Susan Corbin

May 20, 2024 Monday

Istanbul airport

Turkish Airlines was king in Istanbul, so we got a tunnel at a gate from which to exit. We didn’t need to pick up luggage since we only had carry-ons, and Becky’s bags were checked through to DFW. We arrived at the Istanbul airport at 6 a.m.; however, our flight from Istanbul to DFW wasn’t scheduled to leave until 2 p.m. Thankfully, O.A.T. provided us with a day room at a Yotel.

Let me remind you that Istanbul Airport is beautiful and enormous, which can be confusing. When we exited the plane, we ran into Josephine and Ebony. Since we all had Yotel rooms, we went together to find it. I must admit we let Josephine lead us. She seemed so confident she knew where she was going, but she did not.

Security again

She did indeed find a Yotel, but she found the Yotel outside security. We were supposed to go to the Yotel inside security, meaning we had to go through security again to get to it. While that seems to be a time suck only, it turned out to be more for me. My little carry-on bag got flagged by the security scanner. I had no idea what the reader could have seen that they didn’t like.

Another person rummaged through my bag, pulling out various pouches I had packed. She unzipped the bag containing the sleep mask and warm socks, opened the bags holding my medications, and finally inspected a toiletries pouch and a small bag within that containing my manicure tools (it was like nesting Russian dolls). Her hand appeared from the bag holding a metal Diamond-Deb fingernail file with a quarter-inch, pointed tip.

She looked so pleased as she examined its extremely dangerous, tiny tip. I stared at her in disbelief and may have actually squeaked, “Really?!” However, I know better than to argue with security personnel, especially in a foreign country, so I meekly allowed her to take that hazardous manicure tool and toss it into the waste bin. Sigh. I repacked my bag, and we were off.

Yotel found

We finally located the inside the-terminal Yotel and checked in. Our flight was at 2 p.m., and Yotel requested that we check out by 1. We said goodbye to Josephine and Ebony, as they were catching different flights than we were. Josephine was headed to Boston and Ebony to JFK. I truly enjoyed meeting them and wished them many more years of friendship and travel. Before heading to our rooms, we decided to grab some lunch before the flight and agreed to meet at 11:30.

For the five of us, O.A.T. had booked three rooms: Micah and I together, Sam and Becky together, and John alone (as were all our rooms on this trip). The powers that be at O.A.T. did not want two minors sharing a room. I understand that, but seriously, we would not do that. Becky got the solo room, and right next door was the room with Micah and Sam in it. John and I had a room just down the hall.

Inside our Yotel room

I loved the Yotel room. It was all white, modern, and small. As you walked in, there was just enough space for the door to open a few feet before reaching the bed. The bed is what I call a “bend-y” bed, with the head of the bed higher than the foot. When we entered, the bed’s head was raised. The bed slid into the space at the end of the room when lowered. The head had to be raised to get past the end of the bed. A flat-screen TV was on the wall at the foot of the bed, and the remote was on the small table beside the bed. At the far end of the room was a place to put a bag on the right, and to the left was a small shower and toilet.

I used the bathroom and flopped onto the white bedspread. It was deliciously comfortable. The room was comfortably cool, with no windows; once you turned off the lights, controlled by a space-age panel next to the bed, it became wonderfully dark. I didn’t change clothes; I kicked off my shoes, curled up with my head on a pillow, and napped. My sleep from midnight to 6 a.m. on the flight from Addis to Istanbul hadn’t been great, and the extra rest at the Yotel was just what I needed. John slept, too.

Wakeup time and lunch

The boys woke us up with knocks on our door because it was nearly time to grab lunch. They were always eager to eat. We gathered our things and searched for a place to eat in the concourse. I wasn’t looking for anything fancy, and we found a row of fast-food spots upstairs. We agreed that hamburgers and fried chicken fingers with fries would hit the spot, so we headed to a familiar place: Carl’s Jr.

The young woman at the cash register spoke some English, and my Turkish was nonexistent, which created a bit of a communication barrier. At the time, I thought we communicated our order effectively. I paid with a credit card, which I appreciated since I was nearly out of cash—whether Ethiopian Birr, Turkish Lira, or US Dollars. She gave us a number, and we sat at a table near the counter. When she brought our order, I realized we hadn’t communicated clearly after all. We ended up with an extra burger. Fortunately, Micah is a growing boy and managed to eat his burger and half of the extra one we received.

John’s phone rang with a text sound, and he glanced at his phone. He said, “That meal just cost us $90.” Certainly, airport food is pricey, but wow. When I ordered, the prices were listed in Turkish Lira, which, like Ethiopian Birr, are four-digit numbers. I hadn’t bothered to do the math, but honestly, if you think about it, I doubt any food at that airport would have been much cheaper. Lesson learned.

Find our flight

After we ate, we headed to the gate for our flight. Boarding was easy. We found our seats and had plenty of room for our carry-on bags, so we settled in comfortably. The seats in our section didn’t fill up for a while. Each seat had a plastic bag containing a pillow and a blanket. I waited for the row across from us to fill with passengers, but it never did, so I snatched an extra blanket/pillow bag from the seat across from me.

