A Turkish Bath. In Turkey. Just what the doctor ordered.

Disclaimer: This is a loooong, grumpy post. It's basically me venting. So if you want to read cheery, happy news, feel free to skip ahead to the last paragraph. Seriously. Fair warning.

It was bound to happen. My first bad, really grumpy, totally annoying day while traveling. And it was a doozy. It all started last night when we got back to the house around 10 pm... and it all went downhill from there. There was a miscommunication with the guys we were staying with; they thought we were leaving Wednesday (we were planning til Thursday) so they made plans to go out of town. Which meant that we had to be out this morning. Which meant scrambling around at 11 last night to find a place to stay tonight. It also meant not having time to do laundry and having to pack everything up, only to have to repack it yet again tomorrow. Sigh.

Within a half an hour of hearing that, we also got word that we didn't have a place to stay in Amman AND I found out that, after much finagling and trying to arrange schedules, my plans for Dubai fell through as well. Which also meant also needing a place to stay there. Commence grumpiness.

When I woke up this morning, it was no better. We had plans to do some cool things on our last day in Istanbul but instead our whole morning was lost to packing up and getting to our new hostel. And then we found it. Even more grumpiness. It was only 16Turkish Lira (about $12) but sometimes you really do get what you pay for. There was one tiny bathroom for our whole floor and the shower was just a showerhead on the wall in the middle of the room. So when someone showered, the WHOLE room got completely drenched, floor, sink, toilet, walls, doors. Filthy. Turns out I can definitely survive a day without a shower. It was also educational to find out just how long I can go without, well, going (too much information, I know).

And the hits just kept on coming. I had decided to send a package of things I didn't really need back to the US. Sounded easy enough. I'll spare you all the details but let's just say that between finding the box (no small task as it turns out, especially without speaking a lick of Turkish), going back to the hostel to sort my stuff and pack it up, schlepping it all the way back to the post office, trying 3 ATMS in the rain before one would take my card (still carrying the box, mind you), and the 45 minutes it took at the post office, it took up my whole afternoon. Literally. And then the guy told me how much it was going to cost. And I almost started to cry (yes, it was THAT much). But, as my only option at that point would have been to schlep it all BACK to the hostel and put it all BACK in my suitcase, which was not an option at all, I made yet another trip to the ATM to withdraw even more cash. Sigh.

In the end, it was all pretty petty stuff, things that wouldn't normally have phased me had they happened individually. But everything seemed to happen at once, all of a sudden everything fell apart with all of our planning and I just suddenly couldn't bear the thought of having to pack and unpack yet again and spend countless hours again on trying to make arrangements and reservations. And I was really annoyed about the idea that my whole, entire last day in Istanbul had been totally wasted. I'm usually an extremely laid-back, take-it-as-it-comes kind of person so I was surprised at my own grumpy, teary-eyed, aggravated reaction to it all.

But I still had the evening and I had ONE thing I was determined to do before leaving Turkey. I braved the rain and the most crowded, sardine-like, claustrophobic subway I've ever been on (and might I add that it did NOT smell good and the guy standing 12" from my face stared brazenly at me the WHOLE time). So by the time I got there, I was even more annoyed. But then I walked in.....

.... to the Turkish bath. And everything else just seemed to fade away. I went to one of the most famous, oldest baths in Istanbul; it has been featured in the "1,000 Things To Do Before You Die" book and they were certainly right. I walked right in and ordered the deluxe Sultan Treatment. Best money I have spent on this trip thus far. It was quite the experience, me and a bunch of other ladies in a huge, old marble bathing room (the men's bath is separate and, as a sidenote, it used to be punishable by death for a man to sneak into the women's side. A tad harsh, no?) being treated so wonderfully by Turkish women who occasionally and randomly broke out in song. My masseuse, Guiglu, may very well be my new best friend. Scrubbing, washing, rinsing, massaging, steaming.... aaaaaaah.

And suddenly all was right with the world again.