The next leg. Pame stin Athina

So now I am on board my Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul. I’ve flown with this airline before and have really liked them so am expecting a good flight. 

We are squashed in like sardines and I am in my preferred aisle seat where I have a great view of people carrying, what seems to be their entire household on board and then trying to shove it all in overhead lockers as if the locker will get bigger if you push real hard. 

Across the aisle from me is a middle aged woman I saw at the airport, blessed with massive knockers which she chooses to let free so they sway each time she moves. I suspect her short top would have allowed passengers to get a good look as she raised her arms to put luggage up top. 

In front of me is a women who must have fleas or something because she does not stop wriggling. The seat backs are rather flexible so each time she moves I get a face full. 

But I do have a pleasant couple sitting next to me so thank heaven for small mercies. 

There is no on board entertainment, many of the seats are defective but its only 2.5 hours to Athens. We are 45 minutes late leaving so hopefully I get my connection ok. The staff are super attentive and pleasant. 

People watching is so cool and airports and planes are some of the best places to do it. 

Well that turned to S. H. I. T. E. pretty quick. We landed five minutes before the gate opened for my connection. The people next to me are in the same boat. But! We said if we run we will get there. Probably if it was that simple we would have done. 

But it wasn’t. We get off the plane quick enough, to waiting busses which when full meandered round the airport and eventually arrived at the terminal. 

Cool, we still have time. Until we get to the queue to scan our boarding passes. None of this business of getting off one plane to another. Oh no! We then had to go through bag check. 

Yay we are on our way. Soft soled shoes and polished marbles floors don’t work well. I could barely run because I was sliding everywhere. I found where to go and ran along the conveyor belts, I was dripping with perspiration and my backpack was sliding off my shoulders. 

I arrived at the gate just on the flight time. Hopefully they are running late. They weren’t and the big bird in the sky left without me. 

A kind lady told me where to go and get my ticket changed. This brand new airport is massive and poorly signed but eventually I found it and got in the ticketing queue at the same time as a guy going to Athens who had also missed his connection. We wait in the queue and eventually get to the front only to be told by some rude little pratt “what you dooee in thisee lineee. You go there..” waving his arms around. I’m home I thought. The madness has started. 

Anyway to cut a long story short I have been rebooked on a flight arriving in Athens at 2:45am tomorrow. At least I will get there in time for us to take off to the island but I have to wait another 12 hours. The very pleasant woman helping me said they would pay for a hotel in the city for me but quite frankly I couldn’t bear the thought of more mucking around. I did get a meal voucher tho and told to go stand in the queue again to get another voucher in 5 hours. 

I have very little confidence that my suitcase will make it to Athens on the same flight as me so am very happy that I packed some clothes in my carry on. 

So here I am in the new Istanbul airport. IGA. Istanbul Grand Airport. It is chaotic, huge, full of great (and not so great) food places and some neat shops. Also some unusual things. 


Sadly there is very little seating at the airport orher than at the gates or in testaurants but hey I am knocking up those steps. 

I have gone for food at the prescribed place and chosen what I wanted. When I went to pay I was told that was out of the price range for the voucher. Oh who cares I want what I want so I will pay. 

And it was damn good too. A beef mince pide. Yummo. Worth paying for. I wont go back for the next voucher. 

I hit a brick wall so checked myself into a pod hotel. Three times the price of the place at the other airport but the hours sleep I had was worth every penny. I can’t say I feel good but it definitely made a difference. 

But a good stiff turkish coffee and a piece of baklava I am feeling much better. I might be able to tackle the world in the 6 hours I have to wait before my flight, which has not yet even appeared on the departures board!  

There’s only so much time one can kill just wandering and eventually I found myself in Carluccio’s an Italian restaurant where I sat and did some of my Spanish lessons whilst waiting for my dinner, a sea food risotto. I am coming back to this airport in a week and coming straight here. My risotto was so good. The rice perfectly al dente, the seafood cooked to perfection and the flavours just oozed out of it. OMG. I’m too tired to go into the details but believe me it was so good. 

And we are boarding on time.