(day 1) Turkish Airlines

This is my first time flying Turkish Airlines. While searching for info on baggage policies, I stumbled upon some Yelp reviewers that reealllly did not enjoy their time with Turkish Airlines. Lost baggage, horrible customer service, these are the smallest seats my powdered princess butt has ever been exposed to etc. So it was with some amount of trepidation that I boarded flight TK0080, Boeing 777-300ER from SFO to IST.

Agghhh they provided complimentary pillow blankets and headphones, the nerve. (Coffee not included :<) Consider yourselves reported to the BBB, foul Turkish Airlines!

I didn't check in my bag and most of the complaints were about lost bags, but really the plane was a lot nicer and newer than most other planes I've been at (looking at you, United and Delta).

When I picked my seat during check-in, it had said the other two seats in my row were taken, but in the end those people never showed up! My cackle of glee was just beginning to seriously disturb other passengers when a large surly man was moved to the end of my row. Curses.

As soon as we had climbed to an appropriate altitude, the very professional and attentive flight attendants started handing out goodies!

Sadly not pictured (I was really excited to get a pic to show you guys but it didn't save on my phone), the FIRST thing we got was a tiny wrapped Turkish delight!!!! It's kind of like a gummy candy, thought not so chewy as a gummy bear and not nearly as sweet, dusted off with powdered sugar or possibly cocaine. I stuck it up my nose just to be sure. I'm guessing there are different flavors but mine was soooo good!!!! It tasted like hazelnut/nutella, albeit very subtly so.

We also got these care packages full of all of the things I was so careful to pack. It was nice though.

Also hot hand towels to blow our noses with. Today's booger forecast: hail with a chance of blood.

Also really detailed and accurate menus of the 12 hour feast-to-come.

At this point I'm slightly worried that I actually sat in business class. 

Dinner came shortly after. It was.................amazing. Like no joke. I've always harbored a fondness for airplane food, and aside from the time I was served a styrofoam puck instead of an egg on my United flight from Tokyo to SFO, I've never really understood why people bitch about airplane food so much. But this meal was truly sublime. The eggplant puree thing in the upper left hand corner was so good that I cried when I ate it. Mr. Surly also cried when I leapt over the seats and stole his and ate it too.

Oh and in the upper right hand corner? Baby white wine!

The entertainment system was really nice, too. Everything is touch screen, the screen itself is big, and there were tons of movie selections.

I thought I was going to watch a bunch of them but I ended up reading a book for most of the trip.

Historical fiction set during World War II. It is *really* good. Highly recommend. I guess the Pulitzer Prize and NYT bestseller list can't both be wrong.

It took me about half the flight to finish, and then I passed out for a couple of hours. When they came around a couple of hours before landing, for food, I was so sleepy and grumpy that I almost wanted to skip it but the memory of eggplant puree still lingered tantalizingly in my mind, so I forced myself up. Mr. Surly looked impressed by my surl. Respect nod.

It was really good. ._.

I couldn't eat the yogurt because it was too rich. Do grocery stores only sell low fat and non fat? It felt like I was eating solid udder fat. I'm sure it was quite good but I just wasn't used to it.

 Couple more hours and we landed! Turkish Airlines was absolutely amazing, hands down one of the best flying experiences that I've had (equalled only by Qantas I think, and that's only because their mid-flight snack was AN ICE CREAM BAR HNNNGHGHGHGH). All of the flight attendants were exceedingly polite and attentive, everything was presented in a very thoughtful and well-packaged way. I was truly very impressed and happy with the flight, and would definitely fly them again.

We didn't pull up to an actual gate, we de-boarded and got on buses that took us to the terminal.

Once inside, follow signs for "Passport" or "Passport Control", don't look for "Immigration" because you won't find it and you will be left in the dust of the magnificent stampeding tourist herds. When are those going extinct, amirite.

Immigration was quick and painless. Customs was sectioned off into two areas (like Taiwan), Declare or Nothing to Declare. I just walked straight on through Nothing to Declare, and I was out!

Took the Metro to Zeytinburu, then transferred to the tram to Sultanahmet stop. Met some fellow travelers that were all trying to figure out how many tokens we needed to get on, the information wasn't well presented anywhere. Turns out we needed 2 tokens, which were 4TL (Turkish Lira) each, one for each leg of the trip. Exchange rate is 3TL -> 1USD, so took about 2.50 to get to the city, maybe half an hour travel time. Other than the confusion about tokens, it was very painless, very cheap and very convenient to get into the city. I also made a sidekick friend, a France-born-and-raised Algerian guy from Lyons traveling to Istanbul for business. Very nice and pleasant to talk to but all I can remember from our conversation is how badly I wanted to brush my teeth.

Made it to my hostel, Bahaus Guesthouse in Sultanahmet (district in the Old City) in Istanbul. Home sweet home for the next 3 days!