Leaving Turkiye!

 

Up this morning about 4:30 am, and showered and ready to travel by 6.  We decided that, honestly, we would rather just get to the airport than wait until the hotels’ breakfast at 6:30, so we requested a taxi, and were delivered to Sabiha Gokcen just a few minutes later!  Check-in was really incredibly efficient at Pegasus Airlines!

 

They use kiosks, but a very nice Turkish gentleman assisted us through the process, and in just a minute or so, we had our two luggage tags and boarding passes.  From there, we went to another location to drop off our bags.  Again, we watched as the scanners read the barcodes, figured out where the cases were to go, and started the process to get them there! It was incredible! We didn’t receive any baggage tags, which worried R– but then, on our phone popped up two separate messages saying that “This number bag was heading to Stansted on this flight, checked in to Robert (or Margaret) Brucato!”  It was amazing.

 

From there, we went through security, which only took a few minutes – maybe five?  And finally, immigration!  And we were done with the paperwork?!  Amazing, again!

 

The problem at Sabiha Gokcen, just like Stansted, is that there really is no place to sit … and I think I remember this from our last trip here!  At any rate, we ended up going upstairs to the food court and to the Big Chef (remember Sanliurfa?) and finding a decent place to just “park” for a while. R ordered coffee, I ordered hot chocolate, we both ordered fresh orange juice, and then we both ordered breakfast.  R had the “country” breakfast – simit – the sesame-studded bread with cheese, tomato spread, and two kinds of olives!  I had their avocado toast with poached eggs.  Both very good!

 

By the time we had finished, we actually had a gate posted for our flight, so decided we would head to it. Problem was, by the time we got there, there was still an earlier flight checking in and boarding, so they wouldn’t let us sit there was well.  That made things difficult, as the boarding areas were SO incredibly crowded AND there was some sort of outdoor terrace where supposedly all the smokers could indulge – but turns out, the smoke was all inside the terminal anyway, and it was AWFUL!  UGH!  Managed to find some seats for a few minutes, and were then able to get back to our original gate to wait for our flight.

 

We got off a bit late, but not at all bad, and the flight was just a bit under 4 hours.  Landed at Stansted in the SUNSHINE!  It was GREAT, especially as the prior two days had been so dark and gloomy!!  We had only a very short distance to walk to get to the shuttle train to take us to customs and immigration, and then when we got to that point, there were absolutely NO people in lines at all – amazing!  Through the automatic check-in area in seconds, and truly, I’m telling you, it was hard to believe!  From there, to baggage claim … which is another story…

 

We used Apple AirTags in our suitcases, and we both had noticed that while my red case was listed as being ON the phone with us, R’s case, was NOT.  And, neither of us told the other that that seemed to be the case.  I spent my flight beating myself up for not dividing things up, as I usually do, into “theirs” as opposed to “his” and “hers” … in which case, even if one suitcase was missing, both of us would still have clothes!!  At any rate, turns out, I needn’t have worried, as both cases magically appeared to be in Stansted, and came out within a minute or so of each other!  Yay!!  Thank you so much, Pegasus Airlines!

 

With all our luggage in hand, we then headed outside to see what could be done about getting us to our Hilton Garden Inn, Heathrow Airport!  There are a number of ways to get from Stansted to Heathrow: Rent a car; trains (one from Stansted to London, then one from London to Heathrow), shuttle bus, taxi, and Uber.  The nice feature of taxi and Uber is that it is door-to-door, no shlepping luggage to trains or buses or car rental offices.  Just for fun, we checked with the taxi service – who quoted us a price of £180!  $227!!  Sheesh!!  Said “Thanks but no thanks!” and headed out to see about Uber!

 

That worked absolutely brilliantly!!  There is a very specific space – Orange Parking Lot, Section G, for Uberpick-up, and not only is it right next to the main terminal, but it’s within a 2-3 minute walk of exiting the terminal itself!  Brilliant!  We were picked up by Mohammed in about 3-4 minutes, and whisked off to Heathrow!  It took about an hour + to get us there, but he was an excellent driver, and it was a lovely afternoon for a drive, and we had a great conversation with him!  

 

Got to the Hilton Garden Inn about 2:15 pm and were able to get in a very nice room – 321, right away.  Checked in for our British Air flight tomorrow back to Phoenix, and now we’re just waiting for dinner – about an hour and bit away!  Then, definitely early to bed for me at least, as with a 3-hour time change, my time clock is really getting messed up!!

 

So!! More tomorrow!

m

xxx