The Ferry We Almost Missed

Model answer: Some of my best travel memories are the ones I never planned. Last August, my cousin Emre and I were spending a week in Istanbul, and we had decided to take the morning ferry to the Princes' Islands, where we hoped to rent bicycles and ride around Büyükada before lunch. Unfortunately, we had underestimated how long it would take to cross the city. By the time we reached the pier, the ferry had already left, and the next one was not due for two hours. I was frustrated, and Emre was hungry, so we did what any sensible travellers would do: we bought two warm simit and sat down on the quay to think. As we were watching the boats, an elderly fisherman invited us to try his luck with him. We spent the next hour learning how to hold a line properly, and although we didn't catch a single fish, we heard stories about the Bosphorus that no guidebook could have told us. Afterwards we wandered through a tiny neighbourhood market that we would never have discovered otherwise. Looking back, I'm almost grateful that we missed the boat. If everything had gone to plan, we would have seen the islands, but we would have missed a whole side of the city. The lesson? Leave some space in your schedule for surprises.