My Last Holiday

Jasmijn S. Haags-Alimah

6 February 2015

It was a fine sunny morning in the month of June, 2014. My grandmother from Indonesia stayed with us for 3 months. I jumped off my bed and ran downstairs, it was packing day. I saw my little sister packing. We were going to Istanbul, Turkey. So my grandma was having a double vacation, to The Netherlands and Turkey.

*a few days later*

I woke up and looked up to the clock. It was 08.30. I overslept! I ran down the stairs and ate my breakfast. At 12.00 we arrived at the Rotterdam-The Hague Airport. In the waiting room I sat down next to my sister, grabbed my book and read. I sighed, it was boring, I continued reading, but this time I took another book. Hannah was drawing in her sketch book. My mum and grandmother were talking to each other while my dad was waiting patiently.

*a few minutes later*

I groaned, “When can we get in the plane?!” I was really bored and had nothing to do. I read, drew in my sketch book, played around with my sister. This couldn’t get any worse, could it? It got worse. The plane got delayed for another 3 hours! I was annoyed, but I cooled down and tried to take just a little nap (I couldn’t sleep).

 
*a few hours later*

An announcement finally came out, “The plane to Istanbul has just landed, passengers please proceed to Gate 6.” We then boarded in the plane and sat on our seats. After a few minutes my dad ordered some tuna sandwiches and iced tea.

*a few hours later* (I was asleep, so didn’t remember anything)

The plane landed at 21.00 in Sabiha Gökçen Airport, but we got out of the plane at 21.20. We took a taxi and drove to the hotel. We arrived at about 00.00. We ate supper and went to bed.

The very next morning I asked my dad what time it was. “It’s almost 09.00,” he answered. I heard the bathroom door open and saw my grandmother coming out. We ate breakfast and planned to go to the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. We went out of the hotel and started walking to the Blue Mosque. When we arrived, we did our prayers in the gigantic mosque. After that we walked to the Hagia Sophia. It had a beautiful garden and was flooded by visitors. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go to the museum. Then we went to a Turkish restaurant and sat on a long bench at the park. We sat on the bench for a long time. We were very thirsty and quite tired. My dad and grandmother slept on the bench, in public! I won’t blame them for sleeping on the bench, it was a hot day and we were sitting under the shade of trees anyway. People who walked by stared at us, probably thinking we were homeless! After that we went back to the hotel and had dinner.

The next day we went to the Grand Bazaar where we bought some souvenirs. Then we went to the airport by taxi. On the way, I had a really bad stomach ache. I drank coke and ice-cream not long after that. I wondered why my tummy hurt. When I asked my mum, she answered “If you mix soda with milk, it will all turn into really sour acid”. The coke I drank contained soda and the ice-cream I ate contained milk. My stomach was probably not strong enough to let something so sour in my tummy. I almost threw up when we arrived at the airport, and then we queued before the custom officer’s counter. The queue was so long that we almost missed our flight, but we made it and got on the plane on time. When we arrived in The Netherlands, it was midnight and two nights before Ramadhan. It was really nice and unforgettable. Our holiday to Turkey apparently turned to be a special gift to welcome the coming of the fasting month.

 The city of Istanbul is huge and breathtaking. The former capital of two great empires, namely the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine and the Islamic Ottoman Empire, does worth to visit.