Arrive 3 Hours Early for International Departures

We hadn't yet purchased our tickets to fly back to Istanbul, but at 10:30 AM we found out there was a plane departing at noon. We were 45-50 minutes away from the airport, but we thought, what the heck, let's go for it. Our work in Cyprus was done. We arrived at the airport at 11:20. After standing in the ticket line for ten minutes, at 11:30 we bought a ticket. We then ran to the check in, checked our bags (while the KTHY employees played with Boodah), went through customs, and made it to the plane - the last ones on at 12:02. They held the plane and let us on because they thought Senor was so cute. Unbelievable!

As we boarded the plane, the pilot opened the window and said to Dawson, "Why aren't you carrying your baby. This is not the Turkish way. You should be carrying your baby." He said it in a friendly way. But it is a very interesting cultural difference we noticed. The dudes really were goo goo ga ga over Senor. Like you'd imagine a kindly old granny to be. Everybody was into Boodah generally, but what most amazed us was the dudes' reactions. I mean, on the flight over, dudes were intercepting Boodah from women who wanted to hold him.

It was a stark contrast to the States, where nearly everybody ignored Senor's presence, playing the "I don't see you, you don't see me" game. Is there a baby on this flight? Hmmm, I don't think so. In fact, I'll just stare straight ahead and ignore the whole world.
The exception, of course, being kindly old grannies.

On the flight back to Istanbul, we played the "draw a picture on the puke bag and guess what the saying is" game. Here are a couple of examples. We won't deprive you of the joy of deciphering them for yourself.

1) Saying.


2) Place.

3). Saying



Bye Bye Cyprus!


The most interesting thing about the flight was they required Boodah to buckle up.

Since we made it on the early flight, we basically had nearly a full extra day in Istanbul. We spent it on the subway, the tram, and the funicular, getting to our lodging in the Taksim Square area (Beyoglu). This was a big change - it's a vibrant pedestrian area and packed with people as far as the eye can see.


Mister was a little tuckered out, but he did enjoy some subway music and contributed to the musician's fund.


Our final night culminated with a tasty Turkish dinner that was "not too expensive" as the waiter explained to us. Without being shown the menu, food started arriving. Mostly it was food we didn't want. We should've been clued in by the "not too expensive" statement, but we were starving and distracted by Senor, who was making the rounds in the restaraunt. When the bill came, it was 160 yurtles. Obviously, we had been scammed. But the waiter didn't know who he was dealing with. Dumb big whitey? No way. Don't mess with Genevieve!