Don Curry takes seconds

Don Curry's journey failed in a glaring way this year. Instead of being able to visit all three geographically and historically connected states of the South Caucasus one after the other, like a string of pearls, Azerbaijan refused to allow him (and all other car drivers) to cross the border. Despite careful preparation and planning - he had not only obtained a current visa and a notarized permit to drive the Georgian rental car - the Georgian border guard made it clear to him that the neighboring country had once again closed all borders without giving any reasons. So Don Curry looked stunned and sad at a country that didn't want him. He turned back and used the days originally planned for Azerbaijan to get to know Georgia even better and in a more leisurely manner. He shouldn't regret that...

But even in those days, a mixture of disappointment and indignation gave rise to the plan not to be fobbed off so easily. If Azerbaijan thought it could keep Don Curry out by arbitrarily closing its borders, then this country didn't know Don Curry well: he simply made another attempt to overcome the borders in the second attempt - this time from above!

For the first time, Don Curry's trip got a second helping. Today's new beginning was almost shockingly similar to the disastrous beginning of the first part of the journey, and in some points even exceeded it. Yesterday, Don Curry had not only packed his travel bag and backpack, but had already stowed them in the car so that he could easily get off to Hamburg Airport in time. But shortly before he wanted to leave at around 11:30 a.m., an email came in from Turkish Airlines saying that the departure of the booked plane would be delayed by 40 minutes. That's exactly how the drama started when we left for Georgia, but only after we arrived at the airport. This time, Don Curry had made some learning progress for himself and deliberately booked the flights so that the transfer time would now be a whopping 150 minutes instead of just under 60 minutes. That's why the news from the airline didn't frighten him much and even enabled him to have a noticeably more relaxed journey.

Instead of a valet service for his car with key delivery, this time he booked a parking space with a private provider who also provided a shuttle service to the airport. The parking lot is behind a restaurant in Norderstedt, but from there it takes a maximum of 10 minutes to get to the airport departure terminal. Don Curry found the specified location without any problems and took the fact that the space was almost completely filled with cars as a good sign of the seriousness of this provider. At the same time as he arrived at the parking lot, he received another email from Turkish Airlines: the delay was now 60 minutes. No problem, he thought, and allowed himself to be transported to the airport. His driver turned out to be the owner of the restaurant in the parking lot and told Don Curry how, during the Corona period, he came up with the idea of building up an additional, more crisis-proof commercial base in addition to the catering business. So he began to level the unused, overgrown area behind the restaurant parking lot and prepare it as a parking area for travelers' vehicles. However, such flashes of inspiration are not that easy to implement in Germany: he not only had to officially register this additional business, but also get a taxi driver's license and purchase a vehicle exclusively for the shuttle service. But now business is going quite well, and sometimes he can even persuade parking lot customers to stop by his restaurant before driving to the airport.

However, Don Curry wasn't one of them because, despite the increasing delay, he wanted to get the airport formalities over with as quickly as possible so that he had at least done his part to ensure that the trip went smoothly and according to plan. At the check-in counter he was greeted with news that the probable delay had increased to 75 minutes. But today all flights to and from Istanbul were delayed, the check-in woman tried to console him with regard to his connecting flight and, without asking, assigned him extremely bad seats: on both flights the middle seat in a row of three in the rear of the aircraft. Don Curry felt in no way comforted by either the delay information or the seat assignment. Today a new top candidate seemed to be gradually emerging in the “worst journey” category...

When Don Curry reached the gate, a very large crowd was waiting for him. In addition to the passengers on his flight, there were also the passengers from the Istanbul flight that was supposed to take off three hours ago. But boarding soon began for them, and when the Turkish Airlines flight in question landed in Hamburg and docked at the gate in time for its delayed departure time - now 105 minutes - the worst seemed to be over. Don Curry should be wrong. Shortly after the loudspeakers announced that boarding for Don Curry would soon begin, another announcement was made: "Sorry! Due to the high volume of flights, the departure of the Turkish Airlines plane will be delayed by another 60 minutes." Now Don Curry's generous stopover buffer was finally used up. So would he be stranded at Istanbul airport again?

The flight to Istanbul finally took off a good 3 hours late and landed there more than three hours late. Don Curry now experienced an airport in a state of emergency: on the display board he could see that around 90% of the flights were at least 3, and sometimes up to 8, hours late; some had even been completely deleted. The flight to Baku was scheduled for 1:40 a.m., almost 4 hours late. Don Curry now had just as much time in the well-known Istanbul airport to spend the beginning of the night there. But would it stay at 4 hours? When Don Curry checked the Turkish Airlines homepage, his flight was there with a departure time of 4:45 a.m., another 3 hours later. As Don Curry approached the central area of the huge airport, he discovered a huge line of people. This was where the rebooking counter was located in the event of flight cancellations or delays; A few weeks ago, Don Curry waited in line for 5 minutes to get a new flight to Tbilisi after being stranded in Istanbul. Today the queue of those wanting to rebook was at least 100 meters long. How long would you have to wait in line to finally be able to find out when and how things will continue for you?

