guy came up to me and asked me if I was Jon in very broke English, I said yes and he said to have me follow him to the van. Now I’m losing my mind, but stayed very calm. Once we got to the van, I noticed there was another Turkish family waiting by the van as well.  I just assumed they were getting a ride to their hostel too. It took a bit to drive to the Hostel and the sketchy driver, now with multiple phones up to his face, kept on talking to random people while driving. 

   At one point there was a moment of silence and I mentioned to him that I noticed that there was a lot of police activity on the roads near the Hostel. Apparently that’s all I needed to say and the guy smiled at me and proceeded to tell me everything about the city, all in Arabic. I just nodded and smiled back. Once at the Hostel I turned around and noticed that the family that was going to another hostile was now very angry, but the driver was very happy to help me get my bag and even gave me a hug before I walked in to the front door.

 The rest my time there went very well. The workers in the Hostel were beyond helpful and became good friends. There was a pack of Auzzie‘s that were staying in the hostel as well that let me join them in taking tours around the city and even went out to the clubs at night as well.

  It was only 3 days in Turkey, but I believe that I’ll be there for round two in the near future.

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