The seat next to me on the aisle remained vacant for a long time. I imagined being able to spread out on that seat during the 12-hour flight. Unfortunately, that was not meant to be. A man around Becky’s age, or maybe a little older, eventually sat in the seat. Behind us were three early-teen girls, and at least three more were across the aisle. I suspected the man next to me was a chaperone for these girls, traveling with a woman in a different section with several more girls. I never asked what they were going to Dallas for. It was probably an interesting story.

Dinner And Sleep

We were served dinner, and then the flight crew dimmed the lights to help passengers sleep. The girls behind us were loud and rambunctious for much of the flight. I was glad to have my noise-canceling headphones to listen to a book, which blocked most of the noise.

I’ve learned how to fall asleep on these long flights. I put on my noise-canceling headphones and a sleep mask, then lean on John’s shoulder with a pillow between my head and his bony shoulder. Finally, I tuck the extra blanket and pillow under my lower back for lumbar support. I play a previously listened-to book while trying to fall asleep. The book entertains me when I’m not sleeping. Since I know what happens, I’m not kept awake by curiosity. I know I fell asleep if I wake up and find I’m in a different part of the book. It works for me. I probably got four to five hours of sleep during the flight, maybe more. It’s hard to tell.

The flight attendants served a somewhat edible breakfast, and finally, we arrived at DFW around 6:55 p.m. I suppose the meal wasn’t breakfast, but more like dinner. We said goodbye to Becky and the boys at the terminal side of the airport, and they headed off to collect their bags. Kevin was on his way to get them.

Off to Austin

John and I still had another flight to Austin. We considered driving to Dallas and leaving our car at their house. We could have stayed at their house that night and driven home the next day, but ultimately, we decided we’d much rather fly to Austin and just be done with traveling on that day.

Before we left, John booked a flight from Dallas to Austin at 9:45, giving us nearly three hours for our layover. Since the flight to Istanbul was on time, I suggested we go to the American Airlines terminal to check if we could catch an earlier flight. Having all our luggage with us made it easier.

We took the tram from the international terminal to the domestic terminal, where the American Airlines flights were located. Sure enough, there was a flight that left at 9 o’clock. I asked at the counter if there was room for two more. The woman at the ticket counter said she’d take our names and see what she could do.

However, she informed me that the plane leaving at 9 o’clock had experienced mechanical issues and that the flight crew had timed out. They were waiting on fresh pilots. Oh, that could be a problem. Still, I gave her our names and thought we’d figure it out as we went along.

Waiting at DFW

I got us a meal that, honestly, I can’t even remember what it was. We ate and watched the situation with the 9 o’clock flight. It kept getting later and later. Finally, we decided to take the flight we had already booked. I told the person at the counter to remove our names from the list, and we moved down to the gate of our original booking.

We got off smoothly, and the flight from Dallas to Austin was quick. We’d left the car at home since we would be away for 22 days. Taking an Uber was cheaper than parking at our usual airport lot. Although we had never taken an Uber from ABIA, I knew where the pickup area was. John had the Uber app and ordered us a ride. By that time, it was midnight. Thank goodness some people stay up late to get folks like us home at (to me) an ungodly hour.

Uber home

ABIA has done a good job providing a place for Uber cars and riders to meet. They’ve dedicated half of a parking garage floor to this. The pillars are labeled with numbers and letters. You tell the Uber driver where you are waiting. The app tells you what car and driver to look for, and then you wait. Our first ride cancelled on us for no reason we could discern, so John ordered another. That one showed up and took us home.

Yes, it was 1 a.m. Central Daylight Time when we got home. The garage door was closed and opened for us with the garage door code. Yay! John stopped the timer on his watch when we got in the house, and it had been more than 47 hours from Bahir Dar to Austin. I didn’t write down the exact number. All I can say is that it was a long-ass time to travel. Whew!

Home!

John set the AC to cool, and we got ready for bed. Unsurprisingly, we went straight to bed and fell asleep. The jet lag in the days that followed wasn’t too bad. Mostly, we felt sleepy before 8 p.m. and vowed not to go to bed until 8. That’s not too far off from the 8:30 we usually “circulate,” as John calls it. I typically read until 9:30, when I turn off the lights. Those first few days at home, I likely turned the light off at 8:15.

We were glad to be home and to pick up our dog, Sadi, from our friend the next day. Unfortunately, Sadi experienced too much stress and/or excitement and had diarrhea for the next two days. I finally took her to the vet on Friday. He gave her some Kaopectate-type medicine and a pill to soothe her upset stomach. I fed her chicken and rice, and she loved that. Then, I had to wean her off the chicken and rice and back to her kibbles. She wasn’t pleased about that.

Back to normal

Our sleep and the dog’s intestinal tract returned to normal in a week. We created wonderful memories and accomplished what I wanted to do. Our adopted grandchildren may not know their family history, but they at least have experienced their homeland.

This marks the conclusion of my writings about our travels to Ethiopia and my aspiration to publish them. What’s next, you ask? I’ve asked myself the same question. I have decided to return to working on a memoir I began several years ago. I plan to pause my Substack publications until after the end of 2024. I’ll share family stories in the new year (January 6, 2025). I suspect there will be a few travel stories interwoven in the mix.

Thank you for reading my musings. I wish you a fantastic holiday. See you next year!