And just like this, the next trip had arrived. It often takes a little while for it to sink in that I am on holiday, especially when I am working right up to the time we are leaving. For some reason, this time it felt even more surreal than normal. As much as I hate early shifts, I do quite like them when I head straight from work to the airport. However, this time round I was working a 09:00 to 17:00 shift. Graham did not have to work that day and we had arranged to meet at the hotel at 17:30.
I packed the last odds and ends into my hand luggage and personal item when I got up that morning. Then I headed out. I took an Uber to work as I had all my luggage. I was pretty happy about this state of affairs as it was pouring it down with rain. Fortunately, the Uber arrived very quickly, and I managed to stay dry. After a fruitful and straightforward shift, I managed to leave on time and took another Uber to our airport hotel. Graham was already there waiting for me. I checked us in and made a reservation for dinner. Then we quickly headed to our room to drop off our hand luggage before heading over to the airport to do the twilight check in.
It is amazing how much even the landside of terminal 2 has changed since July. The arrivals level has become even more of a building site, but departures is nearly done. Only the check in area closest to the station still is not completely done and what is likely to become ticket desks is still behind a construction wall. The rest looked good. The check in desks for the airline we were flying with were at the far end of the terminal. When we approached their check in area, we were asking if we were checking in for the same day or the next day. We were then sent to an area that was dedicated to twilight check in. We were directed straight to a desk. The check in agent checked our passports and boarding cards. Then he tagged our suitcases. We asked to provide a phone number as they had our luggage overnight. I was happy to oblige. The whole process took about 5 minutes from the time we were sent to the area for twilight check in until we were leaving. This makes travelling on a morning flight so much more pleasant.
When we arrived back at the hotel, we still had some time until our dinner reservation. I read for a while and Graham had a nap. About 10 minutes before our reservation, we headed downstairs and were seated. The restaurant was really busy that evening, which meant that it took a while for our order to be taken and then for the food to arrive. Still, we had chosen to eat at 19:00 and we were not in a rush. We shared the oven baked halloumi with tomato sauce, garlic, parsley and Turkish Pide bread. We had this before and this is always delicious. It did not disappoint that day either. Graham had a Turkish beer with his meal, but I decided to stick to water. For our main courses, we both went with the Pide, which is the Turkish take on pizza. I had the Tavuk Pide with diced chicken, mozzarella, red & green peppers. This was delicious. Graham had the Mevlana pide with lamb, beef sausage, Kasar cheese, green chilli, and parsley. He also enjoyed this. I was not able to finish mine and Graham had the last piece. He commented that he preferred his.
After dinner, we headed back to the room. Graham got ready for bed. I decided to read for a bit. After a while, my eyes started to feel heavy. I decided to play things safe and set an alarm for when I needed to take my medication. This turned out to be a wise decision as I had indeed fallen asleep. I did however wake up again just before the alarm was due to go off. I took my medication and got ready for bed. Then I settled down and was asleep again very quickly.
Dolphingirl’s Travels 
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