Cruise is Over … Back to Turkey

Saturday, 24 September 2016
PC 536 — Somewhere Over Europe
Temps: No Idea

The meal service is over … the flight attendant served our pre-ordered meals minutes after the aircraft reached flight altitude.  I have a couple of hours to at least get started on today’s story.

Disembarkation in Civitavecchia & Onto FCO …

I woke up to Mui poking my arm … it was 5:30a … pitch dark outside except for the port lights … Silhouette was already tied up.  Time to get up and face the disembarkation music.

Breakfast at 6:30a.  Off the ship around 7:15a … that’s a fast and easy disembarkation ... not always the case as we know from past experience.

Our luggage was easy to find, and in all of five minutes we were outside the terminal.  Having never left the EU, there was no customs; no passport control.  Another minute or two and we were on the port shuttle to Largo della Pace, the shuttle bus hub right outside the secure port area.  We debated taking the bus (€2pp) to the train station, but there was already a queue, so we decided to walk.  We knew the route, and at that hour of the morning, there were very few people crowding the sidewalks … all in all, an easy walk … even with luggage in tow.

Turns out we arrived at the train station just as the bus was unloading its passengers.  Taken in by the prominent “buy your train tickets here” sign, most of them went to the newsstand/tobacco shop and formed a line to buy their tickets.  We knew better and walked into the station to buy our tickets from an automated machine where there was no waiting.  Two minutes later — €22 poorer — we were taking the elevator down to cross over to binario [platform] 5 to catch the train to Rome’s Termini Station … except that we would be getting off at Trastevere to switch to the Fiumicino Airport (FCO) train.

As it was rush hour, the train was crowded.  Still, we managed to find seats — though they were at opposite ends of the car.  The ride was uneventful.  When the dome of San Pietro came into view, we collected our bags to detrain at the next station.  We crossed over to binario 3 with five minutes to spare.

An aside here that falls under the “word to the wise” category … it pays to take the time to validate tickets before getting on trains in Italy … you never know if, when, or where a conductor will come through to check tickets.  In this instance, he came through our train car at the stop before the airport.  We were OK, since I had validated our tickets at Civitavecchia Station, but a woman in the row in front of us was traveling with a ticket that had expired at the end of July.  Did she know and feigned surprise; or was she truly unaware?  Didn’t matter either way.  Despite her protestations, she ended up buying a new ticket and paying a penalty for the oversight.

Back to the train’s arrival at FCO.  Familiar with the route between the airport and the train station, we had no trouble finding our way back to the departures terminal.

Now for another tip in the “word to the wise” category.  If you need to get a VAT refund (ours was Global Blue), skip the kiosks before security … the lines are incredibly long.  Instead, head to the ones just past security, but before you go through passport control … the lines tend to be shorter.  Once we had our form stamped, we just used the mail-in option, thus eliminating the need to stand in line.

By the time we made it to Gate H06, we had just about an hour left before boarding was to commence.  We made use of FCO’s free wifi to check emails and FB, and make contact with family using WhatsApp and WePhone.  Before we knew it, we were boarding a shuttle bus to transfer to the aircraft.

Aboard PC536 …

Although boarding of our Pegasus flight was on time, the 2:40p departure was delayed an hour — air traffic congestion at both FCO and Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) in İstanbul … or so we were told.  No worries, we sat back and relaxed in our comfortable exit row seats.

And that just about catches me up to where we are in our day at the moment.  Except for the delay taking off, the flight has been uneventful.  The pilot said flight time would be two hours and ten minutes, so that means we have another 30-45 minutes to go … assuming we get immediate clearance to land and don’t have to fly donuts over the İstanbul airspace.  We’re not worried, though.  Our flight to İzmir does not leave until 9:35p … if anything, the delay has shortened the layover, so that’s the silver lining.  Now to be able to take off from SAW on time.

At the LGM Lounge @ SAW …

So, here we are sitting at the LGM Lounge … TL22.50pp (~$7.50) … if they can get the credit card machine to work, that is.  We’ll try to pay again on the way out.

In any event, we’ve made ourselves comfy in the lounge to while away the 2+ hours until our flight to İzmir is scheduled to depart.  There’s a nice selection of food at the buffet … the lentil soup was very tasty; Mui enjoyed the salad he made for himself.  The internet is speedy.  All in all, well worth the price of admission.

There’s really nothing more to write … more later.

Quickie Check-in From İzmİr …

Made it to mom’s OK.  Between the flight delay and the baggage carousel issues once we landed in İzmir, it was almost midnight before we found ourselves in a taxi.  No traffic en route … so we were home by 00:30a.  Now to sleep.

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