Jun 212016
 

Woke up at oh-dark-thirty to check out, and the front desk guy at the hotel was nowhere to be found. I eventually found him in the hotel bar asleep in a chair with his head on a table. To his credit, he woke up pretty quickly, and check-out was reasonably efficient. There was a surcharge for using a credit card, and only visa cards were accepted. As promised the night before, the hotel shuttle was waiting for us and we made the short drive to the airport in maybe 10 minutes. On the map the airport looked a long way out of town, but when I asked the shuttle driver apparently that’s the new airport being built by the Chinese…like everywhere else in Africa.

Upon entering the terminal there was an x-ray and metal detector, after which some official people with badges asked for passports and escorted is to the check-in area. Apparently there was nothing official about them at all, and they just wanted a tip for showing you where to check in. Seriously, the airport is two rooms – one for waiting and one for checking in. Did they not think we could figure it out? Eventually they went away without a tip, but they were hassling the woman in front of us pretty hard. She told them all she had was a 20 euro bill, and they took it…and eventually she realized she wasn’t getting any change. Amateur mistake!

No problems at all checking in, short wait for immigration and security, then the Angola-style “please come into this room.” I managed to get out of it, but it was the currency control room, where they tried to find money on you which you hadn’t declared…and take it. Ian got away with no issues and we got to wait in the departure haul which maybe had a couple hundred seats and was buzzing with flies and mosquitos, even at 5am. There were even a couple of stray cats to complete the wildlife scene. Eventually one of the shops opened and was selling bottles of water so we could get rid of the rest of our currency. There apparently was a Mauritania Airlines lounge, but if it’s even still in business it was very, very closed at this hour. Instead, we were treated to several people watching loud bollywood movies without headphones in the waiting area. Ugh.

Boarding eventually started about 30 minutes before departure, and was a walk across the tarmac to the plane. I tried to take my phone out to get a photo, but was quickly yelled at by one of the security guys. Ok, I get it, no photos.

Turkish Airlines flight 593
Nouakchott, Mauritania (NKC) to Dakar, Senegal (DKR)
Depart 06:00, Arrive 07:00, Flight Time: 1:00
Boeing 737-900, Registration TC-JYF, Manufactured 2012, Seat 1A
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 94,894
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,284,419

The flight goes Istanbul – Nouakchott – Dakar – Istanbul, and when we boarded there were still about 50 people on the plane, headed to Dakar. Of course one of them was in my assigned seat and looked annoyed when I showed him my boarding pass. The flight attendant looked annoyed to, and just said “take any seat.” Uh, ok, score another one for Turkish Airlines.

Took off maybe 15 minutes late, but with a flight time of only about 40 minutes we arrived right on time. Nothing was offered at all to eat or drink on the short flight, and soon we arrived Dakar. It was also still mostly dark when we took off, so no real photos for this completely unremarkable sector other than a view of Dakar as we came in for landing:

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The 50 people got off in Dakar, and maybe 100 more boarded, and it looked to be a nearly full flight back to Istanbul. I only saw two empty seats in business and maybe a handful that I could see back in coach. Fortunately, there was a crew change and our rather surly crew was replaced by one that only seemed mildly annoyed.

Turkish Airlines flight 593
Dakar, Senegal (DKR) to Istanbul, Turkey (IST)
Depart 07:55, Arrive 17:55, Flight Time: 7:00
Boeing 737-900, Registration TC-JYF, Manufactured 2012, Seat 3E
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 98,200
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,287,725

True to form on Turkish we had a “chef” on board. I’m pretty sure they’re just flight attendants who wear a chef’s hat and apron, but hey, it’s amusing. I usually go with the lemonade pre-departure the offer, but this flight decided to go with the orange juice. Unfortunately, the turkish delight they normally hand out with it was missing this flight:

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So what’s for breakfast this morning?

