Lorry to Launch final leg

As the ferry does not depart until 1.30pm its not a rush in the morning - lucky because we needed the 9 hours sleep to catch up. Its pretty easy to get the lorry on - just expensive - €590. The man is not negotiable on price - I try three times. So we get onto the lorry - I am driving and reversing it down the line nearly kills my left leg on the clutch. With freight tickets you automatically get a cabin and discount on food which is good (but thet least you'd expect for the price). Its a very comfortable ferry with wifi onboard, hot shower, sun deck etc. A truck driver chats to us and is very friendly and supportive of the trip - it seems he wants to talk and his wife asked him for a divorce 20 days ago. He's going to see a counsellor tomorrow. Its hard to advise really! He asks whether or not he should stop the phone calls and presents - I think definitely yes - take the pressure off - let her come to you if there's any chance.... but it sounds like it may be a bit far gone. What are the main arguments about - MONEY!! The driver is Greek and both he and one of the waiters mention the Greek financial crisis - its obviously made them worried.

I try to get some emails and updates done then make the most of having a cabin and get more sleep. Arriving in Greece we need to head for a service station - its a beautiful morning and there's a very friendly mongrel bitch with a puppy playing while we get some breakfast - enormous fresh bread cheese and coleslaw sandwiches and great coffee. Can't hang around too long so its onto the beautiful A2 road all the way across Greece to the Turkish border. Its very uneventful and easy - apart from a diversion for 30 minutes that takes us onto a very bendy road with hills and a small bridge that I really don't like the look of - but get over it.

At the Greece-Turkey border it seems there is some messing about to do. Greek customs take a copy of the medical invoice and stamp our export slip so that is no problem. Turkish customs want a bit more time and paperwork. We have to get visas, straightforward - then in order to get the van through I have to get some sort of transit paperwork completed which guarantees that we are taking the stuff straight through Turkey not stopping to sell it etc anywhere. This includes the vehicle which gets associated with my passport so I need to be with it empty at the next border in order to get back a large cash deposit they said I needed to make - in Turkish Lire the equivalent of almost £600. Finally we get away and on to Istanbul. Nearing the city I ring Nalan to find out where we need to go. She lets cargo workers from IHH know and they are going to meet us on one of the main roads into Turkey. She explains we need to be on the green road (there are two main roads into Istanbul the autobahn (toll) and the freeway (non-toll)) this sounds fine however one road is green on the map and the other blue, the road signs are the opposite colour scheme. We work out we need to be on the toll-road and finally meet the IHH contacts at the toll at around 10.30pm. They escort us to the port and the lorry is able to get parked in the cargo port.

We get dropped to sleep at a hotel in Fatih area of town and the paperwork and cargo will all be dealt with tomorrow. I text Babu to let him know the good news that we are safely at our destination. He rings and tells me he and Hassan have just landed in Istanbul so we are all going to be here tomorrow to work on the cargo.