Six days in…
So, how do I feel six days in to our journey?
The first feeling I notice is a warm sense of pride in us as a little group. We have been dealing with constant new, sometimes difficult, sometimes very challenging situations…from my head injury on day 2 (which still bloody well hurts!), the three flights of narrow stairs to our room in Amsterdam, the trains being late on the way to Bucharest – being woken in the middle of the night by border guards (twice!), no reservation for the train from Bucharest to Istanbul – (we arrived on the 19th and the first full bookable one was on the 24th). After a few minutes the woman selling the tickets offered us a ticket for the first quarter of the journey and said to ask on the train…a train with no air conditioning for nearly 20 hours that broke down…
AND, we have been so helped!
Helped by our new German friend Maria who negotiated our entire passage to Istanbul in Turkish, with five or six different negotiation points – most of which concluded with ‘we will see!’ ‘Everything should be okay’ …and it was …apart from the incredible heat, and of course the train breaking down in Dimitrovgrad for over an hour and an ear splitting whine being set off by a door being opened that should stay closed apparently, but the second person who went out of his way to help us, Metin, our train guard, had buggered off because he could see the writing on the wall with the broken coupling and he’d gone for a walk, a smart move for a man who spends his life on a train! …he did come back in the end to turn it off and he was warm, kind, protective and efficient the whole journey!
How do I feel? Blessed to have the family I do, pretty tired, excited to be in Turkey because they love cats so much 🙂
…when we arrived at the border at 2.00 a.m. and had to get up and take all our luggage off the train to put it through an X-ray machine (!!!) we found four cats on the platform waiting to greet us…the best cure for my girl who yesterday was grieving the fading of the little scratches Tequila (her cat) had given her before we left…
Adventure comes at a cost, but every day feels like twenty and I can tell I’m properly ‘alive!’
It’s going to get harder and harder to upload posts as we get further away from home but writing them helps when I miss you…
Ahh it’s so lovely to get your updates. I’m also glad to hear the the Turkish cats have been welcoming and that you’ve met sone great people already. Xxxx
Sooo many cats! Rosa is going to write a cat blog tomorrow and share the hundreds of photos we have of cats…she literally can’t walk past a cat without stroking it! How is your holiday?
Wow. You’ve had so many adventures already in a short time and got so far! Loving the blog, Shannon and glad Rosa has had a good feline fix Angie and I have had an interesting trip up to York ( Let’s go by train, we said, it’ll be so much more restful than driving!) But here now and eating on the bed with views over the Minster. A genteel adventure! Will be following you every day and sending you all wishes for easy and fun experiences and safe travels. Heaps of love to you all ❤️❤️ Kathy xxxxx
Oh Kathy, train travel eh? Literally the only train that has arrived on time since we left was the 6.41 from Castle Cary …but it sounds like your adventure North wasn’t quite so straight forward…!? Hoping that you are going to have some rest and culture…and we love Istanbul, for cat lovers it’s paradise 🙂 x
Oh I’m loving these posts pleeeeeeease keep writing them. You 3 are just so amazing and inspiring. xxx
how’s your poor head now?
Huge love to you all
Delagh xx
Awww thanks Delagh,
I actually can’t believe that it still hurts…I decided there must be something seriously wrong with me, and that I was going to have a big lumpy bruise on my head forever…but it’s a bit better today 🙂 xx
So enjoying reading your journey together. I experienced a similar all off and put luggage through x ray machine in North Mexico several times when coming to CA. So pleased you get to visit your family in Australia. Wishing you magical adventures
Thanks Josie,
Australia feels like a VERY long way away …but tbh I never really thought I’d get this far so what do I know 🙂
Xx
And wishing you a great birthday next week