Arrived In Ankara

Wow. I've been awake for 26 hours now. Wow. Wait, was I saying something? Departed JFK for Turkey at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, flew into the night, with the clock advancing seven hours, landing at 9:15 a.m. While everyone else on the flight slept peacefully, I, of course, did not. Sleeping is a chore in general. On a plane, forget it.

So I watched "Time Traveler's Wife" with Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana. And cried and cried. And cried. Softly. And then I tossed and turned—which isn't easy to do in an airplane seat—while the man to my right read a book all night long... with a 450-watt bulb shining into my right cornea. And as the two women one row in front of me caught up on old times... apparently, covering everything that has happened between them, all of which must be hysterically funny, for the past 20 years.

And now, here I am in Ankara. It's 5:40 p.m. here, and I have yet to sleep since I got up at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday... it's 10:40 a.m. NYC time. I am firmly convinced that not only will I not recall posting this, but I won't know what The Smoking Nun is within the hour.Above, the building where Ayhan's mamer lives, as well as his brother and sis-in-law, niece & nephew.