Getting there is half the fun.

Getting there is half the fun. 

You can't get to Istanbul directly from Detroit.

So you have to change planes. And if you're going to change planes, the most fun place to do so is the Amsterdam Schirphol airport. Besides having the best food choices in all the world's airports (imagine hand-cut smoked salmon that's the best after crappy Delta meals and seven-hours in the air), you can go a local fresh market, buy cut tulips (fresh and ersatz wooden), lug home an enormous wheel of Gouda and buy a plastic orange watch, because you forgot your watch at home while scrambling to get out of town. 

The personnel at the airport aren't so friendly, however. While trying to find a place to sit (since my gate wasn't open two hours before my connecting flight), I was snarled at by a worker, despite my sweetest smile and obvious lack of where-to-sit knowhow. 

Arriving in Turkey, however was a breeze. Fast through Passport Control (barely a glance at my online visa, printed in triplicate just in case) and not even a peek at my carry-on (that's all I take, no matter the length of the journey).

I waited for my friend, Adina, to arrive from L.A., which was no problem because people watching is the other half of the fun. The lady in the crazy-tall spiked heels and mini-skirt kept my attention until a flock of women covered head to toe in black "chador" with only their eyes peeking through had me transfixed.

Adina had arranged for a ride to our hotel. We were picked-up, finally, after 15-minutes. Our driver drove to a cell-phone waiting area and said we needed to wait 15-minutes more to pick up another group of passengers. He sat on a small plastic stool and proceeded to sip tea with others for 20-minutes. Finally I asked him to take us back to the airport so we could take a taxi instead. He hopped back into the van, we picked up the other passengers (who also had been waiting 15-minutes for US) and we were on the road. Moral of the story? These people were in no hurry -- if I hadn't opened my mouth, we would have continued to wait while our driver drank tea.