JapesUK

Something of a departure for me this week, a proper holiday rather than my usual weekend jaunts. Yes, I know, I don’t do long holidays, blame those cunning folks at BA holidays and the dastardly double Tier Point holiday offer! For the non-BA folks, BA Holidays will double the tier points earned for any holiday booked with BA that includes 5 days car or hotel (for the UK folks, US offer rules differ).

Of course I could not just have a holiday, I’ve got to do something bizarre, and this week that is a day trip to Bucharest and the dentists in the middle of the trip! After last weeks failed attempt to get a check up I was trying to fit in another trip to Bucharest and it just didn’t work, between fun travel and UK work trips my dance card is full for at least three months. What it does mean is that I get to fly on another carrier that I’ve never tried before, the Bucharest bounce is on TAROM.

I have been to Istanbul once before, a long weekend around 10 years or so ago, and so this trip will be both familiar and at the same time new. My previous trip was a prize from Four Seasons and it was exceptional, however I was shepherded around Istanbul the entire time by their guide and so it’ll be good to be a bit more freeform this visit.

I’ve had some excellent advice and suggestions from VorelNaCestach which I have built into the trip, and I’ve also heard from a fellow FTer who will be in NCL and LHR at the same time as myself so I’m looking forward to meeting up tomorrow, always great to meet fellow FT members.

Roughly the plan of action is: Tomorrow is a travel day, Saturday is a 6-7 hour food tour, Sunday is touristy around the European side, Monday Bucharest, Tuesday is touristy on the Asian side, and finally Wednesday is a travel day.

And with that it is time get some clothes ironed and bags packed and ready myself for the next adventure.

MrTravel

Subscribed...! 😀

Fabo.sk

I was wondering if I was gonna miss you next week, as I couldn't get a flight for a reasonable price and ended up in the Eurostar (was trying to do the same trick as last time and end up in T5 Galleries at least out of London). Looks like our path might would have crossed in LHR on Wednesday.

Enjoy Istanbul, it's a fascinating city and somehow it ended up being almost yearly destination for me lately with family. I'm sure if there wasn't an injury involved, I would be asked to look at tickets to go again right about now.... well maybe in the autumn.

JapesUK

Thats a shame, would have been great to meet up but I’m sure paths will cross at some point. I’ve never been on Eurostar, maybe I should build that into a trip at some point in the future.

Always open to hints and tips and recommendations if you can think of anything you feel is worthy, this trip itinerary is not set in stone.

JapesUK

And we’re off! I had used the reserve a trip function of Uber for the very first time and the driver has arrived a full twenty minutes early. Luckily I was all ready to go and so more than happy to jump in the car early. A lovely sunny morning here in Newcastle, at last, and light traffic on the roads have made for a short trip out to the airport.

Given the very late arrival tonight and relatively early start tomorrow I really did not want to check baggage and so the compression sacks have been deployed for the first time in a long while. Great for space saving, equally great for creasing clothes . There may be a short ironing session required at some point tomorrow!

Assuming the new scanners are in use this afternoon I have already decided that I’m going to take cables and liquids out of my bag to see if I can break the curse of security secondary search that has been a constant since the new scanners were implemented.

Next stop: Newcastle Airport.

Fabo.sk

Nothing out of the ordinary, also I'm sure your food tour will feature the spice bazaar, that's an interesting place with all the smells.

With a sweet tooth, do have a kunefe at some point, the ones in Hafiz Mustafa are good, but personally I slightly prefer the ones in Safa. Specifically the one right next to Sirkeci train and tram station.

And if you fancy a bit of a change, and would be interested in some Russian food, I can wholeheartedly recommend 1924 Istanbul restaurant. It's on the pedestrian thoroughfare between Beyoglu and Taksim, about 1/3-1/2 of the way.

