Will we ever get back home to Türkiye?

2. 2. 24

If I’d paid €245 for night at the Levi Sokos I’d have been kicking off about having a kettle but no coffee or cups. Luckily I always have my own.

It was lovely to finally have a hairwash with no risk of frozen hair or pneumonia. Or hat hair.

A lot of researching flights…trains, buses..

We had looked yesterday when we got off loaded back into the Finland airport and had some options in mind, even possibly getting to Gatwick from Newcastle.

We’d been told our flight would be 11am flight, but now it’s 2pm, so that changed our flight options. We daren’t book anything in case things change again.

Breakfast was superb. Just a snapshot of the huge selection of goodies on offer.

A few photos of our surroundings, then at 9.45am we were all gathered for the 2 hour journey back to Enontekio.

Groundhog day.

Same boarding passes & same luggage labels from yesterday, same security staff, same lack of cafe options.

I chose this healthy option.

At 1pm we braved it and booked Pegasus flights via Istanbul from Manchester for tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile John was sending train and bus options from Newcastle to Manchester for later today. If we take off on time, 2pm, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t make the 5.15pm Flix bus from John Dobson Street Newcastle. John booked them for us bless him. He sent me some money too as I’m into my overdraft now.

Cabin crew all arrived. looks hopeful.

Let’s get boarding! At 1.45pm we finally began boarding and were told we had a 30 minute wait while they de- iced and a 3 hour 10 minute flight due to head winds instead of 2 hours 30 minutes.

Why? Just why? No other flights leaving, why didn’t they board us and de ice sooner? It was 2.45pm by the time we took off. People were not impressed.

Slim chance of getting our booked bus, but we have a long time to get to our Manchester flight. Don’t panic!

I don’t even care what it costs anymore, and thankful that John isn’t with me, coercing me into some remote flea ridden hostelry or making me walk.

The icing on the cake was vile aircraft coffee. But the chocolate was really good. 200g just vanished.

I began watching Johnny Vegas new Glamping series, that cheered me up.

We landed, or rather did a mega fast bump – other passengers were expressing concern at the speed before touch down. 5.45pm, minus 2 hours was now 3.45pm.

No one seemed to care that there was water coming down from overhead in the cabin. People blocked the holes with serviettes. Not our problem now. Not my fault as Gabby would say!

Super quick through passport control, speedy baggage delivery and we were on the 4.15pm metro to Haymarket, Near Central Newcastle.

Next challenge, find John Dobson Street, with no internet. Thankfully ther were big map boards dotted about and after a false start we were at the Flixbus stop with 20 minutes to spare. The nearest eatery was Five Guys Burgers, we both grabbed the veggie sandwich which was delicious.

Our Flix driver was lovely and friendly and assured us we’d be in Manchester earlier than the stated 9.15pm arrival time.

We only stopped at Leeds and Bradford, so much better than the Megabus and a bargain at £15.99.

We had slight concerns that our driver was talking to himself, still not 100% sure, but it was an interesting conversation. He’s doing his wheelchair boarding training on Tuesday, but they don’t know how it’ll be possible with the floor attachments, because they’ll either be stolen or thrown through the window! Really? What has the UK become?

We were dropped at Shudehill bus station, by the tram.

Went for a wee stop in the bus station a nice assistant gave us 20p as we had no UK cash. It was a prison gate set up to get in.

We were shocked by the sign saying that because of incidents, security staff now have body cameras and patrol the area. That’s shocking.

We needed internet to book somewhere to stay. First stop a bar with a huge burly security guy. But it was so noisy in there we decided to try the Arndale Centre over the road. Closed.

Ok, let’s get to the tram, get to the airport and find wifi there.

The tram was hilarious. Touch card point. But Carol wanted to buy a ticket. ‘Carol, we have 1 minute’ so neither of us tapped in and jumped on the tram and were scared by the £120 fine if no ticket sign.

People on board said don’t worry, but at the first opportunity Carol held the door while I nipped off and tapped 2 cards and nipped back on again. Not sure if it was lack of sleep, relief to be in the right town or general jet leg hysterics but we got the giggles.

A couple were sitting opposite, she was asleep on his shoulder, he kissed her on the head. So cute. They got to their stop, got off out of separate doors and walked off in different directions without saying goodbye. Very odd, and maybe they weren’t actually together!

A lady that had been sitting behind her and I caught each others eyes and shrugged. She then removed her mask sniffed the air and moved to another seat. She then proceeded to sit like this. More giggling.

To the right of us a guy who looked and sounded just like our coach driver, (was it him, off moonlighting to his Aldi night job?) began eating an Easter egg. From the top! He didn’t divide it in two. Who does that!!!

Off to the airport terminal to Greggs. Lived dangerously and tried a chicken pie. I’m a convert, no more cheese, beans and sausage for me.

John had sent some hotel suggestions, but they weren’t near the airport, so we tried the Premier Inn, but their site didn’t work and we couldn’t book online. They couldn’t confirm a price over the phone for just turning up. Great.

So we booked the Holiday Inn Express, dearer, but we get breakfast. Got an Uber, lovely friendly driver and a very warm welcome at the Holiday Inn. It was 11.30pm by now, 1.30am in our heads but we were surprisingly chirpy.

Home is another step nearer. John says he needs me home as he’s run out of the meals I left him. It’s nice to be missed!

Off to sleep in a bed that felt like a giant marshmallow. Heaven.