Because Uzbekistan is the cleanest country on earth, in spite of the dusty deserty thing, they give you plastic booties to wear over your socks when you take off your shoes at security.
In a one hour flight everybody got eggplant, cheese and GREAT tomato sandwiches.
The safety card says , take off your shoes. Slide down the slide. Run away.OR, if you are ditched and at sea. Unmoor the raft. SWIM away. Good advice in both cases.
Although I already whined about the Istanbul airport I would like a further little whine. After walking seventeen miles to passport and then ALL the way down the whole length of the godawful airport to check in, you have to walk ALL the way back to a silly little elevator to find the gates. There were little smiley face kiosks all over the place to tell them how much we liked the new airport. They forgot to include a godawful design.
In airports comfort trumps pretty.
No announcements at the airport. It is eerily quiet. Of course that means I barely made last call when I casually sauntered over to check why so few people were at the gate . (Of course, it had been changed).
Anyway I am in Turkey at a lovely little seaside village called Cakkale and will be going out to cruise the waterfront. Rumor has it that it’s safe at night for damsels. I felt totally safe on my own at night in Uzbekistan.
BTW I learned that many of the kids are going to college. If you score high enough it is free for you and if not, it is affordable. When the Soviets were overthrown the first president had the bright idea to sell the people the houses in which they were living (state owned) for the price of 2 months wages. Hence nearly everyone in Uzbekistan is a home owner. Pride of place.
Tomorrow Troy and Gallipoli.
