Turkey - Flying to Istanbul again

There weren’t really much in the way of surprises that day. The flight had the comfortable 1.50pm take-off time, so I could sleep until my normal time, have breakfast, gather anything I may have forgot about the night before, and still be ready for my ride to the airport. The weather was the only strange thing, as the days before it had been hot in my hometown, but of course on that morning there was a thunderstorm. Luckily, as we left the city limits, that soon passed as well.

Surprisingly, in Budapest it didn’t rain while I dragged my luggage from the parking to the terminal. Check-in, getting coffee went off without any problems. An annoying thing at the airport was that the wifi was nowhere to be found. Quite strange, as I usually post a picture on my Instagram before take-off. I even got a really nice picture, which I would have loved to post.

The only other anomaly was that we got on the bus, went to the plane, and the bus doors didn’t open. We just waited and waited for many minutes. It turned out that we had to wait for a person in a wheelchair to get on the plane, though not sure why the two weren’t doable at the same time. 

I got a seat next to the window. I have a Turkish Airlines loyalty card. One benefit is that I’ve set among my preferences that I like to sit next to the window, so now I always get window seat. So, my fellow travellers, that’s something I recommend. Get loyalty cards, accounts for everything, as they usually have benefits even if you only use them a few times. As someone who has worked as a receptionist, I always upgraded loyalty members if we oversold on the cheaper rooms. Believe me, overselling on the basic rooms is quite common.

As the plane was getting ready for take-off, it started to rain quite heavily. So, there was rain while I was in Budapest! Luckily, I didn’t get wet this time. It really didn’t bother the plane either. Within seconds of being in the air, the rain was gone, and the sun was shining again.

The flight itself was uneventful. There were few clouds, so we got little turbulence. One new thing was the food. At every Turkish Airline flight we got a sandwich, a mousse, and drink. On that flight we also got a nice chicken salad. It did have milk, but I took my pill and was fine. They didn’t give it the usual way either, but on a handy paper tray. I hope they recycle though.

Once the plane landed we headed out and managed to go into departures instead of arrivals. Good fun. Backtracked and finally got to the passport control. The thing about passport control in Istanbul is that they make you walk up and down blocked off corridors instead of just opening the crossways. So, everyone is pretty tired by the time they actually get to the stamping person. I call it the start of Turkish training camp. I actually saw some Hungarian wrestlers get off the plane. They had wide shoulders and smashed in noses. Hope that they get plastic surgery once they retire. Though noses are notoriously difficult.

We got the luggage okay and visited the ladies’ afterwards. When I got back my boss was sitting next to a guy and they both had their arms crossed over their chests. I found it so funny, I just started laughing. Then we got the paperwork done for the rental car. My boss has an Avis card, and that usually gets us an upgrade on the car. We got a nice Ford this time. We also asked how much the tunnel is to the Asian side and found out that only 20Ł. Well worth all the time we can save, so we settled on using that from now on. A minibus took us to the rental parking. We had to wait for it and there was a family of all women next to us. The little girl started screaming at the top of her lungs. Poor thing, was probably very tired. This is to my friend Tony: Screaming kid! He’ll get it. The minibus was so full, there weren’t enough seats, so I got to ride with the driver. As I’m learning to drive now and struggling with all the pedals, I kept an eye on his feet as to how he does it. Quite neatly.

We got the car and were off to the Asian side. Traffic was heavy, but we kept a good pace. The tunnel worked out well, just as we expected. On the way to the hotel, we passed the airport on the Asian side. Before that there was some sort of surface mining going on with the dust going everywhere. After that we saw two parallel running concrete tubes that were being constructed. They were massive, but there was no apparent reason for them. Also, some basis for high electricity wiring were coming towards them from the other side of the hills. I have no idea what any of this is for, so I just described them. Maybe I’ll find out some day.

We got to the hotel, Hampton by Hilton Istanbul Kurtkoy, and check-in was as painful as it usually is, with my boss repeating the same thing over and over again, a really long list of requirements that seem to always confuse the receptionists. Especially as most of them speak very minimal English. I may put some English teaching videos onto that YouTube channel of mine that I would design for these people. I worked as a receptionist myself, so that would be a good basis for them. I’m adding another project! Somebody stop me!

Of course, the first rooms weren’t right, as they faced the very busy road. We went back, and I clarified to the receptionist that the rooms being quiet and non-smoking were top priority, all the other things were down the list.

Second rooms were good, and I got a really nice view of the square next to the hotel. The room also had a nice couch, perfect for sitting on and writing this blog. It did have a balcony, but strangely no furniture on it.

