Despite staying up late we checked out early, and it was an easy train ride to the airport. As we arrived there we saw thousands of paper tickets spread out all over the ground near the ticket machines – not sure what that was all about. The airport was surprisingly busy as I guess other people know that it is cheap to fly on New Year’s Day.
We had a quick sandwich (blah) and coffee (meh) and then lined up to check in. As I had bought the next two legs of our trip on Turkish Airlines from two different companies I was anticipating some trouble and sure enough, they only had my information for the first leg. They said we’d need to pick up our suitcase, clear immigration and customs to enter Turkey, and then come right back in and check in for the next leg. But the staff offered to look for my other flight, if I could just provide the tickets.
It sounds easy but it is not. The tickets are actually emails, and each leg is a different email. Each passenger is a different email. I showed the flight reservation code, but that is not what she wanted. Some of the travel companies will not give you a flight ticket number until you log into their sites, and I wasn’t sure off the top of my head which company I had used for which tickets. I searched through all my emails but the answer was not coming up and I was very aware of all the people waiting impatiently behind us. So, I told the staff that we’d step out of line to look for it and come back when I had it. Kuniko was understandably pissed off – why is Bryan so disorganized? Why do we have to wait twice? I just wanted to get out of people’s way instead of flailing under pressure, and once we stepped aside I found the email that had the flight ticket seat number. We lined up in the first class line and luckily we could get the second leg added on and say goodbye to our suitcase until we meet again in Osaka.
Phew! Afterwards the security line was surprisingly long – about a 30 minute wait to get through. A couple in front of us were arguing so I could see how travel stress could affect us all. Finally through the gate we decided to get a little better food at a deli type place. We had a half bottle of Esporao white, a nice piece of quiche, and everything was all right with the world.
As we headed to our gate, the flight suddenly was marked as final boarding, so we went down the tunnel and got on a bus which took us out to our plane. Despite the final boarding message, it took a long time to fill the plane, with a big group arriving just at the last minute. Maybe due to the security line?
It was four and half hours to Istanbul, easy flight, and a kid with an unusually large head in front of us was enjoying peek a boo with us. Towards the end of the flight I went to use the restroom and was surprised to find some used diapers wadded up in the toilet – those don’t flush! I told the flight attendant and she knew exactly whodunnit – and went after him and his little kid immediately. Yikes!
In Istanbul we did sort of the same thing we had done on the way in – a kebab and beer at one bar, more kefta, beer, and spicy burgers at the sports bar we visited before, walking around stretching our legs, and playing Balatro while waiting. It was a long time to kill. Finally it was time to go to the gate to catch our 10 hour flight to Osaka.
Not much to report after that – I slept seven of the ten hours. The food on the return leg was not so delicious – breakfast was some kind of sweet porridge – but that is the price you pay for cheap flights in economy!
Then it was the familiar slide through Kansai airport – immigration was easy as usual. We had to wait quite a while for our suitcase – long enough to start getting worried that it didn’t in fact make it from Lisbon. But finally it came around the conveyor. We were able to catch a bus. I had bought a ticket for the return bus ride for Kuniko after checking with a staff that it was valid for the future, but on the ticket we found a message that said that it wasn’t. Kuniko had to buy another ticket and we just made it in time.
Back home we unpacked our loot – the cheese and other goodies all made it safely. What a journey! This trip was our last on our current passports – now we have to stick around Japan until we can get them renewed. Hopefully we’ll be traveling again soon!
