Saturday, May 30, 2009

Tuesday, May 19

Goodbye Pirate's Beach Club! We enjoyed our time, and the kids enjoyed the bunk bed while we cleared out the room.




11:30
Arrival at Kemer Otogar after fueling up the rental car

11:31
Call rental agent to find him and hand off keys. No receipt (fis) or ID of the man who comes to take the keys; Brian wonders alound whether we just bought ourselves a Renault Clio.

12:00
Kamil Koc loads and departs for Ankara.
Four seats and 5 people (we had a fifth seat half of a bus length away, for a female, so it was not ideal--we never used it). 2 of them were entranced in Nintendo DS games literally the ENTIRE ride. One of them was miserable with a snotty nose and bad coughing on top of sore abs from water sliding so much. The other two shared the remaining seat and tried not to drive each other crazy between snoozes, playing with the baby in the seat in front of us, and snacking.


12:30
Arrives at Antalya Otogar for more passengers. The bus stops, we're settled already and just started the journey so we don't need bathroom breaks. We wait onboard. The temperature starts to rise. 23 degrees. 24 degrees. 25 degrees. I'm too hot. But I'm sure we'll be leaving soon. 26 degrees. 27 degrees. Wow, we really need to leave soon and get the air conditioning going again. 28 degrees. I'm finally ready to wake up Aeden just to get off the bus and breathe again when the driver comes on board and starts up the A/C. I made it, and Aeden is still sleeping. Awesome.

12:30-5:30
A blur of digital clock numbers, thermometer readings between 21 and 23 degrees, snoozing, and snacking. Only one beverage service and two water services from the bus line. This is not the "Royal Class" that Brian and Rob used to Istanbul. No TV distraction for Aeden either.

5:30
We stop for fuel. I think the photo of the pump speaks for itself:



6:00
We stop at a cafeteria/bus station for dinner break. The food is not looking good, but the kids eat some rice and baked chicken. I'm not hungry, but I know I haven't eaten anything all day and can feel the grumpies and shakiness coming on, so I eat some rice with beans and down some coke. A stop in the bathroom reveals only squat toilets, so I decide to wait until the next stop.

6:30
Back on the road. The sun is down and the A/C was turned off. But now the temperature keeps climbing. 23 degrees. 24 degrees. I'm too hot and grumpy and so ready to be done with this trip. 25 degrees. Come on with the A/C!

6:30-9:30
Aeden's wound up and I'm out of patience. 25 degrees. Only 3 more hours. 24 degrees. Only 2.5 more hours. 24 degrees. Still.

9:30
We stop just outside of Ankara to let off some passengers. We can see the city in the distance and it feels wonderful to know that the trip is almost over. But still 24 degrees.

10:00
Arrival at the Ankara Otogar. The happiest time of the 10-hour ride? Those precious minutes of having the temperature below 23 degrees Celsius. Yes, I know this is ridiculously cool for me to be complaining about the heat.

The bus is parked so close to the next one that people can only go in between to get luggage in single file. It is warm and stuffy even outside. I'm feeling rather doomed that the next 6 weeks are going to be miserably hot and wonder how we're going to cope.

We load up a taxi and arrive at our apartment. It is not hot, but not cool either, and is covered inside with a fine dust and sprinkling of pollen blown in from outside while we were away. I put the kids to bed and take a cold shower to cool off before heading to bed for sleep. What a day.

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