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Flight attendant came around with hazelnuts, which have mercifully moved from being in a bag to a bowl. Must have been some blowback from the Korean Airlines incident. When I asked for a mimosa, they looked confused. I decided to explain “can I get a champagne and orange juice.” “Oh we have no alcohol on this flight. I think it is because of the religion.” Seriously what. the. eff. I get not serving it out of Mauritania as a dry country but what is the point on a Dakar to Istanbul flight? Is it because it was the first day of Ramadan? Doubtful, as they were serving us food during the day…I was cranky, and decided I needed coffee…and another fresh orange juice:

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Usual delicious turkish appetizers…cheese, pepper slices, jam, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, and fruit. Super tasty…now I’m craving peppers and cheese…

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The “turkish pancake” – I wasn’t very impressed with it. Found it incredibly bland with almost no flavour at all. I spread a little of the jam on it and that helped, but overall, not impressed.

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Five hours flew by. Seven hours is a seriously long flight on a 737, but at least Turkish gives generous pitch in business class with plenty of room to stretch out. I killed time watching movies on my iPad, and a small snack before landing. Yes, more cheese and sliced peppers on a roll, and the delicious berry cake that Turkish often serves. Mmmm….

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Overall, for a seven hour flight it wasn’t the greatest but it could have been much worse. We landed in Istanbul right on time, and I checked at the transit desk to pick up my boarding pass for the next morning. I had decided to splurge when I was in Mauritania and changed my routing home. The Turkish flight had always been planned, but then I was going to go on to Zurich for a night in Turkish business, then take United first nonstop home. Decided since there was availability to treat myself to an Istanbul to Frankfurt routing on a Turkish A330 followed by Lufthansa first home via Newark. A few hours later, the nonstop Frankfurt to Dulles opened up so I ticketed that.

First time I’ve ever seen absolutely no immigration line at Istanbul, and since we’d done the eVisa we didn’t have to wait in line at all. Quick trip through customs and a stop at Starbucks in the arrivals hall to get some caffeine in an attempt to wake up. We tried calling Uber, but after several minutes nobody had responded, so we decided to take a regular cab.

We were staying at the Gezi Hotel Bosphorus, part of Starwood’s relatively new Design Hotels collection. Normally I choose the W in Istanbul, but it’s not walkable to all that much, and the Gezi is right on Taksim Square. It was a relatively long taxi ride since traffic was heavy, and when we arrived the room wasn’t ready – because despite requesting a room with two beds they informed us they had pushed them together and made one bed. They invited us for more coffee in the restaurant while we waited, and 15 minutes later, the room was ready. We were definitely rewarded with a great view of the city:

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Quick stop in the room, and then we headed out. Unfortunately, it was already 7pm at this point and although we’d hoped to wander around a bit and at least see the Grand Bazaar and maybe the Hagia Sofia from the outside, we were absolutely wiped out. We took the Tunel metro down to the water and walked around for maybe 45 minutes before admitting defeat and heading back to grab some dinner near Taksim Square.

We decided to head to Faros Kebap on the recommendation of a coworker, and life was much better after a couple of large beers…and a cheese appetizer…holy cow that’s a lot of cheese:

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I went with the pistachio kebab for a main, and it was super tasty:

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At this point I was a bad influence and insisted we get some raki…and of course baclava to go with it:

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Short walk back to the hotel, and time to pass out at 11. That early morning wakeup call was going to come far, far too early…

Dec 142013
 

Fortunately my flight out of Istanbul wasn’t all that early, but I decided to try and get an early start to “enjoy” the Turkish lounge, crowded as it usually is. It’s a good thing I did, because traffic was nightmare-ish this morning, and took well over an hour to get to the airport. Due to that, it was also going to be much more expensive than on the way in. I had 74.60 lira on me, and prayed it wouldn’t go over that. I had some dollars and euros as backup, but didn’t want to get in a negotiation.

Pull into the business class check in and the meter reads? 74.32 lira. Obviously, I’m doing something right! w00t for that!

Business class checkin was quick with zero line, as was passport check and security.  I was curb to lounge in 15 minutes max…for once Istanbul airport is redeeming itself to me.  Of course, the lounge was mildly packed, but I not only found a seat, but one with a power outlet.  This day keeps getting better and better,   Time for a snack!  Mmmm…baklava!

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Soon, it was off to the gate. Boarding only started 20 minutes before departure…this was not looking good…except…upon boarding it was “new” style A321 barcalounger business class…and only 3 of the 16 seats were taken. I’m obviously living right today!

