15 February 2015 - Journey from New Delhi to Istanbul via Brussels - a cheap flight!

The thing about overnight flights is that it is hard to know when a journal entry should end or begin.  So, I'll begin with the pre-booked taxi van being on time!  We had to load two of the backpacks on the roof rack and were driven carefully with minimal tooting to Indira Gandhi Airport.  We were once again very thankful for a cloudless sky and again wondered how travelling in the wet season in India would be possible. It is a HUGE airport but wonderfully organised airport.  The kids and I had a bit of fun cruising around on the free golf cart transport from and to Gate 12 which seriously was at least 1 Km from the check in desk.  The sign indicated it would take up to 13 minutes to walk the distance.  There are several really great things about this airport: Firstly it is a "Silent Airport" with no announcements, secondly it is spacious, clean and even has recliner couches if you are lucky enough (or quick enough) to score one and thirdly, it didn't charge huge western prices for McDonalds etc.

As we had arrived and gone all through the checking by 11.15 PM, and by 1.30 AM the kids were asking for icy “somethings”, we did go to Maccas - eek.  What was amusing was the variety of food being offered: Masala Chicken Burgers, Veggie Burgers, and other spicy alternatives that we wouldn't see in Australia!

Cheap Indian pharmacy - paracetamol and nurofen to last us a year or more!

We boarded our flight 9W023, Jet Airways, and we pleased to note comfortable seats and more leg room and importantly good screens.  Our previous Jet Airways flight from Bangkok had vinyl seats and no knee room.  Of course it was a long night, but not too bad and plenty of drinks available.  Luke slept well and the rest of us dozed.

Brussels International Airport - in Europe!

At Brussels International Airport we had to go through security (again), I think because we were travelling from India.  There was some such announcement.  I had inadvertently left a couple 120 mls bottles of Indian hair product in Tim’s backpack which was sent through the scanner twice and then there was no way I could negotiate to empty out a bit of the oil so there was only 100 mls and I really wanted to keep some.  I did find a 100ml bottle of Indian sorghan (?), the delicious blend of little sweets, cumin, mint and other herbs used as crunchy mouth freshener, which I had half finished.  So, whilst Karl and the kids waited, I went counter queue to gobble the remains and then decant 100mls of the oil and then go through security again.

We found a spot to park ourselves as we had 4 hours to wait until our next flight.  We couldn’t find the Turkish Airline check in to get our boarding passes and were reassured by a Help Desk that we could go to the check in desk when it was announced 45 minutes before the flight.  When it was announced we were told off for not having boarding passes which they then quickly processed.  Stress!  The E-ticket system is still slightly mysterious! 

However, the highlight for the kids was when Karl eventually agreed to change $50 AUD to Euros so we could buy a little bit of Belgium chocolate.  My argument being that you absolutely HAVE to try chocolate in Belgium!  In the middle of our arduous journey, this will remain a highlight!  We chose a Cote d’Or bar each and didn’t regret it.  We will need Euros soon anyway and, yes, the exchange rate at the airport was not the best, but in the whole scheme of things, well worth it!  Brussels International Airport also had free Wi-Fi for 30 minutes which we made use of.

Luke checking out Euros

Savouring Cote d'Or chocolate.

 Turkish Airways announced the flight and we were seated in the most comfortable plane of our trip so far.  The service was lovely and the food was a nice change from the spicy Indian vegetarian meals.  They even handed out a menu and a kids’ activity pack for Luke.

Turkish airlines flight TK 1938 to Istanbul.

Pretty cute studying safety card on board!

Our next challenge was passport control.  I had organised our Turkish E-visas before we left Australia on the understanding that we would hand our passports over, the visas would be “in the system”, and we would waltz through in a highly efficient mode.  When the gentleman in front of us was redirected I started to get a bit concerned.  Sure enough, we were supposed to have pieces of paper.  Why, would E-visas require this?  Bureaucracy!  So, we queued up again and numbers were being punched in madly and I KNEW they had found our E-visas online, of course they had!!!  But, I felt they were making us work hard.  So Karl and I had to get out our now low battery laptops and refer to spreadsheets with E-visa details on them which I had judiciously kept and filed systematically and sent copies to Karl.  I know the piece of paper the official handed to the next official had our reference numbers on but we were asked to walk with our half emptied day packs and open laptops to stand in the next queue.  By this stage we had been travelling for nearly 24 hours with very little sleep.   Not happy! Everyone shows their tiredness in different ways, so the collective Keesman display of exhaustion and lowering frustration tolerance, particularly in the kids, was becoming rather irksome.  We were permitted into Turkey at last … and then we had to contact our airbnb host (a kindly Australian who works in Ankara lent us his phone) and buy our Metro cards, Istanbulkarts, from a vending machine which accepted small notes only and no coins, but only gave coins in change!!!  Sunday evening meant no assistance available!  So, a couple of trips to a minimart enabled us to have change enough to buy our cards and board the Metro.

The trains were clean and efficient and we got to Osmanbey Station with no further hitches and were met by Mustafa, who helped us with our bags to walk the 200m to our apartment.  We were glad of the lift to get to the 5^th floor (in 3 separate journeys as the lift is tiny) and finally to our apartment, Aaaah!  All good, clean and warm with a few supplies left by previous tenants, but no Wi-Fi initially so that’s a job for tomorrow!

Istanbul accommodation.

We walked down the old cobbled side streets …yes! ... I LOVE cobbled streets … back to the main road to buy some Doner Kebabs for dinner.  Luke complained about the salad of course…and his extreme tiredness didn’t help our fussy eater.  Finally, we were all fed, showered and off to bed.  So, we are in Europe, in Turkey and on the next leg of our adventure.  It feels so clean here compared to our journey so far, but once again, the challenge of effective communication because of language barrier causes a few difficulties.  We ever grateful to kindness shown to us by strangers.  There is no doubt that travelling to the relative “unknown” presents daily challenges but has we have found so far, the extraordinary becomes the ordinary very quickly and we will be able we call this accommodation our “home” in Istanbul before long!