October 1, Saturday - In Transit

 October 1, 2022

Our taxi arrived at 7:50 this morning. 10 minutes early. 30 minutes later we joined the throng of travelers inside the international terminal. I had Alice wait while I strolled the aisle looking for the Turkish Airlines check in desk. How things have changed there. I did not find Turkish and as I headed. Back to join Alice I noticed a changing sign that listed airlines and their check in locations. Turkish was at 5E. Of course this was as far from our entrance as possible. We headed for it. 

When we finally arrived there was a quite long line. Thankfully it was not ours. The business class line had just one lady ahead of us. We had our 2 bags checked and received our boarding passes in short order. We were also given entry passes for the Swissport Lounge where we headed after our quick trip through security  

Swissport is a contract lounge that hosts many airlines. It is rather small with very limited food and beverage offerings.  We found seats and I enjoyed a turkey and swiss sandwich while Alice had a very good pasta salad. We waited until 10:30 before heading to our gate at the opposite end of the terminal. Traffic had really picked up since we arrived two hours earlier. 

At our gate there was a very very long line and no seating area to speak of. We stood at a counter near a window and watched the line grow longer. I went to the desk to inquire about preferred boarding. The agent directed to line opposite the really long line. It too was long but not as bad. We joined it. There was no signage whatsoever to inform you that this was the priority line. Soon an agent came to query folks in this line. He ended up directing most of them to the other line. Now we were just 10 people from the front of the line. 

Very shortly boarding began. It went smoothly and in minutes we were seated in the 2 seats in the center of row 5. We spent some time learning the controls for making these lay flat beds. Then we focused on the video and audio controls. This version of the Boeing 787 has the largest monitor screens we have ever seen on a flight. 

As we fiddled with the controls we were offered welcome juices before leaving. Then the onboard chef came by to take our orders for entree. Alice chose a chicken dish and I went with grilled cod. We wonder if anyone chose the pasta. 

While the chef was preparing the meals we were offered the alcoholic beverages. Alice had Baileys and I had the 15 year old Glenfidich. This set a leisurely pace and was most enjoyable. 

As we finished our drinks the attendants came by with a trolley of salads and soup. I had the seafood potpourri and Alice chose the goat cheese and baby beet salad. We both had the zucchini soup. All were excellent. The cold squid on my plate was melt in my mouth tender. What a beginning. 

Alice enjoyed her chicken with saffron rice while I did likewise with the excellent cod and spinach. The cod was perfectly grilled. 

My dessert was a selection of traditional Turkish sweets. Alice could not pass up the chocolate soufflé. Both were excellent and we followed them up with another round of drinks. After Turkish coffee of course. Ah, contentment. 

While we each played Sudoku on the monitor the cabin attendants began the turn down service. They came to each seat and offered to make the beds. This consisted of placing a large quilted blanket on the seat. You laid on this and folded the remaining half over you. Of course it came with a pillow. Because we both tend to be warm inflight we passed on this. Later we were not sorry. 

I did go to lay flat mode and nodded off for about an hour and a half. I don’t know if Alice slept. She usually does not. 

As I write this we are 5 and a half hours into the flight with just 4 hours to go. All is smooth and well. This is just the beginning. I will post next after our arrival in Istanbul.