Dave Frightens Me wrote:
> Miguel Cruz wrote:
>> I sometimes have to carry my luggage fairly long distances. For
>> example, last year I had to carry two bags (one large checked
>> backpack, worn in the back, one small carry-on backpack, worn in the
>> front) from Istanbul airport to the center of town because my ATM
>> card had expired just before the flight (who ever checks the
>> expiration date on their ATM card?), I didn't have any other form of
>> money on me, and the only bank that was prepared to sort me out was
>> in the middle of town. Leaving aside the stupidity of the situation
>> I'd gotten myself into, it was really no problem to do this - I just
>> found some high ground, located the coastline, followed it, and a
>> few hours later I was in Sultanahmet.
>
> Oh shit, that's a long way!
>
> Are you seriously telling us you only had one card? I have 3, plus a
> bit of cash at any time.
I had suffered a spate of expirations in prior months. A couple weeks
after arriving in Turkey I was going to meet the person who had my mail,
which contained some new cards.
At the time my ATM card expired, I was just about to leave town. I went
to the local branch of my bank and got them to send me some money to pay
my rent, and a bit extra, but other expenses came up and ate away my
buffer. Then the bank was closed until flight departure time. I could
either change the date or just go ahead and see what happened.
And what's life if you don't just go ahead and see what happens? Turns
out I got a walk in Istanbul that few people do, and had a very
interesting time with some extremely nice bank staff there who stayed en
masse until hours after closing (even though only one of them plus the
guard would have been enough) to get my money sorted out - and feed me
strange Turkish food.
miguel
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