Gatting There

Let the holiday begin...…..

A very driech start to the day, but it was going to get better -- honestly.
The taxi arrived a few minutes late and had to take a detour to the airport due to long running bridge works (we knew about those), however he thought it best to use the motorway (towards Edinburgh during morning rush hour?). Not very good of a taxi driver not to know of other 'shortcuts'. Also not good to have the heating on full belt, the radio up loud with his choice of music or to try and have a conversation about politics.
He killed the holiday mood and lost out on a tip.

SWMBO had chosen the sets well and being right behind the partition to business class I was able to stretch my legs out with no problem. After having figured out how to bypass the weird sound problems on the personal entertainment system (Voice tracks kept cutting out and just left the background track) by using the controls on the wired handset control suck in the armrest it was all fine.

Flying into Istanbul the city looked absolutely gridlocked with traffic - but there was nothing around the airport itself … strange.
The airport is HUGE and seemed to be strangely quiet. I wasn't - but it is so huge that it just felt that way. It seemed about a mile from the arrival gate to the central concourse but the travelators, (a very small piece here), the limousine sized disabled buggies, the superfast wheelchair/buggies, staff on Segways and the general hugeness of the place made it all part of the holiday experience and somehow 'relaxed'.
The central concourse has some super sculptures (here) (and here) and 'interactive' artwork ….. and a shopping/duty free/food court which is bigger than Edinburgh airport. I could have spend hours just photographing architectural details
Did I mention that the place is HUGE?
We had about 6 hours to kill so had arranged a pass for the 'lounge' where there was unlimited free food and drink and really comfortable seating. Again, a huge place bit didn't feel it because of the way it was designed and set out. The only thing I wasn't too keen about in there was the staff's attitude to a couple of backpacks and a phone charged that there left unattended for 4 hours (that I know of) ….. 'No problem - No problem' was the only response I got when reporting it. A bit strange In a country that has its own terrorism and drug smuggling problems.

The next flight (another mile long trip to the gate) to our (nearly) final destination was long (8 hours). I have real problems trying to sleep on planes (something to do with my height and back problem) and it certainly isn't helped by staff who stand in the galley a few feet from you and yack all night - apart from when they are coming round at what is effectively 4am and start serving food and drink! My noise cancelling headphones do a great job when it comes to engine and background noise - but not constant talking. I got maybe 2 hours fitful kip in total.