Following the yellow line to the gate at the newly opened Domestic Terminal.
Parked at the gate.
Disembarking. After more than 20 hours, finally we had reached our first destination for this trip!
We were parked right at the last gate of the Domestic Terminal. Bye, 'Mersin'. Nice to have flown Business and Economy Class with you!
I was totally overwhelmed by TK on this very short flight! TK has performed impressively in catering a proper snack on such a short sector, with a full range of beverages on offer (freshly-squeezed orange juice in Economy? Only on Turkish Airlines!), and managed to serve the A340 load effortlessly. Fantastic inflight service! Hence, sometimes I wonder why is it that SQ/MI, being premium carriers, could not offer something more decent on their SIN-KUL sector other than coffee/tea/juice-of-the-day. TK's Economy Class catering on this similar flight length is even way better than what SQ/MI offers in Business Class on the SIN-KUL route!
Earlier as mentioned, our luggage was checked through all the way from KUL to Izmir. TK has this facility where for some ports in Turkey with customs facilities, pax are able to check-through their baggage right up to the final destination and only undergoing customs screening at the last destination. This was the case for us and many other connecting passengers as well, but we needed to proceed to the International terminal baggage claim to get our bags and go through customs clearance there (immigration already done in Istanbul earlier). Domestic pax could get their bags at the current domestic terminal. TK ground staff were also available to guide passengers to the correct baggage claim areas.
It was a rather long walk from the last gate of the Domestic Terminal, through the entire building, across a linkway and into the International terminal baggage claim. The newly opened domestic terminal looked beautiful, a far contrast from the gloomy looking International terminal building.
After getting our bags (it was guess work which belt our bags would arrive on as their were no information regarding our flight at the International terminal, but there were no other intl arriving flights so all pax just claimed from the only moving baggage belt) and clearing customs, we proceeded out to take the Airport HAVAS Bus to the city, where our booked hotel, newly opened Renaissance Izmir Hotel, was just conveniently located opposite the bus-stop and right smack in the middle of town and within walking distance to all sights and dining places in Izmir town center.
It was a wonderful hotel, offering great service with clean, comfortable and large rooms at very affordable rates (think Bangkok hotel rates or cheaper). We had a very relaxing stay here! In fact, it is the best hotel of our trip!
