Oktoberfest: Day 9
Oktoberfest: Day 9
9/29/2024
Istanbul - Denver
Beers Drank: 4 plane beers
Our alarm went off at 6:30am but we ignored it until close to 7am. My shower was ice cold with the shower head at the level of my shoulder, a rough start to the day. Our window had a view of the Black Sea, if a bit foggy. We packed, checked out and made our way across the Sultanahmet Square with morning views of the Blue Mosque.
Istanbul is an unideal place for anyone allergic to cats, they were everywhere.
We stopped at a cafe near our metro station for breakfast. Turkish coffee and a dish called menenem. Yumm. Very good and filling.
We took our time getting back to the airport with the metro which was a lot easier to navigate with full bellies and daylight. There’s a lesson to be had here somewhere…
At the airport there was the first security with all your luggage at the entrance. Then there was check in with someone checking your passport. Then it was passport control and another security check. We had roughly twenty minutes prior to boarding so we stopped at an Italian coffee shop where we enjoyed a milkshake, or gelato-shake? It was tasty.
There were three more security checks at the boarding gate with random baggage searches for various passengers. I got through smoothly but Jake had a bit of extra scrutiny at the second check.
Finally, for this flight, I was not in a middle seat. I had the aisle and Jake had the middle seat. We were in the middle grouping within the plane. We lucked out and no one ended up in the seat next to Jake, so we could spread out. As usual, there was a long flight care package and TA fed us very, very well.
Roughly halfway through the flight someone in the far back of the plane started yelling. “Don’t kill me, let me go, I want to get home alive.” Our neighbor across the aisle went back to check and it appeared to be someone was either having a panic attack or has something akin to dementia. She reported that the person had a travel companion with them. It was still rather unnerving and continued for some time before they settled down.
I had looked at the ticket time wrong and thought we were supposed to land at 9:30pm, so it was pleasant surprise when we touched down at 5:40pm instead. Customs wasn’t too bad and after a short wait for our luggage we were on the metro to parking. Jake got his wish and someone came on board to check tickets. He was very pleased.
We collected Leinie from Uncle Adam and drove home before crashing very hard from a very long travel day.
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Our hero and heroine make their way through Sultanahmet neighborhood en route to the airport for one final flight back home to an awaiting Leinie Trail Dog.