ISTANBUL! Day 1

Oh my gosh. SUCH an exhausting day of travel. But it turned into a beautiful night of exploring by the end!

I woke up around 5 to make my way to the airport for my 11 AM flight. Tragic, right? But I'd been told numerous times to get to an Israeli airport 3 hours early to ensure time for security clearance. I soon found out why.

So I took my public transportation to get to the airport, and in true Aubs travel form, I got there 4 hours early. Seriously, this happens all the time.

I go into the first terminal I see, thinking that it might be my flight--and I get bombarded with questions by a suspicious airport agent.

"Why are you here? Who are you with? What's their last name? Where are you going? Why are you going? Where are you from?"

My sincere reaction

I was about to cry. Which was not helping my whole not-a-terrorist thing.

And then--after all that--it turned out I was in the wrong terminal.

Lord help me.

"Why are you in this terminal??? Who told you to come here??? Why are you so early???"

AHHHH IM SORRY, I SWEAR IM JUST PUNCTUAL AND ON TIME, IM NOT A BAD PERSON, PLEASE DONT ARREST ME. 

I think my sincere panic and remorse convinced them of my innocence, so I was free to make my way to the correct terminal.

But that wasn't the end.

After more questioning, there was the searching of my bags. As in they emptied the entire backpack and tested every item for bomb residue?

"You sure read a lot, don't you?" said the TSA officer after seeing my three books for my three-day trip. Yeah, I guess you could say that.

Then there was the passport control booth to get out. Then the exit visa check. And finally, I was at my gate!!--two hours early.

The flight was uneventful--except for the airline charging me for coffee, ugh--and Turkey customs only took like 1 hour--as unopposed to 30 minutes, since I literally chose the longest line.

We (my two fellow interns and I) jumped on a shuttle with 6 other people to get into Istanbul more quickly than through public transportation--except it took THREE. FREAKING. HOURS.

Get me outtttt. But finally--FINALLY--we were at our beautiful hostel ready to explore!!

We saw some beautiful sights, made some friends (aka a nice Turkish fisherman) and some enemies (aka a shoe shined that tried to con us then persisted to grope us when we refused to pay-- uh uh, oh no, Sabrinas daughter was NOT standing for that. He got a firm talking-to, a finger wag, and no money.) We explored the books and cranniers of the harbor, and tomorrow we plan on being total tourists!! From here, I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Beautiful Istanbul street--a mix of European and Asian. 

So happy to be eating dinner after 9 hours of starvation!!!

Making friends with the wild animals of Turkey. Named this cat Pacific, because, of course, I have to name every creature I encounter. 

Crossing from Asia to Europe--and staying in the same city!

My first ever Turkish delight--in Turkey!

Our nice dessert spread

Watching the sun set

This Turkish fisherman saw me taking pics of the water and offered to let me hold his line. I convinced him to join in the pic with me. He was stoked about it.

A stunning mosque light display right as the sun set. 

It was a wonderful night that started off our trip perfectly. So excited to see where the next few days take me and my friends!!

From Turkey with Love,

Aubs