Travel
Free Ride
Aug 20, 2024
This couple drove me all the way from Bodrum to Ankara then made me dinner. Totally random and great fun.
Ok, the real story: I was hitchhiking from Bodrum to Fethiye, when this couple stopped and picked me up. They were heading towards Ankara but said they could drop me in Mugla on the way, and from there I could hitch to Fethiye. During the drive they suggested that I come to Ankara instead and see the city. They offered to put me up for a couple of nights then buy me a bus ticket to Fethiye. Ankara was an eight hour drive from Bodrum, but it sounded like a great opportunity so I agreed to go with them to Ankara. They didn't speak any English so all the communication was done using Google translate.
The first wierd occurrence was that they offered to first take me to the coast at Marmaris and stay with them in a hotel for the night to break up the journey before continuing to Ankara. This suggestion didn't go anywhere as the hotels were all booked up, plus I would have just continued hitching from Marmaris instead of going to Ankara if we had stayed.
So we continued to Ankara. During the drive, the wife took off her top and changed her clothes in the front seat. Not familiar with Turkish cultural attitudes, I assumed they were just a very liberal pair of Turks. She then started asking me odd questions (using Google translate) about what sort of girls men in the UK like; brunettes or blondes mostly. I didn't think much of it at the time.
Note that the couple were not physically threatening. I was confident that if anything strange happened I could overpower both of them.
By the time we reached Ankara, it was around midnight. They couple prepared a very nice meal (pictured) and we ate and drank some Raku - I was mindful to check the glass before drinking. The questions about European sex preferences continued, and the wife showed me some videos of her dancing at a club. It was getting pretty obvious that the wife was trying to sleep with me. The uncomfortable part was that the husband seemed to be on board with it. He kept leaving the room for extended periods leaving just me and the wife to eat and talk through Google. I played the oblivious Brit and at 3am we went to bed (separately) and had a few hours sleep.
It wasn't clear whether they were just a very sexually open couple, or whether they were attempting some sort of extortion (pics of me sleeping with the wife could be used as blackmail).
The husband had agreed to take me into Ankara to check out the city, so the next morning we set out. Before leaving however, he met me at the front door of the apartment. He pointed at me, said "goodbye Pellin" (the wife's name was Pellin), and pointed at the bedroom. He then left. I went to the bedroom door, and Pellin was lying on her front, supposedly asleep, naked and legs open. I said "errm bye", and followed the husband out the front door. He was waiting just outside.
I spent the day in Ankara, which is pretty boring, before the husband collected me for a lift to the bus station, but first we went to check out a very impressive mosque. En route, he spoiled the beans.
Handing me his phone, I read, "you could have slept with my wife last night".
Over the course of our exchange, he explained that Pellin was his precious, darling wife, that she was insatiable in bed, and that in Turkey, "people like to have fun". Being on the way to a mosque added mild element of danger to the whole thing. The mosque was very impressive but I was very happy to get on the bus to Fethiye.