She had gone out of her way to make cookies for me. I had also prepared a souvenir.
In the end, neither of us was able to hand them over.
To Manisa, on the first train
6:00 a.m. It's the day of my flight to Istanbul. I had met Nazili online and she said she lives in Manisa, so I decided to go see her.
My flight from Izmir was at 14:30, so I had to return from Manisa to Izmir, which meant I could only stay in Manisa for 1 hour and 30 minutes. But I might only get to meet her once in my life. If there's a chance, I have to seize it. I don't even know if it's really a chance, but I do like people, and by talking to various people I want to enrich my own humanity. Her fashion sense was very elegant, so I thought maybe we'd have something in common.
I took an early morning train and arrived in Manisa after an hour and 40 minutes.
She said she'd arrive ten minutes later, so I started walking to a nearby cafe.
I waited an hour, and still we didn't meet.
Starbucks wasn't open yet, and the nearby cafe wouldn't open for about 30 minutes. I decided to sit on the terrace and wait.
One hour of waiting.
Nazili's bus was apparently not moving well and she was an hour late, and she hadn't arrived even when it was time for me to leave the cafe and head to the station.
I thought cancelling the flight and going by bus wouldn't be a bad idea, but I didn't change plans so easily. Maybe my pride wouldn't allow it. Maybe I wanted to show that it was her fault for being late and that I had arrived on time. In the end, I took the train back to Izmir.
At first we were supposed to meet, but it had been canceled because she was looking for a job and didn't have much money so she couldn't go. But she contacted me yesterday and said she'd found a job so she could go to Manisa.
So we agreed to meet for just two hours in the morning, but in the end we couldn't meet. I was really disappointed and sad. But this is life, and I think it's something you can't help. Maybe we weren't meant to meet this time; you just have to accept that. Still, she had gone out of her way to bake cookies for me, and I had prepared a souvenir. We decided to meet next time. Things like this happen on trips too. I thought I had to accept it.
Izmir's mean ticket gate
I arrived in Izmir by train, hurried to the hostel, slung on my backpack, and headed for the metro.
I had to transfer to another line along the way, but that line only accepted Izmir cards; cash and credit cards weren't accepted.
A security guard told me I couldn't enter without a card, which was hugely annoying and a hassle. I couldn't believe that this line connects directly to the airport. An older man nearby offered, 'I have a card, shall I help?' so I paid 120 lira for him to tap it and was able to get in safely.
But when I checked on ChatGPT it said you also need to tap when getting off, so I showed the translation to the security guard to confirm and ended up missing the train. The man told me, 'Get a card issued or come with me,' 'Taxi?' but I answered a flat no. I decided never mind, I'll just go to the airport and explain the situation to the station staff.
In the end, when I looked at the airport gate, there was no need to tap. ChatGPT!!! I thought it's still not 100% reliable.
Only 30 minutes at the airport, with Busra
I arrived at the airport safely. I was going to meet Busra, whom I met online, at the airport for just 30 minutes. She had come all the way to meet me.
Seeing someone in front of me whom I'd only seen online felt so strange — the person I'd only seen online was right in front of me!
She had the most wonderful smile of anyone among my friends and a pure heart. Just talking to her made me feel like my heart was being purified.
I was a bit nervous since it was our first meeting, but I grew more comfortable each time we talked. Still, I felt one thing: because she was always smiling, I wondered if I had to smile too, and that felt a little pressuring. So I got a bit tired. Maybe that's also something to learn. I find it comfortable to be with someone who lets me keep a serious face, but being with someone like Busra, whose smile is lovely and whose heart is pure, made me feel like my own heart naturally became purer.
She said she wants to become a cabin attendant and would apply for that. We also talked about romance. I heard her view that in our generation bad boys are more popular than loyal guys, and that whether someone cheats doesn't necessarily depend on whether they're ugly or handsome—some will cheat, some won't. She likes Asians with narrow eyes, while I'm into Slavic girls. It's interesting how people differ.
It was time for me to go, so I said goodbye to Busra. She told me to let her show me around the city next time I come. At the end she said, 'You are handsome by the way.' I was really happy. I told her that her smile was truly lovely too.
To Istanbul
I hurriedly ate in the lounge and headed to the gate.
Ate quickly, then to the boarding gate.
I arrived in Istanbul in less than an hour.
I shouldered my luggage, took the long metro and Marmaray, and checked into the hostel safely. The receptionist was like a robotic manual-following person. Well, sometimes you meet people like that. Istanbul takes over an hour from the airport to downtown; I thought that would be really tiring.
A lokanta meal with a cat
After a short rest, I was supposed to have beers in the afternoon with a friend named Kubra I found on TripBff, but I was tired so I messaged to skip today.
I headed to McDonald's but it was so expensive I lost the will to buy anything, so instead I ate rice and beans with a chicken-and-potato stir-fry at a lokanta.
It was really delicious. There was a cat nearby, so I petted it while I ate.
After finishing my meal and relaxing, a man joined me, maybe because there were no seats left. He was German, on holiday and traveling alone. We talked for a short time. I felt like I was traveling: every day there are meetings and farewells. That's what travel can be.
I said goodbye to him too. I don't think I'll ever see him again. But a brief encounter — even meeting someone for a moment in this life and having a trivial conversation is, I believe, something of tremendous value.