Don Curry was extremely relieved that he was at least spared this fate. He strolled through the familiar halls of the airport, treated himself to a Memphis BBQ burger in a branch of his favorite burger chain "Carls, Jr" and went to one of the two oases to spend the time as pleasantly as possible on the lounge chairs there let. When the gate was announced 90 minutes before departure, it was once again right next to the chosen oasis of calm. Don Curry enjoyed the modicum of happiness in all the mess. He was able to cancel his first night in the holiday apartment in Baku on time; After all, he would spend this night in the airport or on the plane.

This actually took off at 1:40 a.m. 4 hours late, but surprisingly flew so slowly that it landed in Baku 5 hours late. During the flight, Don Curry felt terribly squeezed between two gentlemen of similar stature, gave up the kofta in the middle of the night and only managed a little microsleep while one of the neighbors snored blissfully.

The plane arrived in Baku in the dark, but Don Curry's future was also in the dark: Would he be able to enter Azerbaijan today? Would the Armenian stamps in the passport cause problems? After this strenuous journey, would he still have the strength to organize the trip back to Istanbul or somewhere else if necessary? Full of inner tension, he waited until it was his turn to go through passport control. A young Azerbaijani woman smiled at him. "Ah, you're from Germany," she said in good German as she examined his passport, "I'm glad! Please look into the camera!" Don Curry did as he was told. She stamped eagerly. "Welcome to Azerbaijan! I wish you a good stay! ° - Don Curry has rarely entered a country so friendly and so easily. Did the Azerbaijani government secretly read his travel blog and wanted to make amends?

Don Curry was in! Don Curry was in Azerbaijan! All the hardships of the journey suddenly seemed meaningless. When his travel bag was the third to be spit out at baggage claim, Don Curry's joy grew a little further, and the first light of the new day fell through the large glass surfaces of the architecturally impressive Baku airport. Now quickly pick up the rental car and the “Baku” adventure could begin.

Don Curry had booked his car through Opodo with a rental company called "Surprise" - a word that means "surprise" in both English and French. And rightly so, Don Curry would soon know. According to the booking documents, there would be a landlord's office in the airport terminal where Don Curry could clarify anything further. Baku certainly has a nice airport, but not a particularly large one. The arrivals hall was quite clear: several ATMs and exchange offices, small offices for some airlines, a tourist information center and the counters of the usual rental companies Avis and Hertz. No trace of Surprise. So Don Curry went to the Hertz counter, which had no customers. "No, they don't have an office here; he would have to call them," was the somewhat stumbling answer to Don Curry's question. To be on the safe side, Don Curry checked the square in front of the terminal, but there was only a café and a taxi agency there. So Don Curry dialed the Azerbaijani phone number he had on file. In hard-to-understand English, a man's voice made it clear that the office was in the airport terminal; he should come to him. Okay, so back again! Unfortunately, Baku is also one of those airports where you have to go through security checks as soon as you enter the terminal. So Don Curry had to go through full security with baggage screening and body scanners. During the second inspection of the terminal, Don Curry again did not find a Surprise office. Was he in for a pretty nasty surprise here? He turned to the tourist information office with questions. For help, she turned to the Hertz employee, who was about to explain to Don Curry that he had to call there, when he quickly replied that he had already done so and that there must be an office in the terminal. She answered sullenly that he should try "Green Motion" and pointed to a desk that was positioned quite inconspicuously under a staircase and advertised "Rental Cars Baku" with the green sign "Green Motion". The employee there was currently talking to a customer, so Don Curry had to get in line. When the employee finally wanted to set off with the customer to his rental car, Don Curry quickly asked whether the "Surprise" company's office was there and showed his voucher with their company logo. "No," said the employee, "I don't know them!" But Don Curry had long since recognized the voice of the man on the telephone with his difficult-to-understand English: he was sitting here in front of him. Don Curry pointed to his name on the voucher and asked the employee to find that name in the paperwork. He actually found it, but for 2:00 am. Don Curry explained the flight delay and the employee promised to take care of him right away. But first he put a sign on the desk saying “This office broke down for 10 minutes” and disappeared with his customer.

