Long Day to smell some Cocoa?

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Wake up at 5:45am. Shower, finish packing and grab some grub before my 6:50am pickup. Arrive at airport at 8am. Check in Malev Hungarian flight from Rome to Budapest. Flight leaves 30 minutes late. Plane lands at noon. My next flight is already boarding. I run to the gate realizing it just started to board. I grab a sandwich to go. I pay 2000 something or other for a sandwich and drink. I ask how much that is in US dollars - apparently $11 or so. I had no idea what the currency was in Budapest… I was in the country for approximately 38 minutes. I get on a shuttle bus that takes me to my plane. Up we go on time - another Malev Hungarian flight (kudos to this airline). The flight is about an hour and 20 minutes to Istanbul. I sat next to a giraffe on the plane. Literally a woman who had her knees in her neck. I fell asleep. I wake up to a weird noise. The giraffe is blowing snot on my arm. YES. She has one finger over one nostril and is blowing without a tissue. I instantly said - you are disgusting. She turned her head. She wasn’t speaking English to her friend; however she was reading the Economist which was clearly in English. No idea of her nationality. Best I don’t, I might hold it against her country (JK). They serve sandwiches on the flight (whoops - who knew!). I land in Istanbul around 3:30 in the afternoon. The time zone changed. It is now ahead another hour (I am now 7 hours ahead of NY). I stop to get my Visa for $20. I then spend a long time going through customs. All the characters landing in Istanbul were all over the map. The hold up was a group of 4 men all on different lines in shiny suits and pointy toe shoes. They weren’t Turkish as it was the international line. 3-4 people starred at their passports. They all did start speaking in Arabic - but their outfits - including their ties were super odd. I pick up my luggage and check into my domestic flight to Kayseri. I use my priority pass for some free internet. There was an entire food buffet. I wasn’t even hungry which is shocking. I board my plane at 6pm. We take off on time and arrive at 7:30pm. My driver was waiting. I travel with 2 girls from Hong Kong. It was about an hour drive to Cappadocia. The smell in the air was debatable. I think I was in heaven… We all agreed it smells like cocoa powder. All I saw on my drive was 1,000’s of stars. I smiled the whole way to my cave - my new home for the next 3 nights. I finally had a solid sleep. It feels like a treat being by myself right now. It was super peaceful. I did meet 2 other Americans who are staying in the room diagonal to me. They are both from LA. Turns out one of them used to work for the same company as me - Mediavest - but she worked in the west coast office. We didn’t play the name game. Not interested. We made plans to meet up for dinner as we both have different activities planned during the day.

I also met a nice Jewish couple from Kew Gardens on my flight from Budapest to Istanbul. The lady (who was in her 60’s) said she didn’t know me at all - but she was proud of me for traveling alone. It put a smile on my face.

Did I mention this was one of the longest days of my life? Oh… and I am under the weather. I mentally have told myself repeatedly that I will be better ASAP.

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