I took a free tour in Istanbul
Story time! This is just something that happened that I wanted to share with somebody. And who better than you fine folks?
So I'm supposed to be flying home for the holidays and everything is going great - there's no line at the airport, I have an empty seat beside me on the plane and the airline food is delicious. My plane makes it to Istanbul on time, and I head over to the business class lounge to wait out my layover in comfort. After spending 4 hours killing time on reddit, I casually meander over to my terminal at 8:35pm, only to find it deserted. Confused, I check the screens to see if the terminal was moved, and discover that my flight is nowhere to be found. More panicked now, I double-check my boarding pass and do a double-take - my flight was scheduled to depart at 8pm, not 9! I had just entirely misread the time on my boarding pass, and missed my flight.
After the initial panick and self-hating subsided, I made my way over to the transfer desk to sort the mess out. Long story short, I was able to get the same flight for the next day. I informed all relevant parties of my blunder and spent a restless night berating myself for my stupidity. I had planned to sleep through most of the extra 24 hours, maybe spend some time working (I had my laptop with me). I managed to get in an hour of sleep and woke up at an ungodly hour feeling disgruntled. I tried to let it go, since there was nothing I could do now to fix it, but my brain kept doing that annoying thing that brains do and reminding me of my screw up. Deciding I needed a distraction, I Googled "things to do at IST airport" and found out about Turkish Airline's free tours! Essentially, if you have a layover in Istanbul that aligns with their tour times, they take you out to explore the city, completely free of charge. Having to foot the $60 price for a Turkish visa gave me pause, but eventually I decided that it was better than spending a whole day miserable in the airport. I got the visa and away I went.
Honestly, it was the best decision I could have made. As soon as our bus rolled away from the airport, I felt a huge weight drop off my shoulders. I was smiling again and taking in the sights of the city. Over lunch I made friends with a few other solo travelers and we hung out throughout the walking tour, eventually breaking off from the main group and doing our own thing. It was amazing how quickly my mood changed. Getting out of the airport and out of that headspace was exactly what I needed, and I'm feeling refreshed for the upcoming leg of my journey.
I'm now back at the airport, at my departure gate, on time this time. Just wanted to share in case anyone else is having a shitty travel experience and needs an extra push to go out and do something that'll make you feel 100 times better!
Submitted December 19, 2017 at 04:06PM by Mishmashup http://ift.tt/2BfrFIE
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