Turkish Airlines flight 415
Istanbul, Turkey (IST) to Moscow, Vnukovo, Russia (VKO)
Depart 11:45, Arrive 16:35, Flight Time 2:50
Airbus A321-200 Registration TC-JSG, Manufactured 2013, Seat 2F

I was glad to see that even though the flight was shorter, and with real seats, we had the chef again!  Hahhahaha!

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…and pre-departure fresh-squeezed OJ is always welcome!

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Continue reading »

Dec 122013
 

I’ll be up front here: I’m not going to do Istanbul justice. I’m not going to even pretend to. I landed at 9a, having been up since 1a Istanbul time, and I was pretty tired. My main goal was to rest up in between stops, maybe see a few things, and have some good Turkish food. I did alright all things considered!

Finally out of the hotel around 11:30 after I got checked in and re-caffeinated, and it was off to the old town. The hotel suggested I walk about 10-15 minutes to the nearest tram stop, and then take the tram all the way. Awesome call, because it allowed for seeing some of the city along the way.

Got to the old town, wandered a bit, and soon was coming up to the Blue Mosque.  Outside, is an obelisk:

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The outside of the Blue Mosque:

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Continue reading »

Dec 102013
 

This will be a relatively short one, since I griped a few posts back about how miserable Turkish A321 business class is.  Got to the airport approximately two hours before my flight, which was about right, as check-in took nearly 30 minutes. There was only one line, for all passengers, forget about any priority or business class. Immigration and security were completely painless, and soon we were in the departure room. I say room, because it was one big room, with a tiny snack bar, and that was it. Almost every seat was occupied.

This morning’s 5am entertainment was provided by a group of around 10 soldiers in uniform, getting completely trashed throwing back vodka shots. Fortunately, they weren’t on the flight, but makes me wonder what they were doing on that side of security. Maybe I’m better off not knowing.

Bus gate (no jetbridges in Dushanbe, which was hella fun in the pouring rain. That meant when the bus doors opened, it was a mad dash to the stairs…and of course the first people on the plane jammed the aisles so everyone else got soaking wet. It was a great way to start a long flight in Turkish’s craptastic Euro business class! 😉

Turkish Airlines flight 255
Dushanbe, Tajikistan (DYU) to Istanbul, Turkey (IST)
Depart 6:00, Arrive 9:00, Flight Time 6:00
Airbus A321-200 Registration TC-JRB, Manufactured 2006, Seat 2D

Once again, our friendly young man in the chef costume presented orange juice and a few other fruity drinks right before takeoff, along with some Turkish delight, and soon we were off into the rainy skies.  Flight was completely full this morning, with every seat taken.  Literally five minutes off the ground the crew sprang into action, impressive since they’d just worked the inbound from Istanbul.  Yes, they’d be pulling a 13-14 hour day…don’t think that would fly with the FAA.

Very soon it was hot towels and the meal service.  So, to start we were promised:

Fresh Fruits

Yoghurt with Honey

Chicken and Turkey Breasts

Assorted Cheese

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Pretty tasty for an appetizer/starter, and I will admit that the food is one thing Turkish really manages to get right.

Then, we had a choice of:

Turkey Ham & Cheese Toast (Turkish style spinach puff pastry, chicken sausage / herbed mushrooms)

or

Gratined Crepe with Scrambled Eggs

I asked the “chef” which he recommended, and he said definitely the crepe, the other one is not at all good.  I’d say he was right on the crepe, but can’t really speak to the other choice.

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About an hour before landing, only 2.5 hours after the main meal, we were offered a snack.  A bowl of hazelnuts, and a “cheese sandwich and sour cherry cake.”  Skipped the sandwich because I was still full, but had the nuts and the delicious cherry cake with a couple of coke zeros in an attempt to wake up.

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Landed in Istanbul right on time, no line at all for visa on arrival, and I still ended up waiting nearly 30 minutes for bags to be delivered.  Not a huge deal, but I was anxious to get to my hotel and get seeing the city!  I had a 24 hour rest stop, and wanted to see as much as I could, having only been to Istanbul once briefly before.

