It isn't bad music. But the playlist needs updating.

     I really struggled sleeping on the flight over.  Probably due to the timing of it all.  I went +8 hours which isn't a big deal in and of itself, however the majority of the 8 hours fell over my normal awake time anyhow.  I tried to sleep while reading. I tried to sleep while watching movies.  I tried to sleep while listening to music.  I tried to sleep not doing anything. This was the worst because I could almost hear the seconds ticking away in my head as I sat there attempting to not engage in anything.

Two hours is all I slept.

     The flight was great, though.  Really enjoyed breakfast, which was some sort of cheese and spices stuffed pretzel bread.  Or something.  I don't really know, and I didn't ask.  Got in a little late, but that was due to leaving JFK late because of the rain and winds.

     So, I had printed up directions to my hostel (Bahaus Hostel).  For some reason, a lot of people familiar with the movie Hostel (executive produced by Quentin Tarantino) seem to think my experiences could end up like that.

Courtesy Lion's Gate films, 2006. All rights reserved.

      It has never ended up like that.  Hostels are great places to stay.  Cheap, entertaining, located in great areas of the places you want to visit.  And rarely contain psychopathic murderers, to the best of my experience.







 

     Where was I?  Oh, yeah. I had printed up my directions and a map.  Everything I needed to get off and on 2 different metro/ trams, through the stations, and my short walk past Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque) to Bahaus Hostel.  I check this thing out repeatedly as I'm going along.  Get through the first metro stop and switch to my tram.  Everything is going great. I keep checking out my notes.  Still going great.  The stops are flying by to where I get off: Sultanahmet station.

     So, what do I do?  Get off five stops early at Aksaray.  I don't know if I was sleep walking or what, but then I start heading down the street, as if I had gotten off where I was supposed to.  I probably went the better part of 1/2 a mile down the road before I decided I was not where I was supposed to be.  So, now what?

     'Scuse me while I whip this out.  And I pulled out my notes again and tried to read with my puffy, sleep-deprived eyes. After staring at it for just under five minutes, I realized what I had done.  Which made me feel a whole lot better about the fact that nothing seemed to match up with my directions.  Getting lost and taking a wrong turn aren't the same thing, fortunately.

     I made my way back to the station and finally made it to my stop.  My extra jeton (subway token) it took to board again only cost me $1.14 (about 1/2 the price of Chicago CTA), so it wasn't too expensive a lesson for me to learn.

   And after a nap, I am having a beer in the bar here at the hostel. All they had was Tuborg, but it's not Turkish (it's Danish). So, I will have to wait until later for some local beer.  And our "bartender" (I think it is just a title, as he is just the guy who twists the cap off my beer) is in control of the music.

Which is fine, but sort of outdated and inconsistent in it's ability to create any particular atmosphere.