Mostly True Facts Written from an Aeroplane

By Lydia Beardmore

. True enlightenment is, against all nurture and passed on traditions of worry, to find Zen in utter chaos, to know the end of the game is always the same.

. Diversity is something people will talk about in the absence of interest in conversation.

. Plovdiv is one of the oldest cities in the world.

. Gaziantep is one of the oldest cities in the world, to visit today you will find huge blocks of empty restaurants and wide flat roads paved well enough to skateboard over.

. The rules of the mile high club have changed drastically over the years, as have regulations. While as passengers, we face higher restrictions, shorter people are now allowed to be stewards and in-flight magazines are published quarterly.

. Turkey could be a beautiful country.

. We are all breathing each other’s air, it doesn’t mean we share more than we think in these hours.

. The Icelandic people have no word for aeroplane, they refer to it as ‘metal bird’.

. Talin is a city ripe for roof walking.

.  The mannequins on Dolapdere have more intensity than any person I have seen in Cihangir besides tired waiters.

.  The city seen at night through the window of a taxi you didn’t pay for when it’s cold outside looks almost magical and European, with beautiful streets. I’m sure outside, in some moments, it has felt that way too.

. Despite moving a million miles per second, the rate of change is non-existent.

. Ataturk believed Turks to come from the lost continent of Mu.

. Istanbul has more rainfall than London, Dublin and Brussels, with none of the reputation.

*

Lydia Beardmore is writer and photographer currently based in London where she studies Anthropology of Travel, Tourism and Pilgrimage at SOAS. She lived in Istanbul for a number of years and considers it her true home. She has written for a variety of publications including ReOrient, Time Out Istanbul and Little White Lies and hosts spoken word events and creative writing workshops across Europe. She also runs a female focused travel writing blog which can be found at www.puddingshoppress.com

Next: