We had to get up early and head back to Istanbul as there were a few people on flights that afternoon.

I slept quite a lot of the way back - I was a bit seedy from too many drinks the night before.

On the way back we dropped people off all over the place.
At bus stops and by the ferry etc.
They were just going to make their way down the coast.
I am still not brave enough to head off like that but I reckon I go alright.

The exterior------ The Lobby Bar

The bar------ The hotel room

Anyway we got back to Istanbul and I checked into the hotel which was different and much nicer than the Ozmen.
It was called The Romance and it was pink.
It was four star and beautiful.

I organized my early wake up call and airport transfer.

I walked to the Bazaar with Ledge and I did some more shopping.
I wasn’t there for a long time because I was really really tired and I brought two rings.
One was a silver puzzle ring and one was gold.
The gold one cost me 40 million which is about AUD$40.
I love it though.

I went back to hotel to have a snooze before we all met for a drink to say goodbye on the last night.
I slept right through and woke up at 2.30am.
I set my alarm and snoozed until I had to get up.

A Turkish taxi (two photos)

Flags in the streets of Istanbul

Notice in the Istanbul Airport toilet

I got to the airport right on time only to discover that Alitalia had cancelled every single one of their flights that day due to employee strike action.
It was panic stations but they ended up putting me on a Turkish Airlines flight direct to London.

I had to wait a few hours but it was fine.
I actually ended up flying home with Stafford (see Tower of London) and his mates so I didn’t have to wait by myself.

I had a window seat and the seat next to me all to myself and snoozed a bit on the way home too.

I love living on the Piccadilly Line.
No train changes and straight home.
I was very very tired.

Anyway…that is Turkey…been there done that…had a ball even with all the dramas - by the end of the trip if anything went wrong we all just blamed it on Turkey.

I felt so proud to be there, so proud to be Australian and so lucky to have the chance to do the things that I am doing.