Its a good 7-8 hours on the bus from Ankara to Istanbul. I am battling with the KamilKoc bus ticket website, so in the end engage the assistance of the chap on reception to reserve our bus seats. Seats 5 & 6 are reserved, we can collect our tickets at the KamilKoc office in the Otogar when we arrive to catch the 9am bus. (Apparently the website wouldn't let me reserve the seats because I am not a Turkish National!)

I dont know why, I have a premonition that things will not run smoothly. Sure enough we arrive at the Otogar just before 8am and there are no seats reserved for us! Fortunately, there are seats available and we get 11 & 12. It is bitterly cold as we head out of Ankara. We have to cross the Koraglu  Daglari mountains (huge range of mountains running West to East in northern Turkey) and go via Duzce and Izmit. I think we hit every kind of foul weather on the way. The mountains are thick with snow and ice. Then as we drop down to the low lands its torrential rain. We cant see much through the bus windows, but we are dry and warm and get regular hot drinks and biscuits. 

I always look out for the mileage (kilometre) markers. Ticking down through the journey. Its 450 kilometres according to the internet, but I don't know if thats as the crow flies. The journey seems very long, I did look at breaking it part way, but sometimes getting off the bus for an overnight stay, then getting back on is more tiring than just staying on the bus. So, on the journey goes! Then I see the `Istanbul` sign. Bit early time wise. We carry on for another hour or so, obviously on some massive bypass or ring road. Every so often we get a gIimpse of the sea and a city in the distance. This journey is going on and on! Then we pull into a scruffy Otogar. Is this Istanbul? Can't be surely? Loads of confusion. I know there are two main Otogar in Istanbul, and this stop isn't ours.Then we are transferred onto another bus. We travel through building sites and industrial areas, and I see an `Otogar` sign. We pull off onto a scruffy broken concrete road and go underground! Its poorly lit, damp and smelly, after several turns around this rabbit warren we pop out into a very scruffy old Otogar. I am in shock. This is not the usual Otogar of the Turkey I know and love! I will add up how many Otogars we have visited one day, usually they are big, clean, incredibly organised places. This is terrible. This is Istanbul! We have a look around. Cant see a metro or a yellow taksi anywhere. We are crowded by people offering to help. Our fellow travellers, obviously locals, have dissolved into the crowd. One guy speaks reasonable English, I produce my little book with the hotel name and address. Sharp intake of breath through his teeth, quick look at `maps`on his phone. `I can take you, taksi, yes?` I ask `is it a long way or short way, and how much?`. Apparently its a long way and will be about TL100. Blimey. Do we have a choice? No. So we are escorted to his `taksi` which is actually a van. In hindsight we should have said no and taken our chances finding a proper taksi, or rang the hotel for advise. But, off we went, no seat belts, flying around corners at breakneck speed. I was thinking of where I could discretely hide my bank cards without him noticing (down my bra, in my pants, neither is easy when you are wearing multiple layers). I was convinced we had made a huge mistake and were going to get robbed. Finally we pull up in a little cobbled street on a hill, and there is our hotel. I have never moved so fast! TL100 is handed over, our bags are unloaded and we climb to steps into the hotel. 

Welcome, welcome. Cay? I will take your bags. Dont worry. Welcome to Istanbul!