Making our way to Istanbul

Ahhhh. Sorry I didn't get to write before! Budapest was very quiet for our last few days. We went to the Opera (couldn't understand a thing, it was in German with Magyar subtitles), to the Szechenyi Baths, had some delicious Transylvanian food, and hung out at the hostel a lot (that place is just too cozy, it's so easy not to do anything). I definitely want to go back to Budapest. This is a place where I could see myself living, as opposed to Vienna where I would spend a couple of months and be happy to leave. It's so cheap too! It was great.

Anyhow. We had a flight on Tuesday morning with Aerosvit (Ukrainian Airlines...) from Budapest to Istanbul through Kiev. We woke up at 4, took a taxi to the airport at 5, and thought everything would be fine. Well, turns out our flight was delayed for more than 2 hours. We were freaking out about our connection, because although we knew we would probably make it to the other gate, we weren't so sure that our luggage would follow...We finally did board, it wasn't as sketchy/dangerous as I had imagined, and we landed in Kiev, where we realized that our other flight was also delayed. We ended waiting another 3 hours. Let me tell you, there is nothing to do in an Ukrainian airport. My book could not entirely distract me at that point. We were also debating whether once we arrived in Istanbul we should get a taxi or used public transportation (we were afraid it would be dark by the time we got there). We opted for the latter (had no problem at the airport), took out some Turkish Liras from the ATM, and promptly left, using the metro and the tram.

We got off at the Sultanahmet station (this is the historical Istanbul, the neighborhood in which all of the major attractions can be found). We had no idea how to get to our hostel, despite the google map. Bear in mind, it is now past 9, I haven't eaten all day, we're carrying our backpacks and we're two girls. It was quite stressful. After much running around and being harassed by rude maitre d's/waiters/sales clerks we did find the place, and proceeded to calm down after this very stressful day. So that was the big adventure of the day.

No pictures are available (or needed in my opinion) for this post. But don't worry, I'll be back really soon (like, 2 hours max) for a recap of our adventures in Istanbul. A hint: I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

xoxo