Crap crap crap

Looks like I’m going to have to stay in Istanbul a bit longer than I planned. I was planning on leaving on Sunday the 8th, but on Friday one of my hearing aids has stopped working. Luckily Widex do have offices in Istanbul, but when I went there today they were closed. They have another branch listed, but when I went to try and find that, I must have been very close, but couldn’t quite find it. People kept giving me different directions for the street I was looking for.

Hopefully the Widex office will be open on Monday, and hopefully they have suitable facilities, and will be able to repair it quickly there. No Easter Monday here, so it should be open. Not exactly sure what I will do if they can’t fix it, or need to send it away for a while – probably will just set off, then come back to Istanbul later to pick it up.

I’ve also got a problem with trying to source a particular jacket I want. If I’m going to be delayed here, I could try getting a cheap flight to Germany or London, and picking it up there, or maybe I’ll try getting someone to send it to me Poste Restante in Ankara, where I’ll be in a week or two to get my Uzbek visa. Need to think about how I’m going to do it – or do I just tough it out with the gear I have, and then pick up some ex-Soviet gear in Tashkent? I want a wind-stopper layer that’s not too heavy. If I can get to Iran OK, then I should be fine weather-wise until some of the mountain passes in a few more months.

I posted nearly 2kg of gear home today, including my soft shell jacket, heavy-weight thermal layers, and a travel journal. Only 14YTL for sea post, which I thought was pretty good. They didn’t seem to charge me for the box either. I was happy with that. Now just have to hope it gets there. I think it takes 3 weeks or so, doesn’t really matter though, just has to get home some time in the next year. Hopefully I won’t be wishing for the cold-weather gear in the next few weeks though…