Props to Romania

Spent my birthday weekend in Transylvania, which is the way everyone should spend a birthday. I traveled with a colleague from work, who was happy to plan the trip. Since at the time she decided to jump on my outing I still had several trips upcoming prior to this departure, I let her figure it out. It worked out well. 

All I could think of:
Bill S. Preston, Esq. and "Ted" Theodore Logan

We covered a lot of Romanian territory, since the flights I’d chosen went into Cluj, in Transylvania, and then back from Bucharest. Had I gone alone, I would have figured out how to get from one to the other, but my travelling companion was good with the planning, so it worked for me.

We saw Dracula’s castle and a couple more palaces, went to Sinaia, Brasov and Bran, and took several trains, one of which was on time. We also got snowed and sleeted on, and I lost a glove. Unlike the last outing, though, I did not come back sick.

And what’s even better was that I came back at all. Oh, my, the return flight.

Obligatory Dracula castle photo

The flights from Istanbul to Bucharest and back again were, oddly, on a propeller plane. I cannot say I’ve ever taken an international flight on a propeller plane. Those are reserved for places like Monroe or Tallahassee to Atlanta, or Atlanta to Augusta. Not international!

But this one was. Not the flight from Bucharest to Cluj – it, oddly, was on a jet. But Istanbul to Bucharest and back again at least on Tarom Air (a Delta partner! Yay! My first Skymiles since arriving in Istanbul!), we were on a prop plane both ways.

And honestly, I feel safer on prop planes. This one had, I think, 17 rows. I was on row 15, close to the back. I remember someone telling me that in case of emergency jets go straight down but you have a chance in a propeller plane. No idea if that’s true, but I cling to it like I cling to my armrest in turbulence.

It's not what you think.
Oh, wait. Yes it is.

The flight up to Bucharest was fine. I can excuse a little turbulence in a prop plane, way more so than in a jet, so usually I fly better on a prop. Seriously, for as much as I like to travel, I absolutely hate to fly. There is just nothing fun about it, and it’s not natural. Like the comic said, you’re sitting in a chair in the sky. That just can’t be right.

But again, the flight up was just fine. On time, not too bumpy and I had a sandwich that had more cheese on it than some goats produce in a year.

But oh my, the flight back. Same prop plane, almost the same seat. I was in C instead of A, but there was no one in D so I could stretch out. It seemed promising, especially the blue sky as we left Bucharest. But the ascent was way more bumpy than it seemed like it would be. I realized it was cloudy, though, so I kept telling myself it was all right. Clouds look so light and fluffy, but man, oh, man, they’re beasts to fly through.

So the cabin crew came through and gave us more cheese sandwiches and OJ, and then we hit turbulence again. I was white-knuckling it and having a running conversation with Jesus. We were above the clouds, so I’ve no idea what was going on. Not that I really want to know.

Pepsi vampire can

Back in Bhutan, one of the people on the tour had been a pilot and she said she liked the bumpy “negative air,” calling it bouncy like Tigger. So now I try to put a happy, Disney-like spin on turbulence, calling it “Tigger Air.”

It didn’t work. Man, I was spooked. At one point, we hit some pocket of air and dropped so fast, three people in front of me spilled their drinks – on the ceiling.

This is the best.

Finally, the captain – I swear we got the ‘B’ team on that flight – said we were starting our descent. That makes me feel better, like if something goes really wrong I can jump. (I said it make me feel better, not that it was realistic.) But the descent took forever. This, obviously, is much better than a really, really quick, like a crash, but it was still agonizing. Especially when I looked down and only saw water. I’m pretty sure Istanbul is a land mass, you know? And we circled, still bouncing like Tigger, so we’d stay over the water. I was having visions of a landing in the Bosporus, not that I was entirely positive that was the Bosporus. I swear Bucharest, like all of Romania, is north of Istanbul, but at one point I looked down and saw a fort that I know is on the Asian side – which is south. I have no idea what the flight pattern was supposed to be, but I don’t feel like that was it.

Wanted a T-shirt.
Had to settle for a picture.

The whole descent thing was agonizingly slow. Even after the captain came on and told the crew to take their seats for landing, it was still 10-15 minutes. I can remember one flight that really was worse, but I was just so relieved to hear the landing gear crank down.

I’d been thinking of trying to do a quick getaway in April, but right now I am happy to be back on terra firma.