Bye bye Istanbul (Day 17 of the world trip)

September 21, 2019

Not much happened today, actually. We took another walk in Kadiköy in the morning and saw some cool things thanks to the good weather. It's a really hip neighborhood :) There were cute cafes and also a nostalgic tram and a street where umbrellas are hung from house to house. We've seen this picture in several cities, but it was the first time we saw it and it was really pretty. We also walked (admittedly by chance) past the Fenerbahce Stadium and (spoiler alert :p) later on the way to the airport, we also passed by the Galatasaray Stadium.

After the walk, we went to Carrefour again to stock up on provisions for the upcoming journey, and at 2:30 p.m., we walked to the bus station. Istanbul has a new airport from which all flights have been departing since April 2019. Although Istanbul is exemplary in terms of public transportation, there is currently only one normal road to the new airport and no metro or train connection. Not surprisingly, however, there is a very good shuttle bus service - Havaist. The journey from Kadiköy to the airport costs 25 TYL (about €4) per person and takes about 1.5 hours, depending on traffic. Of course, the bus itself was also very chic. It looked almost new, clean, and comfortable :) We made a few stops along the way to pick up more people, many of whom were flight attendants or pilots. That made it even more "real".

For the first time, we are not returning to Germany from one country, but flying from another country to yet another country ;-)

The airport is modern and also looks new. For example, the assembly instructions are still stuck on the toilet seats from the inside :D As we've observed the whole time, the presence of police and military here is quite high, and it was the same at the airport. After entering, you have to go through a security check directly, with hand luggage AND checked luggage. In my backpack, they found something suspicious - no surprise^^ So, the lady put on gloves and tried to explain to me in Turkish what they had seen on the monitor. Unfortunately, she always used the Turkish word, which didn't help me. I made a few suggestions like "cell phone?" and such, but she just shook her head.

When I took out the lunchbox from THIELE and opened it, she said "oh" out loud. Apparently, she didn't expect cheese sandwiches :D She neatly emptied my backpack and finally found what she was looking for - a small flashlight :O She showed it to her colleague, and after a brief inspection, they deemed it good ;-)

After this initial check, we went to the check-in counter. We're flying with IndiGo, a (low-cost) airline from India, but the employees at the counter seemed to belong to Turkish Airlines. Indeed, Turkish Airlines was definitely the dominant airline. Well, we checked in quite smoothly, but then there was some confusion when we were offered seat assignments. 21 B and C. That sounded good! I said "that's okay," but the employee made another suggestion. We repeated that 21 B and C would be fine, and he nodded. Then we received our boarding passes, and what seats were there? 33 A and 33 C. Okay... :D

After the "shock," we had the first snack so that we could drink our water before the actual security check of our hand luggage ;-) While we were sitting there, three young people came with two suitcases, opened them, and then disposed of the spray paint cans inside, probably more than 5 or so^^ Otherwise, there was a cordless drill and other tools in the suitcase - in a completely normal fabric suitcase that you also use for clothing. By the way, there was no clothing in their suitcases, but okay. Who needs clothing when you have your screwdriver? :p

At the security check, my toothpaste and lip balm also made it through without the extra bag. Yay! And then we had about three hours in the security area ahead of us, which could be spent shopping at the duty-free or at one of the numerous luxury stores. More in line with our budget, Jonas and I were looking for the cheapest water bottle ;-) The first snack stop offered it for 8 TYL (€1.40), but we hoped to find something better. After the seventh or eighth store, we made bets on what price the next one would have (it was always 8 OR 9 TYL), and in the end, we bought 5 bottles of 0.5L water and also a yogurt for me, using our euros (the cash was completely gone, the rest was donated to a street musician). Then it was time to brush our teeth, and at 7:45 p.m., we boarded the plane.

As it turned out, the employee at check-in had wanted to do us a favor. Because seat 33 B was empty, Jonas and I had the row of three seats to ourselves, and we could find more or less comfortable sleeping positions for the 5.5-hour flight. Because when we landed, we would be in India! :O