The Labors of Bucephalus No matter how tedious life at times could become, one look out the window was enough to remind me that not far away, the world-and adventure-were impatiently waiting.-R. Morse

Midnight train to Istanbul

TURKEY | Friday, 1 February 2008 | Views [1191] | Comments [2]

Our overnight train to Istanbul via Thessaloniki began at 8pm Wednesday,and at 9am, we are beginning to enter the fringes of this massive city of 16 million. The train ride consisted of initial hopes of meeting new and exciting people (nope), and finally giving up and going to sleep. Here's a rough intinerary:

11:30pm-asleep

2:30am-Awoken by Turkish official for passport

2:40am-asleep

2:45am-awoken by Turkish official to return my passport

3:00am-asleep

4:45am-awoken by Turkish official to exit train and purchase visa in God knows where.

5:00am-asleep

5:15-awoken by Turkish official for luggage check (this consists of me opening the top of my pack, very thorough)

And 5:30am-glorious uninterrupted sleep.

So we are in Istanbul right now, and things got a little hairy last night...more on this later.

Tags: On the Road

Comments

1

Hey Jason! Your mum passed this on to me this morning. She must be proud as we all are. This is just incredible...the site, your trip, your eloquent descriptions. What an awesome thing for you to experience! I wish you much fun and safety, prayers all around you.
Love ya,
Mel
p.s. On the 29th, all the schools were closed in central Wisconsin because the morning wind chill was at -47!!

Melony Holleran Feb 2, 2008 1:08 AM

2

Hi dear son,
It has been awesome reading about all of your adventures! I thought you and Andy might want to avail yourselves to a organization called CouchSurfing (www.couchsurfing.com). People can search for a prospective host in the country they'd like to visit. Hosts display pictures, interests, and info about their accomodations on the Web profile. You can stay for free and it sounds as though people get alot more out of it than if you go the hostel/tour guide route. Maybe you can't line it up with such short notice but I thought it might be worth a try.
Suvee was purring and eating at the same time today. Pretty cute.
My prayers are with you and Andy for safe journey and a splendid experience!
Love
Mom

Mom Feb 4, 2008 8:16 AM