After that, things went pretty quickly. The employee already had Don Curry's details, took a photo of his passport, driver's license and credit card, tried to persuade Don Curry to take out additional insurance and then brought him to the car. It was actually supposed to be a Kia Sportage, but in front of Don Curry was a Hyundai Venue with a gray-black chassis and a white roof. Don Curry was satisfied. The employee asked if Don Curry had manat, the Azerbaijani currency, to pay the parking fee. Don Curry had, but only 50 manat notes fresh from the machine. So the employee had to go all the way back to his "broke-down" office in the airport to get the necessary change. Meanwhile, Don Curry discovered a few small scratches on his vehicle, photographed them and later showed them to the employee. But he just waved it off, handed Don Curry the parking ticket he had paid for and called after him: “Petrol libre 92”. Ok, now Don Curry at least knew what to fill up with without having to read anything about it. He quickly left the airport parking lot to calmly adjust the mirrors at the next possible parking space and familiarize himself with the unfamiliar vehicle.

But there are no parking spaces in Baku, at least not many and not just on the side of the road. On the entire route towards the city center, Don Curry didn't find a single opportunity to briefly park his car somewhere on the side of the road. The streets, which are usually unusually wide, have 3 to 5 lanes in each direction, a kind of sidewalk behind hedges or trees, but no parking spaces. Don Curry knew that a modern mall had recently been built not far from his vacation home directly on the Caspian Sea. There had to be parking there. The mall was not yet open at 8:00 a.m. and therefore all parking spaces were cordoned off. As soon as Don Curry slowed down somewhere, stern-looking security guards immediately emerged from the shadows to drive him away. In the end he simply drove out of the city on a wide boulevard near the sea and finally found a number of parking spaces: those near the city were generally chargeable, but further out they were free. He felt more and more clearly that it wasn't a particularly brilliant idea to drive completely tired in an unfamiliar car through a completely unknown city with over a million inhabitants with extremely high traffic volumes and the lively, creative driving style of the locals. He desperately needed a break, so he turned off the engine and tried to get some sleep. He had now received information from the landlord of his holiday apartment that the cancellation of the first night had been accepted and that he could move into the apartment from 2 p.m. He would have to hold on for another six hours until a bed awaited him...

After a short walk along the Caspian Sea with a wonderful view of the Baku skyline including the Flame Towers and The Crescent, Don Curry was once again looking for a nap, but, annoyed, decided to look for a quieter parking space - not directly on a busy arterial road. By then he had decided to simply name his current support vehicle “Kia,” even though it wasn’t a Kia. But neither Hyundai nor Venue were suitable as a template for a pleasant, memorable name. Don Curry thought Kia sounds good, cheerful and reliable. The fact that Kia was equipped with Android Auto made it easier for him to work together in a trusting manner, as Don Curry also knew this from his own vehicle. The targeted parking lot could only be used for a fee, but there was a large event center nearby with free parking. Don Curry rested there in his car until 10:00 a.m. However, the gradually increasing sun soon caused Kia's interior temperature to rise so much that Don Curry was eventually happy to be able to leave.

He drove back to Deniz Mall, whose underground parking garage was now open. The sun was no longer a problem here, but the extremely loud air conditioning fan was. So Don Curry preferred to explore the mall, which, in addition to numerous shops and restaurants, also contains a huge cinema complex, a go-kart track, a children's palace with the actual German name "Kinderpalast" and huge slides for children (and customers?) with which you can quickly get past many Curves from the top can get to the exit. Don Curry was also pleased by the surroundings of the mall: from here, the Flame Towers seemed almost within reach, the "Baku Eye" Ferris wheel is in the immediate vicinity, as is the Carpet Museum, which was architecturally designed in the form of a rolled-up carpet. Directly behind it, in a spacious park, is "Little Venice", a small ensemble of canals and numerous bridges where you can take a gondola ride. It must be important to someone to keep the people entertained through entertainment and activities of various kinds. Don Curry also noticed the downside of this seemingly positive and well-meaning world: masses of surveillance cameras and a veritable army of police officers. As he made his way through the city center, there was a police officer in a black uniform every 100 meters - on each side of the street. In the mall, each of the many entrances had its own security scanner and at least one security guard on duty. When Don Curry finally left the mall, he had to pay 2 manat (= €1) for parking using a machine, although the machine already knew the Kia license plate number when he inserted the parking ticket. Cameras had to have recorded the license plate number as you drove in and combined it with the number of the parking ticket. This is how a surveillance state works.

