Purmerend - Antalya (day 1)

First of all, welcome to this (late) blog post about my trip through Turkey! Today, the adventure began at home. After a simple breakfast (we didn't have much left) and making some sandwiches for the road, I packed my last things and was ready to go. Only, it would be a few hours before we needed to catch the train to Schiphol Airport. So, time to kill... Finally, we walked to the train station with the suitcases, and when the train arrived, the adventure could really begin!

Once we arrived at Schiphol Airport (we had deliberately come a bit early), we walked to the baggage drop-off. It turned out we were the only ones there, and four desks were open. So we could choose at which desk to drop off our luggage. After that, we continued to passport control and the security check; both went smoothly, and in no time we were through. First, we filled our bottles with water at a drinking fountain, and then we walked on to a lounge where we ate our sandwiches. After a while, we continued to the gate where we needed to go to, where we sat and waited until we could board.
Once on board the plane, the captain announced that due to bad weather over Germany, Austria, and the Balkans, we would be delayed and depart later. At first, it was a delay of half an hour, but later it was shortened to fifteen minutes. That would mean quite a bit of turbulence, especially since we were sitting in the last row of the plane, where you feel turbulence even more... In the end, we only had some noticeable turbulence at the beginning of the flight, the rest of the flight went (thankfully) smoothly.
Upon arrival in Antalya, we couldn’t find the car rental. It was supposed to be outside the arrivals hall, at the departure hall for domestic flights (a different building). However, there were no clear signs, so we took the shuttle bus to that other building. Once there, we first had to go through a security check at the entrance before walking inside to the office. When we got to the office, there was an A4 sheet on the counter saying they were temporarily located elsewhere, at the parking deck, with a phone number you could call (by then we had already bought a Turkish SIM card). While calling, we walked in the right direction.
At the rental office, we went through all the paperwork and checked the car. Everything was fine (except for a small scratch at the front, which we took a photo of and pointed out to the rental company). All good. Finally, we wanted to drive off with the automatic, but we didn’t know how to release the handbrake... After a lot of fumbling and asking the rental staff, we finally figured it out! At last, we could drive to the hotel! After some focused navigating, we arrived at the hotel in just under half an hour (right under the airport...). We checked in, went through all the paperwork, and received the key to the room (which actually turned out to be a complete apartment).
When we got to the room, we saw that there was only one double bed. So where was I supposed to sleep?! Back to the reception to ask, the receptionist brought a bed upstairs herself (third floor, no elevator... applause for the lady in question!). What a day it had been, with a rather unfortunate first impression of Turkey... Hopefully, the rest of the days will go better.
By now it’s already 2 a.m. (Turkish time), and I’m writing this story with a bit of a headache. The plan is to explore Antalya tomorrow, though I wonder how that will go since we’re all going to bed so late. Considering planes are practically landing in the backyard here (also at night), it remains to be seen how much sleep we’ll actually get. By the way, we’re also staying in this hotel the coming night (so two nights in total). Tomorrow will be our first full day in Turkey, and I’m curious to see what it will bring (I hope you are too)!

Travel overview

Day 2