Day 29 - Friday May 13 - Istanbul to Phoenix

A day of travel.  We were taken off the ship at 3:30 am in order to make our flight on time at the Istanbul airport.

This meant wake up at about 2:45, but of course, neither of us could sleep so at about 2:30 we were already up and dressed.

We went down to the atrium (deck 1) on the ship and had coffee and a pastry while we waited for our group to be called.

Then it was the long walk through the Istanbul marine terminal, through customs, locate our luggage and then find our bus.

The bus finally pulled out at about 4:30 am with a 40 minute drive to the airport.  It's a huge airport!  After an attempt at entering one of the airport doors, we were sent to another because the first door was for Priority Turkish Airlines travelers only!  You couldn't even enter the airport through that door!

Signage is 'just ok' when we entered, and went through security (just to get into the airport).  

We finally found British Airways check in area.  They hadn't even opened yet but they soon did and we were lucky to have been able to check in the day before.  That was a real process with the ship's wifi and British Airways requirement online to validate our covid vaccines.  We were able to enter the short line to just drop our bags off.   Istanbul airport has no kiosks to print your own boarding pass and luggage tags.

We set off in search of the actual gate area which was at the exact opposite end of the airport from British Airways check in.  Then, another security check and another passport control station.  We were still what seemed like miles from the gate.

A friendly store named popped up.  We were still very early thanks to Viking getting us there three hours in advance.  A stop at Arby's.  Yup, an Arby's with the well known US signage for a bottle of water.  I ordered some food but neither of us were really hungry.  Just terribly thirsty from all the walking through the airport.

At the gate, we were met by some very nice personnel who again checked our passports and allowed Wayne to board early.  Yeah!  I'm going to get me one of those braces too!  

The flight was uneventful and 4 hours later we were at Heathrow.  Thank goodness our connecting flight was in the same terminal (5).  Or, kind of.    We were bussed off the airplane - no jetways for many flights.  You walk down the steps and onto a bus and 10 minutes later you're at the airport.  A long walk to security (follow the purple signs) and into a huge shopping mall with people sitting in large waiting rooms.  We had four hours so we found a seat; found a sandwich and started the wait.   The sign board only said "Gate will be posted at 13:25".   About 30 minutes prior, we saw the sign board reading "B Gate".  Well terminal 5 has several terminal buildings.   Not a big problem.  Just something new for Wayne and of course for myself.  So, off we went in search of B gates which mean taking an elevator down, walking to the train and being taken to another terminal which I guess amounted to terminal 5B.

Our gate was posted and there we waited.  Again, very nice airline personnel who let Wayne board early due to the brace on his leg.  I have to get one of them!  

The flight was fairly uneventful.  About an hour of two into the flight, someone nearby started screaming help, help!  Medical emergency.  I'm not sure what it was, but it quieted down thankfully.  All I could think was that they were going to turn the plane around and take us back to Heathrow.   Thankfully not.  It quieted down and a short (ha!) 11 hours later, we were in Phoenix.   We flew Premium Economy and while the seats are somewhat bigger, they're still not great.  I will say that British Airways feeds you really well.  They served dinner about 2 hours into the flight and then about 2 hours prior to landing we got 'breakast'.  It's way too much to eat!  

We cleared customs in no time flat.  Amen for Global entry.  you step up to a kiosk and it takes a picture of you.  You don't even need your passport.  The border control guard calls your name and says "Ok, you can go".  That's it.  You're through in seconds.

Luggage found and then a good long walk from the international terminal to the actual terminal four of PHX.  Tim was there in minutes and we were home by 6:45 pm.