Travel days are always interesting. Sometimes you spend 13 hours flying just to arrive 4 hours after you left, and other times an entire day just vanishes.
POOF!
This was a POOF! Day.
We got through SFO really easy for once. I couldn't print our tickets out, so we were told to just go the the online counter. There were about 50 people in the regular line, but no one in the online counter line, so we just cut right up to the front.
The counter guy shrugged and smiled, and said something about "...need just a little more information..." as he scanned our passports and tagged our carry-ons. We chatted a minute about Turkey and the great food until he reminded us that he was fasting (It's Ramadan).
Oops.
I apologized and he smiled and handed us the tickets.
For some reason Allah was smiling on us, or Turkish Airlines felt generous, because our tickets were stamped TSA Precheck. Much to our surprise we were ushered right around security; no unpacking bags, taking off shoes, or full body scanning. No line either.
So about ten minutes after we got to the airport we were in.
We killed time walking around and stopping for a drink before boarding the plane. The jet was huge.
On board, we got a little bag of treats: toothbrush, toothpaste, lip balm, socks, slippers, ear plugs and a sleep mask, all in a stylish black zippered murse. We also got a blanket and pillow.
After takeoff the attendants came around with a hot, refreshing towel before dinner.
The dinner was pretty good, with two bottles of wine, water and coffee.
We took off about 18:30 Thursday on our thirteen hour, non-stop flight to Istanbul. Because we went over the Northern Polar route, the sun never actually set, but I got four or five hours of sleep between a couple movies.
Breakfast was more traditional Turkish food, so it was like a second dinner, but with coffee.
When we landed in Istanbul, it was 18:00 Friday evening, so (even though it was 8:00 at home) we decided to have a beer. Lucky me, a soccer game was on, and they served chips with the beer.
We were sad to hear that Anthony Bourdain died sometime while we were in the air. I really admire him, and the way he lived his life.
As a side note, in the Istanbul Airport, if you have a layover you should get out of the "side" wing (where the gates are) into the main lobby area (still past security), where there are a lot of food and drink choices.
Our connecting flight to Tel Aviv was located at the furthest gate out, number 700. We had to go through a simple security checkpoint, where they checked my pack and swabbed me for traces of ??? It took all of a minute.
We were bussed way out beyond all the other planes to board our jet, parked all alone. Security precautions I suppose.
And just like that, Friday was over and we were in the air eating dinner again.
Seems like all we do is eat dinner.
This was a good one: roasted chicken salad, cheese sandwich, chocolate mousse, mineral water and wine.
This time we watched the sun set as we flew over central Turkey
Two hours later we came into Tel Aviv. I was surprised how flat it is, and how the roads are lit then disappear, then lit again, so it is hard to tell the boundaries of the city.
We landed at 21:45 pm and made it to our hotel right after 23:00. Because it is sabbath, public transpo was shut down, so I was looking for a taxi. Coming out of the airport we were approached by those scam, "Hey, you need a taxi?" guys. We ignored them and walked down the sidewalk to the official Taxi stand, where we were given an actual receipt and a set fee to get to the city.
We dropped our bags, went out for a quick bite to eat and drink by the waterfront, and crashed just after midnight.
POOF!
And that is how we lost all of Thursday night through Friday night, ate three dinners and saw just one sunset.