The Caucasus - a bit of this and a bit of that

Yes me! Helen! and after hours of mask wearing and keeping my mouth shut I am walking round with my gob open as if catching flies.  Everywhere I look I am gobsmacked. I am by no means an architecture buff but this is extreme. Every single building has features you would not expect, all of them stunning.  Someone told me that Baku is like Dubai. Let me tell you it is nothing like Dubai. It is stately, serene, grown up and has none of the garishness and falseness of Dubai. There is no glitz, there is no split between modern, old and very old; they all mingle together. There is no open demonstration of wealth, people look neat, tidy, modern and unaffected by the extreme wealth that oil has generated in this beautiful place. Buildings are functional but with pizzaz and even the modern make a statement without flash superficial crap.  I’ve been to a few places but no where have I felt so safe, comfortable or captivated. This is in a class of its own.  To my two mates Chri...

My visa did arrive and just within the three hour slot I was promised. The wonderfully helpful gentleman at immigration kept me posted and looked after me.  The Madam Dobson that he kept calling me was a bit weird but I dont think I’ve ever come across a more helpful, polite and respectful service person. Thank you.  Through immigration I rescued my poor forlorn bag which had made its way to lost property and we were away. I had phoned my pre paid driver ($41NZD) when I struck the visa issue and told him to leave so I grabbed a cab. Of course I wont get my money back and rightly so.  Take the marroon coloured electric version on a London cab I was told. So that’s what I did. Ha ha. He had no idea where to go and stopped and asked his fellow drivers a few times but he got me to the hotel safely and then asked for NZD70 equivalent. Rip off but I was too tired to argue so I paid up. Luckily I had cash.  I am hoping that I have seen the back of delays, waiting, sleepless...

52 hours after leaving home and I have arrived in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Their new airport is impressive, the staff welcoming and helpful.  After 52 hours and not much more than a few cat naps I am shattered and coming off the plane could think of nothing other than the bed I had waiting at the end of my cab ride from the airport.  I had all my docs in my hand ready to breeze through and get on my way.  But irrespective of how well things can be planned I should have learned by now that my typing skills are not the best and nor is my eye sight.  Why do I say that you may well ask.  Well I landed 2 hours ago and I am now sat here airside at Baku airport waiting for my electronic visa to come through. Yes I had received my visa, processed in accordance with the data I personally keyed into the form.  But when I got to immigration they noticed that the visa started from 1/6/2023 and today is only the 29/5/2023 so technically I don’t h...

Well the 52 hours travel time is slowly whittling down. All that’s left is a 15 hour layover in Istanbul during which I change from the new Istanbul airport, north west of the city in Europe to Sabiha Gocken airport which is east of the city in Asia. That will be followed by a three hour flight to Baku where I arrive at a sparrows fart 3:30am to be collected by a pre-booked driver and taken to my hotel which I expect I will see a lot of over the first day at least.  I’m starting this as my Singapore Airlines flight nears Istanbul. It began nearly 11 hours ago but thanks to some Melatonin which I bought over the counter at Singapore airport (it needs a prescription back home) I slept for much of it. Sadly the flight was full so I didn’t have the luxury of stretching out.  I remember back in the good old days (pre covid) when Singapore Air were head and shoulders above other airlines when it came to service. The Changi Airport remains fantastic but really! No wi-fi!...

Its the same old nonsense. Every. Single. Time. I. Get. On. A. Plane I say to myself “why?   You hate flying, you hate waiting round airports and all the faffing about that goes with it. Why do you do it?” And yet here I am again. Six hours into a boring 52 hours of travel and wondering why!  This trip is had better be worth it!  I know it will.  My adventure started a bit earlier than 4:15am when my dutiful Uber collected me, my 3 kilo on board backpack and my 10kilo check in  luggage.  I checked in on-line last night and expected to just print a bag tag at the airport and be on my way. Alas the stars thought otherwise. The place was bedlam with queues of people waiting in line for assistance from staff as some aspect of their check-in was not working properly. For some reason, in my case, my bag tag only had me going to Singapore even tho I fly through to Istanbul. It took waiting in a long queue (one of many) and two helpful but bewildered staf...