I'm in Ataturk International Airport on Istanbul's European side. I arrived to Istanbul from Mersin via an overnight Mersin VIF bus ride. My flight to Kuala Lumpur leaves in just over an hour. My 36th Turkish stamp is freshly imprinted in my passport and I'm about to go to the boarding gate.
I was meant to have a baggage limit of 30 kilograms for my flight, 10 kg more than normal because of my Enrich frequent flying membership. However, when checking in, the woman at the Malaysian Airlines desk said she had not received word of this. This is despite me calling earlier the Malaysian Airlines office earlier this week and receiving verbal confirmation of the extra luggage limit. Thankfully, I didn't have to pay for extra luggage but am now dragging around two carry-on bags as opposed to one.
In the last few days I've said goodbye to many colleagues and friends in Mersin. Although I'm tired of living there, I hope I get the chance to visit again not too far into the future.
I have to catch up with many emails, replying to comments and sending photos. This may not occur until after I arrive to Australia. Thank you for writing and apologies to those still waiting a reply...
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Labels: air travel, istanbul, travel - general, turkey travel
My trip involved 8 flights on 3 different airlines:
Atlasjet (Adana-Istanbul, Istanbul-Adana);
Emirates (Istanbul-Dubai, Dubai-Karachi, Karachi-Dubai, Dubai-Istanbul); and
Airblue (Karachi-Lahore, Islamabad-Karachi).
Here are some flight-related photos:
ON THE WAY TO PAKISTAN
Sabanci Mosque (bottom), Adana Hilton (top) and the Roman Bridge (top right), Adana.
The Taurus Mountains ("Toros Daglari") north of Mersin. Notice the snow on some of the peaks.
At Ataturk Airport, Istanbul, were many Turkish people waiting to leave for the Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
Father Christmas at Dubai AirportRETURNING TO TURKEY
One of Karachi's airport terminals
Karachi suburbs from the plane. Karachi is a huge city and the suburbs were visible for a long time in the plane.
One of Karachi's ports?
This cloud and cloud-shadow formation looked amazing from the air
Emirates above the cloud
A lonely Arabian Peninsula road surrounded by desert
Dubai's suburbs on the approach to the airport
The above two photos do not fully capture the dreaminess of the sky over the Gulf
A jet in the distance piercing the sunset with its trail. Note the snow blanketing the ground.
The sun setting beneath the plane's wing engine
A volcano mountain (Mt. Nemrut, Tatvan?) disguised by snow. Eastern Turkey was absolutely covered in snow.
Turkish Airlines aeroplanes lined up at Ataturk Airport, Istanbul-------------------
Labels: adana, air travel, dubai, istanbul, karachi, travel - general
Great news for budget travellers living in Turkey.
Air Arabia, the Middle Eastern low-cost airline based out of Sharjah, UAE, has started flying twice a week to Istanbul.
From
Sabiha Gokcen Airport on Istanbul's Asian side people can now fly via Sharjah to great
destinations like Kathmandu, Sana'a, Luxor and Colombo (but not Karachi).
Checking the website, the ridiculous prices in the advert above were nowhere to be seen. In fact, from the results I got, it seemed the prices were not that much cheaper than discount-economy class on a full-service airline.
I hope to fly Air Arabia one day.
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Labels: istanbul, travel - general
