Day 9 Journal: On Plane
Sunday 10/9/05
We woke at 6:30 to get packed. At 7 a.m. the front desk called about our transport, but it was a mistake. We had asked for a 7:45 a.m. driver. We went upstairs for a breakfast on the terrace. Plenty of fruit, tomatoes, yogurt, cereal, boiled eggs and cheese, but very little bread (to Ang’s dismay) We ate and took some pictures. The terrace was quite nice in the morning facing the sun rise over the Sea of Marmare. We got our stuff and headed back down to go to the airport.
Jeff tipped the bellboy a little better today, even though his service lacked a little, and we were headed home.
This driver was relatively safe.
A security check was complicated, and we had a couple of lines and lots of stickers to get before we could check our bags. There was a final security checkpoint at the gate. The x-ray screener thought they saw a lighter, which actually was a camera battery. In the process of searching, they saw the waterproof matches and confiscated those. They are technically allowed, but who wanted to argue.
We boarded the plane before first class for once, and off we went. The plane ride has been pleasant. Jeff drank a beer and some wine and slept for 4 hours. Ang watched a movie and only tried to sleep the last hour and a half of the 11.5 hour flight. They played Bewitched and Batman Begins, which Ang liked. The food has been good and Jeff scored five or six cups of Çay.
There has been a strange old lady who Jeff can’t tell if she is American or Turkish, but she had a moment in the security line ahead of us arguing with personnel. On the plane she has wandered around talking to strangers. At one point she really upset an American woman who couldn’t see the TV because the old lady wouldn’t move. Jeff got a stewardess to lead her away before it got interesting. Later Jeff saw her talking about the American lady while standing next to her again. Not the best even for a crazy person.
We easily caught our connecting flight in Chicago, although it was farther away this time, and arrived in Little Rock at a little before 6 p.m. It took a while for our bags to come out, but we didn’t have to wait long outside before Melissa showed up to take us home.
— Jeff
