July 13/14, 2024- per the itinerary Enjoy the day in Amsterdam and take the 6pm Turkish Air flight to Istanbul, arr at 11pm where you catch the 01:15 am flight to Johannesburg. Walk over to the City Lodge at the airport and relax for the rest of the day.
Weather: cool in Amsterdam, hot in Istanbul, cool in joburg.
Lovely quiet day with Chris. We basically switched to his hotel and had lunch - mandatory food shots.
I mentioned yesterday that I forgot my travel companion Buni. Chris thought it “highly unlikely” I would find another companion so easily. The Dutch do like their bunnies and I found an entire shop of bunnies.
I now have a new travel companion called Mr. Bunny. He is a wild man and very fun after he’s had a few drinks….
My flight is Turkish air business class through Istanbul with 2 carry on bags. Mandatory plane shots - a few more than normal because Chris could see the plane from his hotel lounge.
I had seat 1D on the first flight and I was especially worried I wouldn’t have luggage space but pushed on early and all was good
I ended up switching seats with guy next to the window. I was getting a bit annoyed with his leaning over me, or his wife‘s visits during his continued interaction with his family who were sitting in the middle of the row next to me The other advantage was being able to see the beautiful sunset
Mandatory menu and food pictures - the meal was uninspiring
I tracked it, I walked a mile all across the Istanbul airport lugging my stuff- from the end of the A gates to the end of the F gates. I didn’t think I’d have time for an uninspiring lounge experience so just went to find the gate. Had some time to spare so walked back towards the lounge to get some baklava and Turkish delight. So much for no sugar….
This turned out to be a long way so hitched a ride on a motorized wheelchair which was fun and worth the tip to find a bathroom without a long line of waiting women.
The flight to Johannesburg was enjoyable and fast- under 9 hours. Turkish Air actually have some poor sod who has to dress like a chef.
Mohammed was my steward and it was a lovely flight on a new plane.
Mandatory menu and food pictures of uninspiring food. That said - they had the same champagne as we had at dinner 2 nights ago….
I stayed at the City Lodge at the airport
and had to wait a couple hours for a room- I should have asked for early checkin. The room itself was disappointing and I was beginning to think I made a bad decision not paying three times the price for the Intercontinental….
Mandatory hotel room shots.
My exciting afternoon off was working out for about 90 minutes in the “well equipped” gym and bug-proofing a set of clothing for tomorrow before taking a much needed shower.
I ended up walking over to the airport to pre-walk my tomorrow’s route. There were a number of “restaurants” and I ended up having a salad at Nando’s for dinner- the grand salad- which I decided to have spicy
After that wild evening I went of for a coffee and bed by 7:30pm….
Mr Bunny is cool!