turkish delight, an intro

i don't think i have made any secret of the insanity of my life lately, and i was frankly starting to wonder if it was some kind of sign that i shouldn't come to turkey after all. (and don't try to pretend like you don't believe in signs like those.)

but, despite all the odds, i got everythıng done and there i was, friday afternoon, at the airport and ready to go. and then i was feelıng pretty good about the whole thing. (signs, schmigns.) i had two pounds of red vines in my bag, a good seat on the plane (though not as nıce as busıness class seat my friend shane, who happened to be on the same flight to paris, snagged. the stinker), a nice seatmate and i fınally decided to breathe a sigh of relief and let everything go besides the awesome trip in front of me.

a little nap, a football movie that made me cry (and don't try to pretend like that never happens to you), some dinner, a call for a doctor on board, another nap, and then we were suspiciously descending even though i was pretty sure paris was stıll many hours away.

as it happens, i was right and we were, in fact, touching down in montreal. the call for a doctor on board was to attend to a passenger who had a seizure and then went into cardiac arrest at the back of the plane, and we were diverting to montreal to get him off. and no, they were not shooting an epısode of house. it's cool though. i had never been to montreal. plus shane brought me his fancy business class toiletry kit as a little diversion condolence gift.

what was not cool was that the delay meant i completely missed my connecting flight in paris, as well as my joyous reunion wıth dana. i won't lie and say i dıdn't contemplate just headiıng the sign and catching a flight home and bagging the whole thing. because i dıd. but instead i got on a flight to instanbul later that day, made it wıth no problem and was joyously reunited wıth dana at our hotel instead.

i feel like i got the better deal, though, as dana was not joyously reunıted wıth her luggage until a day later.

and so, the trip began.

now, i have loads of really great pictures to show you of stunning mosques and crowded markets and piles of exotic spices and charming ruins, all taken on a super-fancy camera that becky lent me. the only trouble being that i stıll haven't figured out how to get pictures off that fancy camera and onto the computer. so, you'll just have to wait for all of that.

not to worry, though. i thınk you can do it.