Bicycle Touring to Australia: Turkey, Ankara Route Change

My latest bicycle touring update to Australia: cycling through Turkey in  Ankara. Up at the usual time today, I wanted to get to the embassy as early as possible. Seeing as the Saudi visa could be difficult, I’m applying for that one first. As soon as I’d finished breakfast, I set off for the embassy. I had the address and a rough idea of its whereabouts after the receptionist had marked it on a map for me.

I found my way, without too much trouble, to the area marked on my map by the receptionist. But when I looked in my bar bag for the precise address, it was nowhere to be found! Maybe I’d put it in my pocket or wallet, but I still couldn’t find it! Great, I’d either lost it on my way here or left it back at the hotel! I cycled around and found every other embassy apart from the Saudi one! The streets were very quiet, so there wasn’t even anybody I could ask! After an hour, I gave up and cycled back to the hotel!

Back at the hotel, I found the address still in my room! Rather than cycle back, I decided to get a taxi. After all, I’d already cycled every single road and street in the embassy district and couldn’t find it! The taxi driver took me back to where I was earlier. I said that it wasn’t here. I’ve already been here! But apparently, this was the address I’d given him! The taxi driver asked a security guard, who directed us around the corner. We were at the back of the building! Anyway, after all that phaffing around, it was closed until Monday! I’d had enough by now and came back to the hotel to book a flight to India!

At The Hotel

The taxi dropped me back at the hotel, and I made my way to the lift to go up to my room. The lift, I’ve not mentioned that! I’m in the elevator for less than 40 seconds, and in that time, the lift music loops around 2 or 3 times! Its repetitive music playing on a continuous loop is torture! It’s the beginning of the Titanic theme sung by Celine Dion! I can even hear it when waiting for the lift!

I wasn’t in the best of moods when I reached my room! What a wasted morning it was trying to find that embassy, and as for that bloody lift! Anyway time to calm down and book a flight to India, which wasn’t that straightforward either! If I fly from Ankara, I have to change flights in Istanbul. You can’t fly direct from Ankara to Mumbai! I also have a six-hour wait between flights in Istanbul! It’s also significantly more expensive to fly from Ankara! So I’ve changed plans again! I’m now catching a train back to Istanbul. The train leaves tomorrow at 4 am and arrives in Istanbul at 1 pm. It’s a rather long journey, but I quite like travelling by train.

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

• Photos: See my photos on Flickr
• The route: View my journey around the world
• Videos: Check out my YouTube videos

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