On our way to Konya…eventually

I had booked the tickets on the inter rail app…that’s what you do…that’s the joy of inter rail tickets – you can just turn up and get on the train!

 

We arrived early and after we had queued for twenty minutes to get through the x-ray security, and then queued for ten minutes to reach the ticket check… we found out that the train requires a ticket, a paper ticket…!

 

Obviously I moved swiftly and efficiently to the ticket office without any visible signs of stress or incomprehension, and when the ticket office told me that all the trains to Konya were full for the next two days I, of course, remained very calm and walked back to explain the situation to Rosa and Theo…

 

I didn’t then go back to the ticket office and cry at the man behind the counter, telling him in English, which he didn’t speak, that we had hotels booked in Konya, how could the train be full? …nor did I eventually have to be gently but firmly moved to one side by the person behind me in the queue. When I went back to Theo and Rosa again I didn’t cry for a full minute at the shock and embarrassment of not knowing what to do next in a country where I don’t speak the language…it was all a quick shrug of the shoulders, a nonchalant ‘we’ll be fine’ kind of shrug hey! ‘que sera sera’, and then a small smile that said ‘oh well, these things happen.’ 

 

NONE OF US GOT STRESSED AT ALL!

 

…so what happened next?

 

Well the crying meant I could think clearly (that is what our flippin’ emotions are for after all!) …we needed to see if there was a bus and make friends with the ticket counter people to see what might be possible. Theo asked someone for the Wi-Fi code and she leant me her hotspot (thank you kind stranger!) – the buses were across the other side of a very large city, took 12 hours and cost £20 each so we were now back to a charm offensive with the other ticket office man, (who hadn’t said all Konya trains are full for the next two days)…out came iTranslate on both sides of the counter (he had it too) and we agreed I could come back at 13.55 to see if there was any space at all on the 15.54 train to Konya.

 

When I went back to the window (…at exactly 13.54) he began clicking on the website update button…he must have done it over 100 times before he got it to work (more kindness which I thanked him for at the end, via iTranslate :))

 

That lovely man got us two tickets with our inter rail tickets and one in business class which Theo enjoyed because you get free tea! …and tbh Rosa and I preferred the seats in the other carriage…

 

So we made it to Konya and our next adventures await us – Rumi, Catalhoyuk and a tropical butterfly house…and I have two sets of paper tickets in my bag for the rest of our time in Turkey!

 

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: The train moving off from the platform in Istanbul…

 

LOWLIGHT OF THE DAY: Stubbing my toe on the way to the toilet in the middle of the night (…or perhaps missing the train?!)