Istanbul, Turkey – I have arrived in Turkey. It is hot, very hot. I am sitting in a cafe in the airport and enjoying an ice cold bottle of water and a half pint of Turkish beer which costs me 14.00 TYL ($9 USD). But I need it. I am sweating profusely and I smell bad. I dressed warm, not only for the cold weather in USA but for also weight restrictions on my luggage. I wore my heavier clothes which was probably a poor choice.
My trip to Istanbul has been long one which included an unexpected flight out of Colorado Springs due to an ice storm that caused the highways to be clogged with accidents. But thanks to the diligence of Jody and Doug, they managed to get me a flight to Denver safely. I must add that the people who were working the check in lines for United in Colorado Springs yesterday were the most friendly and helpful employees of any airline that I ever interacted with.
My first taste of Turkey came in Chicago when I boarded my Turkish Airline flight to Istanbul. Seeing the stewardess’s made me wonder what the criteria was to be Turkish Airline stewardess. I question this because every one of them looked like they had just stepped out of the pages of Turkish Vogue and into a company uniform. Skinny, lots of makeup, and hair done so perfectly I wondered if the airline employed a stylist. But the characteristic that convinced me that they were all models was their inability to smile. All of them had wore an expression like they expected at any moment a photographer to jump out take their photo. Despite the lack of smiles the service was amazing.
As we reached our altitude the meal service was brought out and we were served a chicken and rice, with vegetables dish which included a delicious tomato based sauce. There was a baby mixed greens salad (no dressing though) and a green bean salad. But the real gem in the meal was my choice of a large glass of Turkish white or red wine; no extra charge! I choose the red wine (serap as it is called) which paired well with my meal. It was dry wine but had a smooth after taste. After the meals were finished and taken away they stewardesses brought out headsets and special Turkish Airline travel kits. The travel kits included: a pair of warm socks, eye mask, a pair of ear plugs, a mini toothbrush, and a single serving of toothpaste. I plugged in my headset and watched Night of the Museum 2 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Then I slipped on my eye mask and fell asleep.
I awoke to light chatter and slipped off my eye mask to see that breakfast was being served. This included: a small omelette with roasted potatoes, a bun with jelly, and cup of fresh fruit. As soon as I was finished eating we landed.
The heat hit me like I was stepping into a sauna. I, like everyone else that wasn’t Turkish, started to sweat a lot. We all made our way to the passport lines but I became a little confused as to what to do. One of the stewardesses had briefly explained in broken English what to do inside the terminal so I just followed the crowd. It was a very modern and updated airport and it could easily be mistaken for any North American airport had there not been Turkish advertisements everywhere. So I joined the massive lines that turn and swerve and lead us up to the customs window. After slowly moving up to the line for 20 minutes I was next in line. Nervous and not knowing what to expect I watched as an American went to the window and was immediately turned away with the words said to him “No Visa.” The customs agent (which seems to be just regular police officers) then pointed to the right and myself and many other travellers followed the direction of his hand with our eyes. We all noticed that well passed the customs line was another line that had a title above it “Visa”. We had to purchase our visa before we went through customs or as they call it “Passport Check”. So I made my way to the Visa line to wait for another 10 minutes and purchased a 90 day visa that cost me 60 USD. Americans only pay 20 and British pay 15 Euro. I then made my way back the passport line and waited another 20 minutes and got my passport stamped and welcomed to Turkey.
Now comes the confusing part. I tried to find my luggage carousel on the big monitors that are set up and to no avail did I find my flight. So I decided to walk to every carousel in the airport. All 12 in fact and I did not see any sign saying Chicago-O’Hare. I tried to see if I could find my luggage, but I didn’t see any large hockey bag and sticks. I then remembered that the stewardess on the plane mentioning something about domestic transfers will have their luggage transferred for them. Or was it that we had to transfer the luggage ourselves? After walking back and forth three times across the carousels I gave up and headed to the customs check, which turned out to be doors you just walk through. Then I headed to the domestic departures gates and here I am now. Finishing my beer and getting ready to head through the security check and then find my gate for my flight to Ankara.
No comments:
Post a Comment