I settled into the room a bit, and we were off to find something for dinner. Before that though my boss needed to get his phones out of the car, so I waited in the lobby and had a look around. I found a typo again! What is it with Hilton hotels in Turkey and not being able to spell in English. Instead of “quiet” they wrote “quite”. Of course, as an English teacher I had to point it out, and the two staff members didn’t understand what I was talking about! I left it, as we were off to eat. I was very hungry. There are plenty of places to eat around the hotel. Even our favourite chain restaurant, Tavuk Dünyası, which is where we went. The night was quite cold, but in the restaurant it was nice. Very full, as usually for Ramadan dinner Turkish people go out to eat. I got a nice lemonade, though maybe a bit sweeter than I’d make it. My boss got all his food and had almost eaten it too by the time I got my chicken, pasta, salad combo. It was a bit much, but I ate it all.

After that I popped back into the hotel for a cardigan that I brought, and we went to the Carefour near the hotel to get some juice. We also had a look around for dinner options while we’re there.

I got in pretty late, washed my hair in the big shower. I like the shampoo and conditioner they provide. They also have a very nice hairdryer. The bed was very comfortable, but I had trouble falling asleep all the same.

Turkey - From Konya back to Istanbul

This was my last morning in Konya. I was a bit sad that I didn’t go walking the night before, but I was too exhausted. I started packing, and got down to breakfast a bit late. I didn’t really feel like eating soup, which I had chosen the morning before. Very nice, but I just wanted some pancakes, which I got. I again took my coffee up to my room, to drink once it cooled. I packed, but was still a bit tired. Frankly, I never slept well. I kept waking up, tossing and turning. Couldn’t decide why, but something kept me uncomfortable. I hoped for a nice sleep in the new hotel that night.

We returned to the airport. It was hard to find the place to enter from the rented cars park. None of the doors opened from the ground floor. Then we discovered we had to take the outside elevator upstairs. It smelled strongly of cigarettes. Upstairs, we could enter, and had to go through the first line of checks. This made me a bit worried, as my boss had a toolbox that he put into my bag, because he was afraid of being over the weight limit. We brought it as a sample. So when they put our luggages through the X-ray, of course they made us open my suitcase. I had my boss take care of that, as at the time they were making me start my laptop. It’s a new thing they do. You have to unpack the major electronic devices and start them. After me there was a woman, who had a big photography case. She had to open that too. When she opened it up, it was full of equipment. I was a bit envious of her. I told her she had quite the set-up. She replied that photography is a serious hobby for her. I told her I loved it too, but I didn’t have the strength to carry such things around. That’s actually because I have a waist problem and sometimes it gets painful even with my tiny camera. So she motioned towards my boss and asked why I didn’t have him carry it. I had to inform her that that’s my boss, and I’m more likely to carry his stuff. I do sometimes, actually.

Meanwhile, he was having his own little adventure with the officer who was checking my suitcase. He examined the toolbox, but kept rummaging around. Then the officer asked if it was my boss’ luggage. He replied that no, and gestured towards me that it was mine. The officer quickly abandoned his search. I guess it’s a good thing I always pack my underwear in a separate bag.

We had to wait a bit to check in. There weren’t a lot of people around. An interesting couple of people were dressed like they were from Nepal. They even had warm hats on. It was quite warm, so I didn’t get why.

We checked in, and passed through security. There was no line, as there was barely anyone around. So I put my backpack through, took out my laptop, but not the other stuff. Seriously, if I took out all my electronics, it would take a year. When my bag went through, the officer stopped me. He started talking about something metal being in my bag. I had lots of metal in my bag, so I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. A female officer joined us. So the guy kept pointing to a part of my bag. I pulled out my massage gloves. They are plastic, with metal balls to use for a stronger massage. He stared at it, and asked what it was. The woman knew it right away. He said something about not keeping it in my carry-on. Actually, I’ve been travelling with it there since I got it in Aveiro the year before. I keep it there in case I need my circulation helped along on the plane.

So we sat down, then got some food at the only little bufe in the domestic departures. I also used the cleanest toilet I have ever seen in an airport. As I was eating, I could hear fighter jets. Then they appeared in front of the tall windows that overlooked the runway. It was the Turkish air force practicing. Konya has a massive airbase. It was the coolest thing ever! There was an airshow right in front of me. They did loops and turns, formations and solos. They were still doing it as we went outside to board the plane. When some would pass overhead, everyone stopped and just watched them.

