8/2/25
In the morning we watched Apple Cider Vinegar while eating the two remaining pastries. They were just as good as they looked. We would be awestruck by their deliciousness for a while. Packing was playing on our minds. We really needed to get it sorted out. Looking at the Thai Airlines baggage policy, which we think applies to us, we figured that the green Surly and the baggage would be within our allowance. Then we’d pay for the black Surly separately.
Our clothes would go in the carry on bags. Then everything else, that wasn’t mashed in the bike boxes, would go checked baggage. Which is panniers encased in the rubbish thin bags. Took way longer than we fancied. By about 2pm we were sort of done and had worked out the distribution of load.
We walked to Taksim square. One of the sights in Istanbul we hadn’t yet visited. It wasn’t particularly exciting or unusual. A crapload of kebab shops, one actually named ‘Bambi’ and some monuments. We swiftly walked through the square and then went to find a hire car to inspect. We wanted to work out if the bike boxes would fit inside.
It was a long way down through Maçka park. It was so far down and then back up that there was actually a cable car that operated to get you safely across without exerting yourself. It didn’t seem to be running but we wouldn’t have used it anyway. We didn’t have a tape measure and instead used a credit card, they’re about 85mm long, to determine if the bikes would fit. It seemed possible. We also found a friendly yellow taxi driver who let us look inside his vehicle. That also seemed like an option, they were quite spacious.
There was even more rain. We walked down a hill to the edge of the Bosphorus with the desire to get the bus home. Our bus took ages to arrive. None of the fancy departure board information was up to date. Buses arrived that weren’t even a possibility according to the screen. Weird waste of what should be good infrastructure.
Our bus finally arrived. We made stir fried rice again. We were craving it for some reason. It was probably a reaction to having nothing but bread for such a long time. We watched some more Dragons Den. Then we tried to watch the Recruit but ended up watching the humorous Spenser Confidential and eating the rest of the birthday cakes.
It was hard for us not to become increasingly anxious about our upcoming journey. We seemed to have developed a fear of flying. Probably a normal result of not flying for so long. It’s just normalisation. Or maybe hyper normalisation?
Surly They Won't Make It 