We needed to leave about 7am to ensure we arrived at the airport with enough time to spare. Fortunately breakfast was available in the hotel from 6.30am.  Not cheap – 220 AED (about A$60) for two of us but there was the hugest smorgasbord of options I have ever seen for breakfast. There was a healthy food selection, middle east selection, Scandinavian selection, English selection (including bacon), an entire wall off pastries, about eight different types of bread and even a Japanese breakfast We asked the concierge to book us a taxi to the airport and gratefully accepted the suggestion of the hotel’s limousine. It was comfortable (the driver was even wearing a tie) and he knew how to drive fast without sitting right on the tail of the car in front. We arrived early and breezed through check-in and immigration. We had a look around the duty free area and found somewhere to buy postcards and stamps. Unfortunately they only had two stamps for Australia. TC snapped them up and we went and purchased a very expensive coffee and sat down, wrote on the postcards and then found the old school red post box to post the two we had written.

After that it was time to board so we went to the gate to wait with our fellow passengers to board our flight to Istanbul. There were a number of Japanese girls with very short shorts and Etihad blankets wrapped around them as skirts, one imagines at the request of the airline. We took a bus to our (black) plane which had been sitting on the tarmac for some time and prepared to swelter. I had never seen an air hostess sweat before but there was a French hostie on our flight literally dripping it was so hot. We were sitting next to a guy whom we presumed was Indian and discovered at the end of the flight, he was actually from Sydney and was going to study in Ankara for six months. The meal on the flight wasn’t bad. ITandoori chicken on pasta salad, spinach and potato pie and a cardamom flavoured mousse cake. The most interesting part was the route we took. We flew directly over Iraq. Seeing Baghdad from the air was quite surreal.[Feel the Pain – Dinosaur Jr – one of the 90s tunes I loved. Saw these guys at UC about five years ago and it was well worth the effort.]

Hot and bothered was definitely not the right way to arrive at Attaturk International Airport in Istanbul. After the ridiculously organized and efficient Abu Dhabi airport, entry into Turkey was a nightmare. First you have to queue to pay for your visa, then you have to line up to go through the immigration gates. The visa took about 10 minutes of queuing and we thought we could slip quietly into the near empty gate next to us. Except that it was reserved for Iraqi citizens only. We then wandered up to the main immigration gates which were divided in two – Turkish citizens and others. The others gate resembled the security screening gate at LAX that weaves back and forth so far it snakes out the door.  Waiting in this line, we came across four more Australians – this time from Brisbane on their way to Tel Aviv. Eventually just as we got near the front of the line, the airport staff decided we could go throough the Turkish citizens gate. We breezed through and headed off to find our bags. After collecting them we headed over to the domestic terminal, checked in at the kiosk and dropped our bags. On (very good) advice from our hosts in Ankara, we had left quite a lot of time between our flights. We headed through the security scanner. Security scanners are really sensitive in Turkey. The underwire in my bra set it off and I got thoroughly patted down. After that little embarrassment, we wandered around the terminal and sat down for a coffee in a Starbucks (for shame). Then a bit more of a wander and a sizable beer for TC – about 800mls of Efes.  Eventually it was time to depart, again on a bus to the plane. The flight to Ankara was half empty, the way you might expect a 3pm flight to Canberra to be, so TC and I had a chance to spread out a bit. The plane food included a sandwich, a salad and some cheese and crackers. The flight took us down lower than the flight to Istanbul but was basically the same route we had flown earlier that day.

We arrived in Ankara overtired and feeling in desperate need of a shower. And then came the drama. When we arrived, we got directed to the International terminal where after a few minutes it became apparent was not where our bags had arrived. The girl in the airport sent us up to the domestic arrivals hall but the guys there wouldn’t let us in. TC spied my name on a placard held by the driver our hostess G had arranged. (I’ve always wanted to be picked up from the airport by someone holding a placard with my name). The driver was really helpful and basically wouldn’t take no for an answer from the airport staff. Eventually they let us in to go to the lost luggage office. TC was more on the ball than me and spied our bags on a carousel in the distance – saved. The driver got us to Casa G&S safely and our hosts greeted us warmly, and showed us our room in their two-floor, four bathroom luxury apartment and then served us a magnificent Turkish feast of Ispanak Etli, a traditional meat and spinach dish, zuchinnis stuffed with lamb mince and peppers stuffed with rice. A few glasses of wine, some pleasant conversation, some planning for the day ahead, and a little bit of cable TV and it was time for bed. [Deanna – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – regular readers will recognize this song but it is one of my Nick Cave faves]