The plane set off towards the take-off part of the runway. And kept going. And going. It was taxiing so much, I wondered if we were going to go to Istanbul on the ground. When it reached the furthest strip from the airport, it finally took off. It felt like forever. The flight itself was fine, quite uneventful. Got the usual sandwich. We arrived to Istanbul, and flew right passed it. Then I understood that we were going to take the landing passage that came from the sea. The year before we stayed at a hotel right under that landing passage. Wonderful hotel, unbelievably noisy. At night you could see a daisy-chain of plane lights that were in line to land on Atatürk Airport. When we finally landed, there was a lot of taxiing again to finally park. I swear I spent more time on the ground in that plane, than in the air.

It was quite strange to land in Istanbul and not have to go through all the security checks. As we were waiting for the luggages, many women came in full niqab, only their eyes visible. Their men were dressed like any other guy, jeans, red trainers. It looked like such a contrast. I felt a bit weird standing next to them in Western clothing. Frankly, I also felt a bit sorry for them that they felt that’s what they had to do in their lives, and all the limitations they had. But it’s not my place to judge, only to observe.

After we picked up our bags, we searched for the Miles & Smiles stand which is the Turkish Airlines benefit program. We’ve been having a problem with signing up, but it turned out that we both had functioning accounts. He didn’t know about it, I couldn’t sign into mine. Somehow getting a card printed fixed both which I found out once I got to the internet.

We picked up our car and headed to the hotel. We stayed at the Hampton by Hilton Zeytinburnu. When we got to the hotel and told them about the requests we wrote down in advance, they seemed a bit frazzled. Obviously, they don’t do room allocations in advance. So I ended up with a room on the ground floor, furthest from reception. At least I got a workout every time.

I really liked the room. It had a lot of green, which is my favourite colour. It was also very clean and modern, which is just my taste. The previous room was bigger, but for some reason I liked this room better. I guess it just felt more like something that I would do.

Review:

Comfortable atmosphere

This hotel is very well situated. It’s relatively close to the historical centre, and also on the outskirts of the Zeytinburnu district with all the shops. There is also a train going behind it to the centre and also to the ferry port. However, the train can get loud in the room towards the end of the hotel.
The staff is very nice and friendly. There is a pantry by the reception and quite a large bar area. In case you need conference rooms, they have those as well. There is also a small gym in the basement and that’s where you can go to the underground garage.
The room is nice, though a bit smaller. However, I really liked the atmosphere of the room, it felt comfortable and relaxing. The TV mainly has Turkish channels. There are a good amount of plugs, but no wired internet. Wifi works well though. The bathroom has a large shower and a good amount of counter space. Do check out my video on my YouTube channel, Izzy’s Travel Diaries for more details.
Breakfast is nice, though relatively smaller than what I’m used to in Turkey. They had a large amount of people, and quickly ran out of everything. I often used cereal bowls for soup.
Overall, nice, comfortable hotel. I had very good sleeps on the bed, maybe a bit too good as it was hard to drag myself down to breakfast. Especially, because it was often so crowded. I wish I could have packed up my breakfast and taken it on a tray to my room. I did take my coffee.

After a bit of rest we headed to the Olivium for dinner, and then a bit of shopping. 

I was very happy to fall into my bed, and had the best sleep since I got to Turkey. Very comfortable bed.

Turkey - The long day of two flights

I wasn’t looking forward to the travel portion of this trip. The thing I hate most about travel is waiting. Waiting for your plane at the airport is the worse. Changing planes and waiting for hours in between is pure torture.

My day started at home, with trying to get in as much rest as possible. Then at around 10am it was time to leave my home and head to Budapest to the airport. Weirdly enough, more times than not, when I have to go to Ferenc Liszt airport, it rains. It was no different that day. The sky was covered in thick clouds, and the occasional icy wind ruffled my jacket. Drops of rain fell enough to annoy, but not to open an actual umbrella. I was glad when I could finally be in the protection of the airport terminal.

The change at the airport was that the usual wrapping company had changed to a different one. I heard that it used to be an Italian company that security wrapped the bags, but their contract had expired. The new company is Hungarian, supposedly close to the government, but I like to stay out of politics. The important part is that the fee had gone up. There was a very long queue for the Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul. It was a mixed bunch of people, with a group of Koreans, some Americans, and also Hungarians. My bag was fine weight wise, and we got all the papers for both flights as well. We opted not to pick the bags up at Istanbul.

Security went surprisingly fast. Costa Coffee had reopened, but I didn’t have a lot of time to drink my coffee. Ended up finishing it on the plane.

The plane was not the usual affair. It seemed to be an older model, no personal screens, a bit less legroom, and I had an aisle seat. I couldn’t watch the clouds from above, which made me a bit sad, as I really like to do that. The plane was unusually cold. Without a screen to entertain me, I decided to study a bit of Turkish. I downloaded a very good book for it recently, and upon closer inspection I found that it was indeed very useful. The grammar explanations clear, and the right amount of words to study. I have been doing Duolingo, and that is very good to learn Turkish, but I prefer detailed grammatical explanations.

