This trip to Turkey came about because Kevin and I are attending an educational conference in Istanbul. Because we were traveling around the country before the conference, we didn’t want to carry conference materials. After reviewing shipping options, we decided on the US Postal Service rather than UPS due to the cost difference. We arrived at the Istanbul Hilton Hotel on Wednesday, and our conference materials did not. They did make it to Istanbul however—about 6 days ago. When we called the Istanbul Postal Service, they said that the package would be delivered here, guaranteed, in 6 to 10 days. Our conference started today and ends on Sunday. They then said we could pick it up, so Kevin did so this morning. They looked up the package on the computer, brought it to him to verify it was the right one, and then demanded 300 bucks for it. After displaying shock and horror, he was shuffled from person to person and presented with a multitude of papers to sign, to which he finally said, “Forget it – you keep it,” and walked out. Makes getting a visa to Paraguay a walk in the park.
