Monday, Jan. 11th, 2021
Boarding was announced already 45 minutes before departure time and when we arrived at gate D03 boarding has been already in process. No Business Class boarding, so we were waiting in line to enter the Boeing 787.
Business Class was packed, TK’s 787 offering a nice 1-2-1 layout, a bit ‘boxy’ for my taste.
We were seated 1K and 2K, and it took us a while until we found the buttons for adjusting the seat: they’re on the side, integrated in a black glass panel, which shows its function only when you touch it.
Hygiene sets were given out, including 2 masks, some wet tissues and a hand sanitizer.
In time we were up in the air, I selected ‘Ocean’s 8’, knowing I’ll not be able to watch it until the end during this flight – but had the IST – DXB flight to continue.
The problem with TKs IFE is, that the movie was stopped 8 times because of announcements and advertisement, a bit annoying.
Dinner was served,
the biggest joke I’ve ever seen.
Even in Economy Class previously they served better than that. Of course, the reason is Covid – an argument for everything you normally can’t explain. Can anyone explain why during the pandemic food has to be bad ?
At 23:30 we arrived at the new IST airport, long ways towards international transfer,
up to the Transfer Hall,
where they missed to indicate the entrance to the business class lounge (the normal entrance is closed). After we found it we went up, registered and found a table overlooking the Transfer Hall.
Food selection, due to Covid, was very limited, anyway we didn’t have to much time, just drank a Coke Zero.
No signs of a smoking room, nowhere – so we asked and were told that there’s a possibility to smoke on the terrace. Since, again, there’s no sign for the terrace we asked our way
and had a quick smoke outside before walking towards gate B01.
Before boarding our Covid certificates were checked again, temperature measured.
The T7 (Thunderbird) was quite old, with a ‘stone age’ 2-3-2 layout in Business Class, at least not as boxy as the newer versions. We were seated in a middle block, by luck the 3rd seat stayed empty.
Interestingly the middle- as well as the right-side block were filled with Russians and Ukrainians, while the left was European.
With a delay of 15 minutes, we were up in the sky. The dinner menu was handed out, Hummus, Salad and a Caesar-Chicken-Wrap.
But reality was different: fruits, yoghurt and a disgusting soft roll with a little bit of Feta and a slice of tomatoes.
Honestly, this made me really angry, since I was hungry. I asked the purser for the food offered on the menu – but he just gave me a smile and said, ‘Sorry, due to Covid’… To say it polite, I gave him this rubbish back. TK is an airline I’ll not book anymore for future travel.
I decided to finish the movie I was starting to watch on the previous flight – but it wasn’t available on the T7. Fantastic.
So, I had time to get some sleep – if there would have been a pillow. But due to Covid TK doesn’t give pillows. The only possibility was to use my jacket and a (thin) blanket.
Shortly before touchdown I woke up, 40 minutes early Marina and me touched Dubai ground.
An interesting fact about the flights: On the KBP – IST leg in Business Class nobody was wearing the mask while seated – and nobody complained. On the IST – DXB leg left-side was wearing masks at all time, while the middle- and right-side block weren’t.
After arrival at T3 we walked towards immigration. On the way we did the Arrival-Covid-Test, were given a number and a sticker on the back of the passport. Nobody told us we would have to stay in our hotel room until we would get the negative result.
Passport control was quite quick,
our luggage already on the belt, so we left the terminal building 55 minutes after touchdown. I expected worse.
Over to the car park where the car rental offices are located.
I wanted to make a reservation with SIXT, but the prices were too high. Instead I booked with Europcar, which offered prices well below half of SIXT.
The friendly lady informed that there’s no car of the category I reserved, that she would give me a smaller SUV, charge less. But I didn’t want a 2-wheel-drive KIA Spoartage, and so she offered me a big Infiniti SUV at a surcharge of US$ 20/day.
Still much cheaper than a KIA Sportage with SIXT.
After the car has been disinfected to drove off, used Google Offline maps to make our way to our hotel for the next 6 nights, the Le Royal Meridien.
While the hotel from the outside doesn’t look impressive, the interior is nicely made.
At check-in we were offered an upgrade to a sea view room, a Suite wouldn’t be available.
Yes, of course, we all know this. I opened the Bonvoy App and found availability for many different Suites for our dates. After showing this to the receptionist she surprisingly found a Suite for us, but without sea view. Since only the Suites do have balconies (important for smokers as us), we happily accepted city-view. Again, nobody told us that we would have to stay inside the room until we would get the test result.
The Suite on 2nd floor is pretty nice, spacious and in perfect condition,
with the fantastic ‘smokers-Lounge’, the balcony.
Thanks to TK we were very hungry, went to the Club-Lounge,
were a quite good breakfast is served,
even with a balcony looking towards the pool.
After some Hummus and omelet,
we were ready to take a quick nap, a nap that turned out to be until 1500.
When we had brought ourselves ‘in shape’, we drove off to Marina Mall, to exchange some money and get a local SIM card.
Back to the hotel around 1800, straight up to the Lounge to have a quick bite, an Espresso and some ice-cold Coke Zero.
The offer at the Club Lounge was quite amazing, some Arabic items, Tempura Shrimps with Wasabi-Mayo, Shrimp-Salat and many more.
[url=https://abload.de/image.php?img=0111-30ojkrz.jpeg][img]
https://abload.de/img/0111-30ojkrz.jpeg[/img][/url]
But never forget, as soon as you stand up you need to wear the mask. It’s a bit strange when you’re coming from a country where basically you’re wearing a mask once per week.
We weren’t hungry at dinner time, so instead we walked to ‘Marina Walk’, underwhelming at its best.
After making a round we returned to the hotel and decided to rest.