Bags came about 45 minutes after deplaning, no line for a cab, and it was off to the city in Istanbul’s terrible traffic.  Was a surprisingly expensive taxi, over $40 due to traffic, and soon we were at the W.  I had the choice of a standard room available right away, or waiting an hour for a suite.  Easy choice.  Dropped my bags with the concierge, and headed out to refuel with some coffee.  Felt much better, and it was off to the W.

I’ll talk about my wander around Istanbul in the next post, but I’ll give a quick review of the W here.

Staff:  absolutely fantastic.  Warm greetings, genuinely seemed interested in helping, and were extremely friendly.  The only small drawback were the staff in the restaurant, who I’m sure were trying their best, but I’ve seen turtles that moved faster.

Room:  awesome upgrade to a studio suite, which had a fantastic rain shower in it.  Well, it would have been fantastic if there weren’t oddly placed pieces of furniture everywhere which caused me to break my toe when I stubbed it in the middle of the night.  Not real thrilled with that.  Oh, and since I always complain about it, the AC worked wonderfully, and kept the room nice and cool.

Restaurant and bar:  food and drink were good, but prices were absolutely outrageous.  Service was also, as I mentioned above, insanely slow.  I wanted turkish food, but not fast-food takeout, and after a day of wandering I was too tired to go far, and everyone I talked to seemed to agree there was really nothing good in the neighbourhood which met that description.  I mean, food was tasty, but an appetizer, some kebabs, and two glasses of wine should not cost $70 in Istanbul.  Highway robberly.

Location:  everything you need in walking distance, but not a great selection of restaurants.  Also, it’s about a 15 minute walk to the tram to old town, or 15 minutes uphill to the cable car to the metro.  So, it takes a while to get to sites, but I really didn’t mind.  Gave me a chance to see things along the way.

In summary, I love this hotel, well, maybe not love but really like.  This was a rest stop in between intense work stops for me, and it was relaxing and comfortable, which was just what I was looking for.

Nov 292013
 

After relaxing in the lounge in Frankfurt for a few hours, catching up on espresso and a shower, it was time to head to the next flight.  Nice ride to the plane in a Porsche Cayenne-S which gave the chance to drive by this fun plane:

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Got up to the plane, and the driver insisted on carrying my bags up the stairs, and stowing them in the overhead bin for me.  That was definitely a first.  I mean, a ride to the plane in a Porsche is way beyond expectations, but to have the driver handing your baggage as well, well, this one really went the extra mile.  When I boarded, I was the only one on the plane for over 15 minutes with the flight attendants.  I joked with them that I was ready to go, so could we take off already?  Wait, this isn’t a private jet?  Finally at departure time, the other passengers started to arrive…30 minutes later, we were finally boarded.

Lufthansa flight 1300
Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to Istanbul, Turkey (IST)
Depart 12:45, Arrive 16:40, Flight Time 2:55
Airbus A320-200 Registration D-AIZX, Manufactured 2013, Seat 5F Continue reading »

Nov 232013
 

Having just returned from 5 consecutive weekends on the west coast thanks to the United $10 fare sale, I was ready to be home. Seriously I was. Especially since I had 7 visas to sort for my New Years trip to Africa coming up. Work, however, had other plans for me.

No Thanksgiving this year, but rest assured I was going to have Turkey. As in the country, not the bird.

It actually started as a week-long trip to Tajikistan…and the easiest way there was through Istanbul. Then, a week in Moscow got added on. Now, mind you, last time I was in Moscow was 1988 when it was still part of the Soviet Union, and it was my 3rd country visited after Canada and the UK. I’m going to guess Moscow is a bit different 25 years later.

I’d planned on taking a few days of vacation after that, to visit 2 of my 3 remaining countries in Europe, when fate intervened I was needed in Montenegro. Score! This would also mean an overnight in Vienna. …and business would finish on Friday, allowing me a weekend connection in Serbia at no charge. That will leave poor little Andorra as my last country to visit in Europe.

I’m going to try and keep up with this in real time. Just managed to secure 10 visas in a little over 3 weeks, which is some sort of personal record, and especially impressive giving they included DR Congo, Angola, Russia, and several other places in West Africa where I’m headed in just five weeks!  Then, it’s back home for a grand total of five days, before a few day Christmas with the family, and then off to West Africa for two+ weeks.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep up in real time. The flight routing is:

map

 

Off we go!