Paradise Lost

Our last days in paradise! Thursday afternoon the weather was much more cooperative in south-west Turkey, warm and sunny, and we had a little time between training  sessions to walk to the beach. Sister Davis wanted to put her feet into the Mediterranean Sea! So several of the couple missionaries headed to the beach which was a 3 minute walk from the resort. After being "cooped up" inside all day, just being in the warm sun made us feel like we were in paradise!

The storm that had blown through our first day here had dumped lots of seashells on the beach. Sister Davis collected a few to put in her terrariums back home. Elder Davis thought she was "nuts" because according to him, "the shells here look just like the ones back home."



Our last day in Turkey and we finished the morning with a testimony meeting. E/S Davis have really enjoyed being with other CES missionaries. CES missionaries are a unique group. Our main emphasis is on teaching and making sure the youth of the church strengthen their testimonies. We learned so much from each other. And testimony sharing was a time to strengthen one another spiritually. What a great way to end the conference. But as the saying goes, "all good things must come to an end."
And we had a plane to catch back to Istanbul at noon; ours was the first shuttle to the airport that morning. And we arrive at Antalya Airport with an hour to spare.

View from the airport...Antalya boasts a population of just over a million people and is Turkey's eighth largest city.

With tickets in hand we hurried to our gate and just had time to use the WC before the plane started boarding. And hurray! we got a window seat this time. We really like Turkish Air, good flight staff, good food and more leg room.
Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey...


So, we finally find Air Baltic and hand our flight info. to them and throw our heavy suitcase on the scale. The attendant says, "There is no luggage on this flight."
Sister Davis incredulously and stupidly repeats the comment, "There is NO luggage allowed on this flight? What does that mean?"
She was told this Air Baltic flight (the only one of the day) only allows carry-on luggage. Well, someone obviously didn't notice that when they purchased our tickets...so Elder & Sister Davis were directed to another Air Baltic counter and had to declare their luggage as freight and SURPRISE! for $70 they WOULD put it on the plane.
And since there was no time for lunch, Sister Davis became quite cranky...luckily she still had that Valentines candy with her that her daughter sent from America...pink York Peppermint Patties and Hershey's kisses. You can get food on Air Baltic but you have to pay a steep price for it...needless to say, Air Baltic is NOT our favorite airline.
The flight was really bumpy and the small plane bounced around a lot. Elder & Sister Davis say a prayer every time we fly and we never give it much thought after that. We mostly read our kindle or ipad and try to sleep. But this flight gave us pause and when we finally touched down in Riga, the whole plane erupted in applause, which we both found amusing. They must not have a lot of faith in the Air Baltic pilots...
We got a taxi at the airport (our 2nd Taxi ride!) and were home around 7:30, exhausted and starving. But we were way better off than the missionaries from Russia. We later heard they waited 3 extra hours for their Areoflot plane to arrive in Istanbul (they had overbooked the flight and had a bigger plane sent from Moscow). And every couple missed their connecting flights to other cities. Some didn't get back to their missions until the next day!
One thing we have learned is that no matter how much we complain, the missionaries in Russia have it worse. So, we really need to stop complaining...