We were up early and Denis dropped me off at Leeds Bradford airport with plenty of time to spare. It’s a really busy airport first thing in the morning but everything went smoothly and I was soon having a sausage butty and a cup of tea. But an away trip only gets going properly when you’ve had a drink in the airport bar
First leg of the journey was WizzAir to Bucharest. 3.5 hours
I had an hour and a half at Bucharest before my Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul which seemed plenty of time. But we were held on the runway at Leeds Bradford for quite a while and I started to get anxious about missing the connection. The captain implied we’d make up time on the flight, but when we arrived at Bucharest it was clear that I would indeed miss the connection….. until I discovered that despite being on Airplane mode my phone had somehow picked up European time and I actually had an hour to spare. Feeling like a proper little old lady I checked with the young lady next to me what the time really was and sure enough I had plenty of time.
Passport control was another shock though – huge queues for the non-EU citizens. I had my usual grumble about Brexit which didn’t help with the queue but made me feel a bit better. But now my hour to spare didn’t seem very much at all. So for once I pushed in (feeling awful) and then had a word with the security officer who sent me through and onto the area for non-Schengen transfers which is probably where I should have gone in the first place. Eventually I was on the plane and it was a short hop (1.5 hours max) to Istanbul
Despite the short flight time we got nicely fed by Turkish Airlines- salad, sandwich, cake and a glass of wine. Plus free WiFi at Istanbul airport for their passengers. Top marks for them.
The Airbnb had organised a car to get me from the airport to the Airbnb. It’s a huge airport and it was chaotic waiting for the driver. I was tired, hungry and ready for a beer. Eventually a driver was allocated and I was on my way to the Airbnb, albeit with a petrol stop on the way. Paul and Jamie were waiting for me in a bar by the Airbnb. Unfortunately I had no data roaming so communication was proving tricky and I was starting to feel a bit isolated and despondent. Not helped by the weather which was chucking it down.
On the plus side, surely things can only get better?
Check here tomorrow for an update on the Airbnb and tonight’s socialising (I’m sure there’ll be some)
Paul etc arrived early
Dinner and drinks
Met Tahir
Pearl Blog 3 