CAPADOCIA MY DREAM DESTINATION

 After the show, I travelled to the European side of the country  to get a flight to my final destination. I was over excited as this was the reason, I came all the way to Turkey. When I reached the  airport, it was late so it was almost empty which made it easy  to find the check in desk. I went to it and gave the assistant my  passport to which she informed me that I lost my flight the day  before.  Ok, English is not my first language neither was hers so  whatever she was saying didn’t make any sense. She tried to  explain again and again but the more she did the more confused I  became. This is what happens when you try to explain something  that has no explanation.  She called someone else to explain but, in the end, they also  didn’t know what they were saying. By mistake I was booked into  two flights and as I didn’t show up for my flight the day before,  they removed me from the only flight I knew I was booked. There  was nothing they could do at that time; they could only offer me  another seat next day for the same flight. 

 It was eleven at night and I had no hotel to go back to.  Travelling the next day at the same time meant that I was  going to lose a day and I only had two full days there before  going back home. Whatever explanation I was given didn’t make sense;  I still couldn’t understand what was happening.

I walked away from them, looked up and I said to God, “ I know this was  you” now can you tell me why? Why have you allowed this to  happen?  

At that second a whisper entered my mind, COACH??? I  said coach? Really God? I followed it with an explanation of the  obvious. Maybe I thought that God didn’t already knew where I  was, where I was going and how I would get there. Either way I  still started an argument with Him.  “I am in a foreign country, have no idea where North or South  is and you are telling me to look for a coach?

 If I was in London,  I could walk from Lewisham to Victoria Coach station as I know  the direction but here? Come on God, what’s your deal? 

Can you  believe God replied:  “it’s a journey of faith not a journey of ease”, “The secret here  is that you don’t know where you are going but you have to travel  it anyway”.  I just rolled my eyes. I know enough to just do as I am told, as  going against it will only make the journey longer than it needs  to be. I left the airport after trying to find someone that understood  what coach means. 

I knew I didn’t need a bus so I didn’t use that  word but coach is not a word you use outside an English country.  When I asked where I could find a bus I was directed outside,  when I got there, there were many as expected, but still this wasn’t  what I was looking for. 

I noticed the ticket office was still open so I walked towards  it, but as I was about to approach it, the worker got up and was putting his jacket on. Ignored me, switched off the light and  left the cubicle. When he got out, he continued playing with his  jacket, checked his pockets before he finally looked at me. 

I might  have looked like a lost puppy because as soon he set his eye on  me, he didn’t turn them away again and walked straight in my direction. When he reached me, in his broken English, he asked me where  I wanted to go. I said Cappadocia. He looked surprised but with no  extra words he grabbed my suitcase with one hand, grab my hand  with another and started pulling me along. I didn’t had time to  think about what was happening so I just walked beside him. I felt  very much like a child being pushed around by their parents, but  as any good child, I just followed him. 

After a short walk, we reached one of the bus stands and the  bus was already there. He lifted my suitcase and went inside the  bus, while I remained at its entrance waiting for instructions. He  exchanged a few words with the driver and told me to come in, not  in words no, just waved his hand expecting me to understand. I  went in and tried to find out how to pay for my fare but he again  moved his hand to let me know that there was no need for that and  the same hand asked me to find a seat. I did as I was told, but the  only seat available was far from my suitcase which I wasn’t happy  with. Apart from that I had no worries, it felt like I had a peace  cloud hanging over me. The whole ride, the ticket office man stands talking to the  bus driver while the other did his job, seemed like they had a lot to talk about. 

It was a long ride, there was times where  I questioned if he forgot all about me. After a long period of  time, he made another sign to let me know we were leaving  the bus. I walked towards him and we got out on the next stop.  As I was leaving, I extensively smiled to thank the driver for  his generosity. When we left the bus, we didn’t go anywhere, we just  stand on the same spot our feet touched when we got there.  I wanted to ask him what was the plan but I had no idea what  words to use, we both just stand there looking and smiling at each other. Whatever we were waiting, was taking too long, I wanted to  tell him to leave me there and I would find my way. 