The clock now showed 11:30. Still 2 1/2 hours until moving into the apartment. Since the tiredness was almost unbearable, Don Curry drove very close to the apartment. In this area there was actually street parking, although official parking attendants in uniform were in charge and collected fees. The actual street near the apartment was completely blocked, so Don Curry drove onto a side street and quickly found a parking space. He decided to call the landlord and ask if he could perhaps move into the apartment a little earlier. Jabir, the landlord, was completely understanding, but the apartment was not yet ready for occupancy. He'll get in touch as soon as he can give a time. So Don Curry waited and kept brushing off the parking attendants who wanted to collect; he would leave straight away. When Jabir got in touch a short time later, he regretted that the apartment wouldn't be ready until around 1:00 p.m., but Don Curry was welcome to use a room in a hotel that also belonged to him in the meantime. That sounded good, but Don Curry asked what would happen to his car in the meantime. Jabir suggested leaving it in the apartment's private parking lot; he would send someone to guide Don Curry out of the side street. Meanwhile, a particularly grim-looking parking attendant assigned a few students to Don Curry and explain to him in English that he had to pay now or drive away. Don Curry replied that he would just wait a moment for someone and then drive away immediately. The students thanked him very politely for this answer and went away; the park ranger continued to look grim. When, after 10 minutes, Jabir's employee still hadn't shown up and the grim parking attendant was walking purposefully toward Kia again, Don Curry finally left the parking lot to find his own way to the apartment. As soon as he turned onto the main street, Jabir called because his employee couldn't find him at the location described on the side street. Don Curry tried to explain that he would be at the apartment in a moment, but the phone connection went dead. The actual road was still so congested that Don Curry's progress was very slow. He finally reached the address and - under the eyes of a traffic policeman - double-parked, congesting the street even more. Then he called Sabir and reported that he was now waiting directly at the apartment. Then his employee came around the corner and guided Don Curry to an extremely narrow entrance through which Kia could get into an inner courtyard. Kia passed this first real test with flying colors, and Don Curry was just happy to be able to park the car.

Since it was now 12:10 p.m., he decided not to stay in the hotel room, but wanted to use the remaining time to take a little walk through the old town opposite. At some point here he happened to meet Jabir's employee, who had just guided him and now greeted him in a friendly manner and stopped for some small talk. Don Curry had only been in Baku for a few hours and was already meeting acquaintances here... At the end of his walk, he grabbed a shawarma and a kebab to take away and returned to the courtyard.

Waiting for him here was Jabir himself, a lively middle-aged manager who greeted Don Curry with great warmth. He even knew that Don Curry had already booked the apartment in the summer, but had to cancel completely. He also proudly said that he was currently learning French and German at the same time because he wanted to get more involved in the tourism industry. And he asked Don Curry to only speak German to him - he wanted to do that now too. Don Curry can also choose the apartment he likes best. First, Sabir took him to a huge, almost luxuriously furnished four-room apartment on the second floor. Wow! Then we went to a much simpler but tastefully furnished 2-room apartment on the 4th floor. And when Don Curry stepped onto the balcony, his decision had been made: an unobstructed view over the magnificent boulevard in front of the house to the nearby Caspian Sea. Double wow! For Don Curry, views and atmosphere are always more important than luxury and ostentation.

However, there was still a catch: this second apartment wouldn't be ready for another 20 minutes. Don Curry no longer cared about that. So Jabir invited him to the Café Giusto next door to spend the waiting time pleasantly. When Jabir asked what Don Curry wanted to drink, he asked about Azerbaijani tea; Jabir thought this was an excellent idea and ordered one too. At the next table sat three police officers, eyeing Don Curry rather curiously. Meanwhile, he learned from Jabir that Russian was still the first foreign language in Azerbaijan, followed by English and later French or German. He estimates that probably 10% of Azerbaijanis speak or at least understand German. It would therefore be very nice if more German tourists traveled to this country in the future. Then they both made small talk about Oktoberfest, about differences between Tbilisi and Baku and inevitably about Bayern Munich. In between, one of the police officers asked Jabir whether the German could also speak English? When he answered in the affirmative, the officer stood up, introduced himself by name and shook hands with Don Curry. He listed a surprisingly large number of German cities that he had already visited; and above all he wanted to know how Don Curry would find Baku? Don Curry emphasized that he had only been in the city for a few hours, but was already amazed at the architectural beauty of the numerous buildings. The officer was happy to translate this to his colleagues, and Don Curry got lots of tips about what else he had to see in Baku and Azerbaijan. So the waiting time for the excellent tea really flew by.

Jabir quickly organized a remote control for the entrance gate to the courtyard and then personally dragged Don Curry's travel bag to the fourth floor. After many more hints, he finally said goodbye. Don Curry had some shawarma and kebab and then just collapsed into bed. Sleep didn't come immediately, but it came...

Don Curry woke up again around 6:00 p.m., but he still felt so exhausted and listless that he abandoned all further plans and ideas for that day or evening. He still admired the insane glitter of the Flame Towers at night, wrote this detailed report and looked forward to tomorrow.

What a day! Because he was unable to sleep at night, Don Curry's entire journey took place in one day. And he has rarely experienced so much adversity and so much positive in equal measure. But after just a few hours in Azerbaijan, Don Curry can say without question: the second helping was worth it!