Yep! you read that correctly - I'M FREE!!!!!! YAY and YEE-HAW!!!! Goodbye to you , my 4-walled prison of a hotel room...i'm outta here!!! well, not for a few days, but heck - just KNOWING that i'm finally going to be on the road again sends shivers down my spine and has thrown me into a tailspin of packing, organizing and planning. Yes, I'm not leaving for 3 days, but one can never be TOO prepared :). Plus, the packing and the organizing and everything else gives me something to do to help pass the time....
Here's the tricky part though.....its a great trip.....lots of flying as a passenger on other airlines, and VERY little actual working...but you see, I'm in a rather small city known as Leipzig, Germany, right now, and I have to get to an equally smaller city known as Adana, Turkey. Ahh...there's the rub. Neither city is an airline 'hub', so in order to travel from one to the other, I have to make a trip damn-near halfway around the world, to go what is approximately 1500 miles. Usually, a trip of 1500 miles would take around 3 hours or so....but not this trip....THIS trip is going to take me more like 16 hours! I have to start in Leipzig, fly to Frankfurt, Germany on Lufthansa, switch to Turkish Airlines, get on another plane and fly to Istanbul, Turkey, then switch planes once again, to finally make it to Adana, Turkey. I don't mind the flying so much - I'm getting paid the same as if I were actually WORKING all those flight hours (a little bonus thanks to our wonderful union contract). What I DO mind, and worry myself sick over, is the whole "checked baggage issue". You see, when you travel for what could end up being a 6 week long trip, you tend to carry a decent amount of luggage with you (I mentioned this before). And while I do have some flight atttendant friends who, bless their little old efficient souls, are able to get everything they need into 2 smart, carry-on size bags.......I, dear friends, am not one of those people. I have STUFF. and LOTS of it. I'm not ashamed to admit that I carry what we lovingly refer to in the biz as a "Big Bertha" bag. The name explains it all......it's a honkin' big, clunky and overstuffed piece of luggage wonderfulness. I swear by mine....and let me tell you folks....it is PACKED. and then some. I don't know why I've never had the presence of mind to downsize, but everything I bring with me always seems so important and "can't live without". So, "Big Bertha" stays by my side........usually. And ahhhh, there's the rub.....again.......you see, when you travel with a 'big bertha', you have one huge hurdle (and sometimes your worst nightmare)...you have to CHECK your bag. Normally, this isn't a huge deal. 99% of the time, your baggage will arrive with you, just as it's supposed to. But think about it.....I'm transiting 4 airports, on 3 different airplanes, and 2 different airlines.....the odds are against me. BIG TIME. Needless to say, the praying to the 'luggage gods' has already begun. With any luck (and trust me, there's a LOT of luck involved in the whole process), Big Bertha will be there with her fine self, wobbly wheels and all, waiting for me when I arrive in Adana. I'm not Catholic, but I think its about time to start busting out some 'Hail Mary's". Anyone got a rosary I can borrow???
So I'm heading to Adana.....I'm excited since I haven't been there in awhile.....Turkey is such an ecclectic, magical place.....A frenetic mix of VERY old world charm and the newest of new technologies. Its nothing to see a pack-mule, weighed down with a peasant's day's worth of wares to be sold at market, waiting at a traffic light while a fresh from the showroom, brand new Ferrari, rumbles its engines beside it. A glittering, mirrored Hilton Hotel, shining brightly in the sun, standing right next to one of the oldest Mosques in the region....hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years old. Its common to see the latest fashions on so many finely, immpecably dressed women on the street, and yet, if I want to enter any of the Mosques in the city, I am required to don the 'hijab' (or headdress/veil of the Muslim culture). Without it, I am not allowed to step inside. Such a fantastic combination of the Old World and the New....
