This is not a “real” post.I’m calling it an experiment instead. To see how this goes with intermittent, sporadic airport wifi.

The end destination is in sight. But first we’ve got 8 hours layover in the Istanbul airport. We flew to Kuala Lumpur first. Because that flight was late leaving Perth we didn’t have to wait around at the KL airport. Just went straight on to our next flight to Istanbul.

We’ve just done the long haul to Istanbul. The first flight I’ve been on where I’ve seen chefs walking up and down the plane aisles. Did they personally do the first class meals? No idea, but our economy meals were really nice too. Different coloured ambient lights coming up throughout the flight – from yellows and purples and blues and reds. Never seen that before either. But the seats were very small and thin. The poor lady sitting in front of Philip had to sit bolt upright all the way through the flight. Because his knees were jammed up and she couldn’t move the back of her seat. Philip couldn’t move his legs either. I watched 2 movies and read a bit and Philip watched 4 movies, so he didn’t snooze at all.

Busy airports like this one at Istanbul which seems to be a major hub remind me of a busy ants’ nest. Everyone scurrying around busily, stopping every now and then and jerking their heads around to check where they are and where they should go next. Just like ants do.

I had thoughts of taking a short tour from the airport but you need a visa to leave and visit Istanbul. So that plan got squashed.

I’ve never ever seen such long, long lines at airports to get off the plane. All your carry-on luggage has to be checked again. The young girl in front of us was returning to Copenhagen from Perth. She’s been living in Australia for 6 years but was denied a visa because Australia changed the rules again 4 months before she started her post-graduate degree. She was disappointed but not bitter about it. But I get so agitated the way our government randomly, autocratically and (to me) unfairly changes migration rules, making life so difficult for so many people.

I’m typing this in a great little quiet cafe with soft music and comfortable armchairs. I bought a bottle of mineral water to justify our presence at it. We’ve done a bit of walking around the airport but feel too weary to do any more walking.

The best thing we’ve seen at the Istanbul airport was this:

…(Here I was going to insert a picture I took of Turkish Delight but I couldn’t upload the photo, so you’ll have to imagine it instead.)

A shop selling nothing but Turkish Delight. Huge piles of Turkish Delight to sample and much bigger stacks of boxes to tempt you to buy. And so many different varieties. We sampled lots and didn’t buy any. What a delight!