Remember Remember by Alan Wade Page A

and you don’t have twenty pounds sterling. Do you spend 14 days in the departure lounge?”
    He is told they will not accept Turkish money, traveller’s cheques, personal cheques, or credit cards and thinks, “I’ll bet they take American Dollars, grabbing poor sods.” But twenty pounds was found and Turkey awaited.
    An ugly looking young man with a big nose and black eyes looked at both of them, then he confirmed their passports with a flick through pages and a stamp. You are now in Turkey, follow the signs to the holiday rep. A rep was found who smiled at them both as Alan enquired, “We are looking for the Hotel Sun City, Olu Deniz.” A hand pointed to a row of buses and number 4 was confirmed as the one onto which they must board.
    “Thank God the bus is air conditioned,” he thought.
    Another twenty or so people got on board, luggage was piled onto the back seats and a woman boarded who picked up a microphone, gave her name as Fatima and proceeded to tell them of the three hotel stops they would make and to have a happy holiday. They all then had to join in a lesson in Turkish in how to say, “Hello, Goodbye, Have a Nice Day, Kiss my….” etc.
    “Why don’t they ever tell you the order of the hotel stops,” he thought as everybody seemed to mutter, “I bet we’ll be last.” They’re told the journey will take about 90 minutes and to put their seat arms down because they are going over the mountains. Then they drove into the hills and the bus became a tractor. “God it’s slow,” he thought, “I wonder how many gears he has in the box.”
    The bus went slower and slower, higher and higher, and the usual, “We’ll all have to get out and push,” was heard. But this time Alan thought, “well maybe we will have to get out and push the damn thing.” Jacky nearest the window cooed, “What a fabulous sight, look at that drop.”
    He shivered, he didn’t like heights. He’d fought in mountains in difficult, dangerous conditions and found them unforgiving. He never could get his head right above 500 feet. More hills made the driver’s right arm and leg work hard and gears were found with a crunch. He settled back, closed his eyes, and tried to sleep while Jacky droned on about the scenery; he nodded and smiled confirming listening but his mind was thinking of progress to date. His observations of the people at the airports, on the plane and on this bus had confirmed that nobody seemed suspicious.
    “So far we are alone and on holiday, with no shadow,” he thought, “let’s hope the others I meet are as successful.”
    The bus eventually arrived at the Kalamar Hotel, people smiled and departed, baggage was spotted and thrown out of the back door as more people groaned, “It’s not our stop.” A look at the watch confirmed ninety five minutes of travel and he said, “That’s not bad if we’re next.” The bus departed and less than five minutes later the tour guide clucked, “We are at the Sun City Complex.”
    “Good news, this is our stop,” he said to Jacky as only four groups alighted, including the inevitable squawking kid. Their passports were scrutinised and the rules and regulations of the complex were explained. Each person was asked to extend an arm and a blue wrist band was clamped to it, which he new would give access to all the resorts amenities.
    A young Turk grabbed the suitcases, and showed the way to 1121 saying he would follow. They passed the pool which looked good, being very large, lit and empty. The apartment was found and looked good, with working air con and two single beds as ordered. Negotiations took place of who had which and his idea of pushing them together was firmly rebuffed. She wanted to shower and then go down for dinner and he readily agreed.
    The food was good, the wine was average, but a bottle of good imported red was bought for an extra 20,000,000 lira. The atmosphere was relaxed and they had two more beers, before deciding to go to bed. The