"Squeeze the World"
Friday, November 03, 2006
I'm back and safe
But... This could have been me. Fortunately, it was a mere 3 1/2 hour wait at Ben Gurion before we found our luggage. It was really quite an experience.
Back in Antalya, things were slightly confusing, but not terrible. They combined the two flights going to Tel Aviv, so we had quite a delay, then there was chaos with the seating. For example, my ticket told me to sit in row 39. We got onto the plane, looked, and only saw 38 rows. I checked in the back, but those were just toilets. Soon, we started hearing the same complaint from various other people, and we were told to just wait, "we do have a seat for you. However, another bus just came in and we were in the way. So we kept finding empty seats, then got booted as the rightful owners came forth. We were the most passive of the misplaced passengers. Generally speaking, Israelis feel that their opinions and complaints are necessary in every occasion, and express them loudly and at least three times.
This was also demonstrated in the baggage claim. After going through our various interrogators, we came into a room filled with yelling and singing. The yelling was circulating around the information desk, and the singing was off to the side. A large circle of men had apparently been there way too long and were amusing themselves with songs and clapping, one man jumping on his luggage cart to emphasise different phrases.
Half of the carousels weren't operating, and between each were long piles of unclaimed suitcases. We walked through the different lines then joined the ranks sitting around the room with blank faces of despair. We scanned the internet for more news, but my battery was dying so we ate the remaining Turkish Delight. Fortunately, it was announced that we could leave the room and return within 4-5 hours if we showed our passport and boarding pass. We ended up in the "Bye and Buy" upstairs, and after hanging around and eating falafel, went back and wandered more. In time we found our bags, and there was great rejoicing as we made the trip back here.
In all, it was a great trip, and definitely quite the experience. Though Antalya is great, I would probably recommend a different part of Turkey with more available sites of interest, and at a different time of year.
Back in Antalya, things were slightly confusing, but not terrible. They combined the two flights going to Tel Aviv, so we had quite a delay, then there was chaos with the seating. For example, my ticket told me to sit in row 39. We got onto the plane, looked, and only saw 38 rows. I checked in the back, but those were just toilets. Soon, we started hearing the same complaint from various other people, and we were told to just wait, "we do have a seat for you. However, another bus just came in and we were in the way. So we kept finding empty seats, then got booted as the rightful owners came forth. We were the most passive of the misplaced passengers. Generally speaking, Israelis feel that their opinions and complaints are necessary in every occasion, and express them loudly and at least three times.
This was also demonstrated in the baggage claim. After going through our various interrogators, we came into a room filled with yelling and singing. The yelling was circulating around the information desk, and the singing was off to the side. A large circle of men had apparently been there way too long and were amusing themselves with songs and clapping, one man jumping on his luggage cart to emphasise different phrases.
Half of the carousels weren't operating, and between each were long piles of unclaimed suitcases. We walked through the different lines then joined the ranks sitting around the room with blank faces of despair. We scanned the internet for more news, but my battery was dying so we ate the remaining Turkish Delight. Fortunately, it was announced that we could leave the room and return within 4-5 hours if we showed our passport and boarding pass. We ended up in the "Bye and Buy" upstairs, and after hanging around and eating falafel, went back and wandered more. In time we found our bags, and there was great rejoicing as we made the trip back here.
In all, it was a great trip, and definitely quite the experience. Though Antalya is great, I would probably recommend a different part of Turkey with more available sites of interest, and at a different time of year.
A, 6:39 AM
