Istanbul to London

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After another good night sleep we were up, out of bed and ready to do final packing for our flight to London. The last two and a half weeks in Turkey have been a fabulous experience. We have seen such wonderful sights and met many friendly locals. The school children were always ready to find out where we came from and wanted to try out their English. Every time we tried out our few Turkish words the locals beamed and helped with pronunciation. The traffic was chaotic but everyone seemed to know who was doing what and the only accident we witnessed was on the motorway coming into Istanbul a few days earlier when a small van rolled.
We decided to have the hotel breakfast today. It consisted of tomato, cucumber, local cheese, olives, boiled egg, basket of bread, butter and cherry jam. Not our normal breakfast but pleasantly interesting.
It was time to check that the shuttle had been booked, it wasn’t, and that the 11:00am departure time would get us to the airport by 11:55am for a 1:55pm flight departure. “Of course, no problems”, was the response so we paid our 10 euros and hoped all would be well. After a final pack and check that nothing had been left we took the one person two bag lift down to reception and had time for a quick final photo shoot of the local surroundings.
Back at the hotel we had time to chat with the owner, who was now our friend for life because we were going to spread the word about how good his hotel was. First impression three days ago had us wondering but the room started to grow on us. For 40 euro a night we had a very comfortable bed, the room had recently been decorated, and the hotel was within easy reach of all main attractions. Ear plugs were certainly a benefit but the busy days meant we were always ready for sleep.
The shuttle driver arrived on time and the only seats available were up front. It was hoped the drive would be better than the previous taxi ride. Problem one – the van wouldn’t start. Oh dear not a good start. Problem two – I handed over the pre-paid ticket which caused much consternation and phone calling. After a few worried moments I realised I had handed over a tour receipt not the shuttle ticket. Smiles all round. Problem three – the street was a dead end. Things were not going well. With a deep breath we kept our nerve and trusted the driver. After about twenty minutes we were driving around the end of the airport and within half an hour we had arrived. All our worries were unfounded and we entered the airport with smiles on our face.
Once we had passed through full security check No.1 we checked in with British Airways, through Immigration and found the Duty Free to use up our last few liras. Then it was security check No.2 and boarding. The flight to London Heathrow was uneventful and we arrived twenty minutes ahead of schedule. Then it was onto Immigration where a most pleasant Officer welcomed us to UK, heard a brief version of our future travels and wished he could join us. We collected our bags, through Customs and into the arms of daughters Joanne and Catherine and a warm welcome from Paul. And the weather: a brilliantly warm 26 degrees.
Welcome to London.

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