h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This was when you could travel all around Europe with only one card - the InterRail.

One year, I and a friend I had gotten to know through the Balkan dance group I was then a member of, decided to go all the way - that is, as far as we could possibly get.

Which would be Istanbul.

Once there, we were persuaded to get a room at a small hotel, recently refurbished (so much so that the furniture still smelled of the plastic it had been wrapped in).

After our very first night there, we were both awakened quite violently, almost hitting the ceiling.

It turned out there was a mosque not far from the hotel (not surprising, there's a lot of them in Istanbul) and at 6 am, the muezzin called to the first prayer, wailing, in cracked loudspeakers, three on each of the four minarets, thus efficiently covering pretty much of the neighbourhood.

'Allahu Akbaaaaaaar!'

Once he stopped chanting, he had managed to wake up all the seagulls - being a port town, Istanbul has lots of them, and they started screeching. Not a chance of going back to sleep after such a wake up call!

We saw a lot of things during the three days we stayed; the Grand Bazaar, the Aya Sofia and other great mosques, the inside of too many carpet shops drinking far too much apple tee.

I think the shopkeepers were hoping to draw in other tourists once they saw us sitting there sipping tea, because we made it perfectly clear that we didn't have the money to buy even the smallest of their carpets - seriously. We lived on water and pretzels the last day, because that was all we could afford.

Pretzels is also the last thing we bought before getting onboard the train home. By the time we had our evening meal, they had grown quite stale, and we made loud, crunching sounds trying to chew them.

The Turkish (I think) family we shared compartment with took pity on us and offered us sandwiches.

Picture this communication with neither party knowing any mutual language, but gesturing fiercely while making odd faces.

We: 'No, no, we couldn't possibly accept that!'

Family: 'Yes, please, go ahead, take it, we have plenty!'

We; 'No, but really, we have food!' *pointing at stale pretzels*

Grandmother of the Family *snorting through her nose*:
'You girls are far to skinny, and that's not food - now take those sandwiches and EAT!'
followed by a grandmotherly GLARE

So we humbly accepted the food they offered us, and then we spent the rest of the evening smiling and nodding at each other.

It's lovely when that sort of thongs happen

I'll actually be in Istanbul again in early July - but for w**k, of course...

Speaking of train travels, our best experience was just after changing trains at the French-Spanish border, en route to Portugal - yes, on InterRail cards

The compartment where we had seats already had 6 of 8 occupants + their backpacks in it. So while there technically were seats for us, it would be a squeeze - and a many-hours one.

A small, old, weathered man beckoned us to his compartment - where we were the three of us. He then proceeded to keep the door shut and fending off everyone else. As a result, he had a row of seats, Mrs SG V had the other and I had the floor in between on my sleeping mat. We slept like royalty

Before the Portuguese border (at 3 or so in the morning) he inquired where wewere from. We shared a little bit of French - and gestures, of course. With that information, he took care of the customs/border check (pre-EU days).

And while we were waiting at the border station, he invited us on coffee and cakes. Turned out that that involved going to the station cafe - which made us a little worried as all our stuff was on the train and what if it left? He pointed to a guy and let us know that he was the driver and until he got on the train, nothing would happen. And true enough.

Two stations into Portugal he bade us farewell and got off at his stop. I had the most wonderful "Welcome to Portugal" feeling for days afterwards :- D

I just love that kind of people and try to remind myself to be one whenever I'm travelling - and have surprised a few by my 'generosity' when it was simply 'paying back'... nothing expensive, or putting in a lot of time and effort.

Sometimes just a little will do a lot.

Also, I think seasoned travellers develop a sort of 'instinct' of people he/she would happily share their travel experience with.