The Nearly Departed

Today is one of those lost days that are a necessity for any overseas trip. Technically not on the road until around 2pm, when Ed & Linda showed up to ferry us to the bus stop we’d been gathering our gear all morning. The bus was uneventful, and when we arrived at O’Hare we were checked in and through security in record time. No lines at all! On top of that, our flight is about an hour delayed (“Let’s make it up in the air!”), so with that in mind, it’s now almost four hours before we board our 777-something-something, and we’ve got some time to kill.

While we’re in Africa, we’ve been advised to avoid raw fruits and veggies, except for those with a peel that you discard. It’s a fun game to think about all the different raw fruits that meet this criteria. Bananas, oranges, melons if we cut it ourselves?…. more bananas…. Ultimately these guidelines boil (hah!) down to water quality, because we’re not to drink the water either and that same water would be used to wash and water these fruits and veggies. So it’s plenty of well-done, hot food in our future. Which is cool. We’re down.

But we’re not there yet, so fully embracing the spirit of the O’Hare International Airport – Terminal 5 (international terminal), we enjoyed an appetizer course at Wow Bao, followed by a totally legit Rick Bayless/Frontera Guacamole+Chips, Tortilla salad and Tortilla soup. We especially enjoyed the salad, because it was likely our last green salad for several weeks. We’re also specifically trying to steer clear of food categories that we’ll be able to find superior versions of when we’re in Istanbul and Africa, so we passed on the falafel and eggplant and pepper rice bowl. Not saying you can’t find world class Mexican food in Africa, but we might not be in the best position to do so.

For Liz and I, this is all feeling familiar because it was about two years ago that we took this same flight (Turkish Airlines #6 FTW!) on our way to Qatar. We’re one gate removed and this time we get to stop at Istanbul for a few days at the start, rather than continuing on. I like this setup better — when we’re coming home we’ll be ready to come all the way home in one long 24 hr slog.

Not everything is the same, though. New this year is the Cannabis Amnesty Box that I’m pretty sure is 100% empty box. With legalization in full-effect in Illinois, I guess this is different from a garbage can somehow. I doubt it gets much use.

7 hours in, 12 hours to go and we should be settling in at our hotel in the Fatih district of Istanbul!