Food was the same as always. A cheese, tomato and olive sandwich, a chocolate mousse for dessert and I chose tea for drink to warm me up. I tried to order in Turkish, but I got lost when he asked me if I wanted sugar. He said it so fast, and all those suffixes made the “şeker” part lost. Oh well, I’ll get it next time. Not bad for learning on my own.

The plane landed in a sunny Istanbul that had a strange darkness in the air. I wondered if it was the pollution of that busy city. However, a chilly wind still snuck under my clothes, rushing me to the terminal building. The passport control was as busy as always, but kept a steady pace, and I was quickly processed. To get to the domestic terminal (İç Hatlar Terminali) I had to exit the International (Dış Hatlar Terminali) one, keep going and going, until I got to the equally busy point of departure for local planes. I was still a bit hungry and got some fries at a small eatery. Only later did I realise that after the security check there are a lot better places. Still, there were hours and hours of waiting to come. I kept myself busy by watching Gundam. I want to finish Iron-Blooded Orphans season 2 by the time I go to Japan.

We could finally get on the plane. I was in the last row, 22 and next to the window. I was happy about that, because that way I could see Istanbul at night from above. I decided to do a video as well. As people were boarding, I watched as the workers were putting the bags into the belly of the plane. There was one that arrived by an airport car, maybe a late check-in. One came back on the belt, they put it on the ground next to it. The suitcase just sat there for a while, and I wondered if the plane was going to run over it. Then the workers came again, and three of them stood contemplating over it. In the end they put it back one, and it came with us. Glad that wasn’t my pack.

As I watched the people of the airport bustling about, I started to think about how much effort it took to run the place. All the coordination, the organisation that went into making the planes move about as if to a silent symphony. It still baffles me that these steel birds can leave the ground carrying tons of weight through the air. I know that there’s aerodynamics and all sorts of physics involved, but to me, it’s one of the wonders of the world. Humans, these highly evolved apes are capable of such wonders. It’s a sad thing that we can turn our minds to destruction as well.

I wasn’t lost in my musings enough to not notice when the plane finally got into position to take off. I happily recorded it all, and kept my eyes glued to the twinkling lights. Sadly, it wasn’t perfect, as there were some clouds. Even through them, I could marvel at the different shapes the lights gave the fantastic new buildings, the boats floating in the sea as tealights on a pond.

When I stopped the camera, we passed through a thick cloud to gain altitude, and the plane was thrown about a bit. One rather large bump gave me such a fright – I hate turbulence to begin with -, that I gave out a little scream. Of course, everyone looked at me, and I laughed it off. Don’t ever scare me, seriously. I’m a screamer.

We got the usual sandwich, but no chocolate this time. ☹ The only had orange juice (portakal suyu). On the way the sky cleared, and there were small settlements everywhere. From above they were campsites warding off the night with fire. Then a bigger stretch of lights arrived under us, and I knew we have arrived to Konya. It didn’t look all that big though. Supposedly, it has as many inhabitants as Budapest, but it looked a lot smaller.

I took my camera out to shoot the landing, and then we taxied for some time. The airport felt huge, or they just put the landing strip too far. As a domestic arrival, there was no security check, and we just went straight to the bags. We waited for a while at the wrong belt, and then the other belt finished without our luggage. Some other people were also looking around perplexed. An employee came and started rattling something off in Turkish. Now I may know a few words, but it wasn’t enough. So I asked him to say it in English, and he managed to get out that transfer luggage arrived at a different section of the airport. There was my bag! Such a relief! We got a taxi to the hotel, and I checked on my phone if he was taking us on the short route. He was, good job! The only problem was that the car smelled so strongly of smoke, I kept the window open all the way. I’m getting really intolerant to the smell.

Arrived to the hotel, and of course check-in was a drag. The guy saw two people in both rooms in the reservation. I made it myself, so I know there was only one. My name wasn’t anywhere, when I did put it down in the system. We also asked if the rooms could be on a higher floor, but higher floors are smoking.

When I finally got into my room, I was ready to hit the hay, but at first I wanted to make the room video. Overall, I quite liked the room, even though it wasn’t quiet like we asked, overlooking a busy road. The bathroom had a sewage smell, and the fan in there was loud, as per usual. The floors around the edges not as clean as they should be. The TV all in Turkish. However, at least the bed was comfy. I finished up some things and went to sleep fairly quickly. I did wake up at night a couple of times as I often do when sleeping in a new place.