One of my very favorite things to study and learn, as I travel this great Globe of ours, is the customs and culture of a place I'm going to be visiting. The little nuances, the idiosyncracies, the requirements, the expected and the unexpected.....This is always so surprising, and enticing to me....to learn how and why a land of people live as they do.....Culture and Custom are always this delightful melange of historical fact and fable, tales that found their way into tradition, and so on....These things never cease to amaze and entice me...and I can never get enough of it. It all goes back to the Traveler vs. Tourist mindset. As a true Traveler, I want to get in with the people of a country and learn not only the history of their place, but to learn more importantly, how and why they live their lives the way they do. This is the TRUE essence of a place and I love every bit of it.
On my very first trip to Turkey 5 years ago, I was waiting for a coworker friend of mine in the lobby, and struck up a conversation with a local woman who had just begun working at a nearby shop. (I've found that conversing with locals is the absolute BEST way to find out about a place - forget the guide books - the locals are "where its at"!) I asked her if there was any advice or suggestions that she would give to me, being that I was not just new to the city, but new to the entire country. After telling me of some local historical monuments I should explore, I asked her if there was anything, culturally speaking, that I should know of, before I headed out to see her fair city. She said "Yes. There is one very important thing. If you are ever offered a beverage, such as tea, in a shop, you should ALWAYS accept this offer and sit down to enjoy your beverage with the shopkeeper. It is considered a rude, 'slap in the face' - so to speak - if you decline this offer of refreshment. Always remember this.", she said. I thanked her for her suggestions, met my friend, and departed for my exploration. As we were leaving, I thought of this woman's advice, and since I had spent NO time, thus far, in this part of the world (I was new to my airline and the cities we travel to), I began to think of a typical shopping experience back in the States. When, had I EVER been offered a beverage by a shopkeeper? maybe once? twice? in my lifetime? So in my mind, it seemed to reason, that such an offer would probably be few and far between here in Turkey, as well. Boy, was I WRONG. Our first stop was a Turkish rug store I had heard a great deal about from my coworkers, and wouldn't you know it? We weren't in the front door 2 seconds, before the owner of the shop was ushering us to the back room, which doubled as a 2nd showroom, and was offering us tea, coffee, Coca-Colas and little cakes to go along with our liquid refreshment. I smiled at the thought of my "new" friend I had met at the hotel and her advice, and thankfully accepted a delicious cup of tea and a little cake. Instantly, EVERY single worker in the store was lining up in front of us, each with his own personal choices of different rugs, in every color and style.....it was like Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive....We sat, enjoyed our refreshments, and THEY brought the store to US. I was in heaven. And then, something even more surprising happened....the owner offered us his nephew to be our tour guide for the day. Insisted, actually. Our meager attempts at a "No, thank you, that won't be necessary" fell on deaf ears. It was decided. The nephew was going to be our escort for the rest of the day, and that was all there was to it! When we mentioned that we wanted to visit the beautiful mosque down the street, the owner of the shop quickly jumped into action, returning quickly with 2 of the most beautiful silk scarves I had ever seen (gifts, he stated, as a "welcome to his Country"), so that we would have something to wear on our heads, so that we would be allowed to enter the mosque. I was beyond touched. And what was so interesting to me was that all of this just seemed to be the 'norm' for the owner, his nephew, and the other employees of the shop. Just another day to them. Not for us, though. Not at all. People say "Its the little things in life that make the difference". These were "little" things to our new friends...."little" acts of generosity, kindness and friendship. But they were SO not "little" things to my friend and me. I was once again, forever changed. And all because of a cup of tea.
So, with Ahmed (the nephew) as our tour guide, we set out to venture around Adana, and wouldn't you know it? EVERY SINGLE TIME we stepped foot in another shop, the same offer of refreshments was bestowed upon us. I was blown away. What a lovely tradition. And one thing is for certain....it made me re-evaluate how I have, and forever will, greet and welcome foreigners to my OWN country, the USA, and how I only hope I can bestow upon these "new friends" the same amount of kindness, generosity and friendship, that was so unselfishly bestowed upon me.....in one of my newest, favorite 'little' cities - Adana, Turkey. But enough about that....i've been in 6 shops and have had 6 cups of tea and DESPERATELY need to find a Ladies Room!!!! :) Damn, i wish i knew how to speak Turkish!!!!
Ta ta for now....
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