I think I  might have told him telepathically as I heard his answer in my  head, “ I want to make sure you reach your destination safe.” So  telepathically, I said thank you. 

I still felt extremely guilt, this man ended his shift and instead  of going home he was still looking after me this late, by now it was  past midnight. Soon after another bus came and he made the sign  for it to stop. I thought to myself not another bus please but that was the  only thing coming. We both went in and again he didn’t allow me  to pay and in the same way as before, asked me to seat so I did.  Again, he exchanges words with this new driver but then he waved  me goodbye and left the bus. I had no idea what to expect next, I just got used to his protection and now he was passing me along to  the next person. 

Sadly, I had no other options so I just went with it. This was another long ride; it was very close to one in the  morning and I was overly tired. I remember falling asleep holding  my suitcase and waking up many times to find out that I was still  in the bus and that all this was really happening. I have no idea  how long this ride took but I was exhausted by the time it was over. I was asleep when we reached our destination and I don’t  remember arriving there. Next thing I remember was the driver  calling me to go to him. 

I got up and walked towards him, by the  time I reached the front door he was already outside the bus. I noticed that this was his last stop, another bus stand, and he  was supposed to stay there to rest before riding back. As I reached  him, he took my suitcase from me, hold it with his right hand and  with his left hand held my right hand and we started walking  somewhere.  It felt like the one before him has instructed him on how to do it  as they both done it exactly the same way, they both hold my hand  as if I was a child. I had no idea of what was coming next so I just  allowed him to guide me. 

As we started our walk to, I don’t know where, we were  walking through very dark roads, there was nothing there but  pure darkness. I checked myself for a while but still couldn’t find  panic in me. That wasn’t a nice place to be with a stranger on a foreign country but I was so tired that all I could do was trust that  they had my best interest at heart. 

Soon enough I had a vision of an oasis in the middle of the  desert, no really, it was just a giant building that I recognised as  a coach station. Finally, almost three hours after “missing” my  flight, I finally found what I was looking for.  

I was taken to the ticket stand, was told the ticket I needed,  paid for it before I allowed myself to enjoy a sigh of relief. Before  this angel left me, he wrote something down on a piece of paper  and told me to give it to someone where I was going. I agreed  with a nod, smiled at him to thank him for all his trouble and  watch him walk away. Again, as I am learning to trust you, you  are leaving. Sooner or later we all do, twenty minutes later, I also  left that station.  I got into the coach, this time it was really a coach, after  two long bus rides I was glad I was finally in a coach and  the next stage of this journey began.

It was late, dark and  I was tired so I didn’t see much of the outside world. I kept  falling asleep when I trusted but my mistrust kept waking me up. After a long six hours ride, I finally arrived. 

I couldn’t find  directions that I could understand, so I followed the signs to  the ticket office. When I reached it, I gave them the piece of paper but before I even had the chance to explain where I wanted  to go, the man was quicker in telling me how much I had to pay.  

I was like “no, you don’t understand so let me explain.”. “I want  to get to this hotel here”, to my surprise he spoke fluent English  thank God so it made the whole understanding easier but I wasn’t  happy with what he had to tell me. He informed me that I needed another coach that will take me  straight to Cappadocia and it would be leaving in ten minutes, he  followed by telling me that the journey lasts almost seven hours. 

I  felt the remaining energy that was still in me leaving my body. I  didn’t even feel like arguing with God as it was going to be a waste  of my time.  I sometimes feel that He smiles when He sees me  struggle, for some reason He enjoys watching me go through  scuffles. 

Again, I paid and went to the toilet before joining  the next ride. After another six plus hours and a total of  around seven hundred and fifty kilometres, I reached my destination. 

As I arrived in Goreme a new day was awaking, I was welcomed  to my dream destination by the sun shining bright on me. It felt  like I won the lottery...