MAAHABRA... mne za voot Danielle

I knew it was going to be a long flight when I got on the plane to find that I was sitting in the window seat next to a nice old hippie who smelled just like what he was... old and like dirt. Luckily though, there was a seat behind us that was free and he decided he wanted that seat instead (maybe he thought I smelled like deodorant)... so that meant I got two seats to myself! What a nice man.  

Let me state here, and I am very serious when I say this, EVERYONE should fly on Turkish Airlines sometime in their life.  Even if its just to fly to Istanbul and turn around to come back... they are the best airlines in the world. They give you a nice care package with a sleeping mask, some matching green socks (the kind with grippies on the soles, so that you dont slip if you needed to walk around the plane), some ear plugs (so the old hippie doesnt wake you with his snoring), some lip balm (because the recycled air that is blowing on your face is rather dry), and some headphones (unfortunately mine were broken, so I didnt get to watch any of the movies)... speaking of movies... I tried to look through the new releases to see if there was anything I should watch... 90% of them were Turkish movies, the other 10% were not new releases.  And by that I mean... the Man with the Red Shoes, which I believe was made in the early 90's with Tom Hanks (Ya, I have never heard of it either). Regardless, that was disappointing. So fly Turkish Airlines.

After I found out that I couldnt (or just didnt want to) watch any of the movies I popped a Tylenol PM and fell asleep comfortably cramped on the two seats I was allotted.  I awoke to the pleasant smell of B.O., airline food and greeted in Turkish... MAARHABA!!! It scared me a bit because I didnt know how to respond. So I reacted by saying "O yes" and proceeded to take off my sleeping mask (yes I wore that and the socks), put my tray table up and bring my seat back to the upright position just as she was handing me some of that delicious food that I had smelled. I was overwhelmed before I had even taken a step in a foreign country.  So, I laughed at myself. 

Then we landed and I got my guitar and bag and walked out into the Istanbul Airport.  They must have had a Turkish speaking translator who translated their signs because they were not very helpful.  I went to the wrong place 3 times before I was able to get to my last flight to Antalya. The first sign I saw said "Transfers", so thinking it meant transfer to your next flight, I went there... wrong.  That meant international transfers as I found out from the nice man who was yelling "NO" and pointing the other way.  So I looked in the direction of his finger and saw the second sign that said domestic transfers, in a much smaller font size than the "TRANSFERS" sign.  Then the domestic transfers was broken into 3 lines, Turkish Citizens, visas and no visas. I went to the no visas line and bought my visa for the hefftty price of $20 (kind of sketch, the woman just took my $20 and stamped my passport, no receipt or words exchanged). 

Then I found my way through a lot of people (who apparently couldnt see me because they just pushed me around) to a gate that was hidden behind a restaurant. I got on the plane and got into the Antalya airport where a cute little man with a sign that just said "Daniella" was waiting for me. I said "Foxhoven?" and he looked at me with a confused smile and said some words I did not understand but one of them sounded like part of the name of my hotel, so I smiled and said "Si" which is spanish, not turkish. I laughed at myself. 

I will tell you more about our days as they go on, but just to ease the mind's of my family members... our schedule is this:

7:45 breakfast

9:00 leave for training

9:30-10:30 pass one touch

10:30-11:30 practice two other drills

12:30 eat lunch

3:30-5:30 train

7:00 eat dinner

8:00 go to sleep 

Thanks for checking in!! 

Cheers and MAAHABRA!!