JapesUK

Well I definitely spoke too soon about the sun, it clouded over completely on the way to the airport



The checkin area was very quiet this morning, I think I missed the rush as the lounge is packed



If I had not stopped to switch around some currency then I would have been kerb to lounge in ten minutes. With the cables and fluids out of the bag there was no secondary for me this morning

Into the departures area and the renovation of the corner food concession is complete and, lo, an upper crust.



A short queue for entry into the very very busy aspire lounge. I think there may be some breakfast in my future but first, the standard morning trio




A little under and hour to gate and I’m hoping to be meeting a fellow FTer this morning so hopefully they’ve not been delayed or changed plans.

JapesUK

Thanks for the tips and I definitely have a sweet tooth and will seek out a kunefe.

1924 looks good but it does commit the ultimate crime in my eyes, a 2 person minimum tasting menu!

Fabo.sk

The thing is that the tasting menu includes sharing platters, so...

You can still order a la carte.

JapesUK

A little bit of the breakfast which was getting a little dry, it is nearly lunch switchover



And as I looked up our plane was arriving at the gate which is right next to the lounge



I also had the pleasure of briefly exchanging pleasantries with fdm1000 who is here with his partner and off on a fantastic sounding adventure.

It appears that 11:30 is the lunch switchover time, hot options are currently being switched out and the cold buffet is in place

JapesUK

And the kitchen is incapable of cooking smaller portions? I do understand, economies of scale and all that but it irks me slightly. Amex irks me far more with their special events that are always priced for two

JapesUK

It wasn’t long before the hot options appeared, a vegetable curry and a pasta. The garlic bread had to be tried, the smell was lovely and it was very very nice though I suspect it would deteriorate rapidly under the heat lamps





I also need to shout out to the staff in the Newcastle lounge as they are, one and all, absolutely lovely, chatty, pleasant, and a delight.

Just a few minutes now to the gate so time to finish off my drink and off we go.

JapesUK

Over to the gate and the doors were still shut… Interesting.

After a minute or so the doors opened, and, this



A slight signage disagreement. Gate agents not having the best of days, the left hand scanner was convinced the gate was closed and so they were having to scan two lanes of people on one scanner.



G-MEDK today which I recognised as having been in before and am surprised to find that it was way back in June from LHR-PRG



Row 5 for this leg Despite booking far ahead row one had already been snaffled.



Row five did have one unexpected benefit, the gent in row 6 had spotted my flyertalk tags and I had the pleasure of meeting my second FTer of the day, hsmall

Boarding seems to be very very slow considering that this is a full flight, I suspect the muddle and equipment issues at the gate are slowing things down.

Time to settle in, watch the world go by, and next stop Heathrow.

JapesUK

Unsurprisingly we are going to be late on departure, pilots announcement was something to do with something that made no sense to me beyond being under the plane,

Standard menus have been distributed, pretty sure that I will have ordered some sort of special meal. I need to start screenshotting these choices and saving them in my tripit. I suspect that whatever I selected will end up being salmon but hopefully a different desert as I detest that rhubarb sloppy mess.




Pushing back five minutes late which we should easily make up in the air and so fingers crossed for an on time arrival at LHR

JapesUK

Six rows in Club this early afternoon and a few empty seats, so 20-21 people to feed.

Service was completed in a timely manner and as usual what I had ordered was a complete surprise, actually even more so than normal, it was the Jain vegetarian meal! I must have had one bourbon more than usual when I chose the meals for this trip so the next three could be an adventure




As a dyed in the wool carnivore it will come as no surprise that it was a taste of the meal and done. The desert was very pleasant, thankfully it was not the rhubarb monstrosity.




Lovely gregarious crew on this flight, got the job done with a minimum of fuss, efficiently distributed and cleared the trays, drinks and top ups offered to one and all, and overall everything very nicely done with a great cheery atmosphere.

With a little bit of a holding delay at London there was time for a second top up and then we were ten minutes to landing which brings us in almost exactly on time having made up the time in the air as usual on the NCL-LHR leg.