Day 8 Booking Nightmare

We landed and I knew my flight for Turkey would leave at 6am.  I relaxed for a bit and took advantage of the free wifi while I waited.  I did something I should have not done which was to search "Turkey" on twitter.  I find twitter is more helpful than the news media, but in this case, the information I was pulling up was frightening.  Just 5 days earlier there were shootings at the left wing of the airport at Turkey.  I kept coming across scary acts of violence in Turkey and that triggered my anxiety again.  I messaged two of my friends who have been at the airport in Turkey and asked for their opinion on the airport.  One of my friends told me they had a nice café upstairs and to have some tea to relax.  I was so nervous, but part of me felt I didn't know what to believe anymore.
Hours passed and then my flight was ready for takeoff.  Since I broke night, I was praying I would sleep on the flight.  From Athens to Turkey it was a less than 2 hours.  I was deliriously tired, and knocked out for 20 minutes, but then we landed. 
I was dizzy because of the melatonin I took and the lack of sleep I had experienced.  I just followed the crowd off the plane and made my way to the gate.  A bus took us to our gate and then we went through security again.  I found an available seat to wait for my next flight.  This layover was 3 hours long, but even though I tried to rest, it was hard because of how busy it was in there.  After looking around the area, I was mad at myself for getting so worked up over nothing.  Turkey airport is an international airport with people from all over the world.  Even though it has suffered from the hands of terrorism, the fact that you're surrounded by so many people made me feel safer.  Sometimes I think this stems from living in Chicago.  The saying goes, it's when you're alone when something might happen to you.
I couldn't connect with the wifi there, but I was hoping my friend in Italy got my message on what time I would be landing in Bari.  It was finally time to board, and off we went.  As usual, just like clock work, my anxiety snuck up right before take off.  So far all of my flights were smooth sailing.  I wish I had more faith that things would be ok.
An Italian lady sat next to me and was nice to me.  She couldn't speak English but luckily I understood her since I've been trying to learn Italian myself.  She was sweet.  I was finally looking forward to Italy.
We landed and I was worn out from my anxieties.  I was looking forward to seeing my friend and knowing I wouldn't have to get back on a plane till Sunday.  What a relief!  The security took a while to get through at Bari.  After we retrieved our luggage we still had to go back in line and go through an x-ray machine to check our bags.  The military presence was intense!  The surrounded us while we waited for clearance.  It dawned on me that they were probably singling us out since our flight was from Turkey. 
My friend kept calling me.  I was so happy to see her number, but I couldn't pick up because I was still trying to get out of the airport.  Once I was outside I called her and saw her parked ahead.  I must have ran up to her like crazy.  FINALLY I'm here!  FINALLY I'm with her!  What an ordeal!!
We yapped about my travel experience coming to Bari.  It was now 3pm and we decided to go grab some lunch.  We had so much catching up to do.  I told her they fed us on the plane and it was a short flight.  I was not very hungry and if anything, I would eat something light.  She suggested Alba Chiara for sea urchins since they were in season. 
It was SUPER hot in Italy.  I had my jeans on since that's what I normally wear on planes.  I quickly changed into my shorts and we were seated by the sea.  I missed her so much.  I felt bad that I was out of it again, but I did not want to end our day because of my lack of sleep.  The urchins were perfect, but the white wine was doing a number on me.  We decided to  run some errands to try to keep me up.
We ended up at Ikea.  lol.  It was a couple of months old, but since it's relatively new, the place was packed!  I forget how Italians can be.  I had bought an evil eye bracelet for me and my friend and we were wearing them at the time we were checking out our items.  A mother told her son in Italian to stay away from those gypsies.  She was referencing it to us.  My friend was in shock, but they normally do not see the eye evil this far south.  There are not many tourists in the region we were at.
We decided to drive back home.  My friend was not very confident in the car.  She never got a rental because there weren't any available, and she was worried driving stick shift with a bad clutch.  I was fine heading home.  I really wanted to take a shower and freshen up.  I felt filthy.
I got my 2nd wind after my shower.  I went downstairs to join my friend for a drink and more stories.  Eventually her boyfriend came home from work and we all caught up.  The plan for the next day was to go to the auto place to see if we could get a loaner car.  Then we could go wherever we wanted.  I was fine with whatever she wanted to do.  It took me forever to get to Italy and I just wanted to enjoy my time here with my friend.

We shared a large pasta with sea urchin sauce.  YUMMY!

 

Lunch by the sea...

A nearby beach by the restaurant. 
La spiaggia sta vicino a il ristorante.  (There goes my little Italian translation!  lol)