To İzmir, Turkey via München, Germany

Tuesday, 2 October
Somewhere over Nova Scotia
9:10p DST - DC Time / 3:10a Munich Time (3 October)

We’re two hours into our flight, with about 5½ hours to go to our destination — Munich, Germany — on the first leg of our trip to İzmir, Turkey.  The dinner service is completed; the line of passengers queuing up to use the lavatories is dwindling as the economy cabin slowly settles down to sleep.  Mui’s snoozing away in the seat next to me.  There’s little hope that I’ll be able to sleep, so I’m making the best of this quiet time to write my blog post for this portion of the trip.

We woke up to a dreary day in Virginia that quickly turned wet, wet, wet.  It started pouring around 7:00a and didn’t let up for most of the day.  With our flight scheduled for 5:52p, we both put in a full day at work before leaving for the airport.  After the hectic pace last week, today was relatively easy.  I even managed to sneak away for 20 minutes to get my hair cut.

Taking advantage of a break in the rain, we left the condo at 2:15p with our luggage in tow and walked the short distance to the metro.  One stop later, we were at the West Falls Church Station, boarding the Washington Flyer shuttle bus to Dulles International (IAD).  At $10/person, the bus is not necessarily inexpensive, but it beats the $45 cab fare we would have otherwise had to shell out.  The service is convenient, and easily doable since we’re traveling light — that is, we’re not taking much with us in the way of camera equipment.

We arrived at IAD shortly after 3:00p and made our way to the United Airlines (UA) international check-in counter.  Although we had already checked in online, we had to go through the formalities again so that the agent could verify our passport information.  After dropping off our one checked bag — free on this codeshare with Lufthansa, because the German airline is determining luggage allowances — we headed off to security, where long lines greeted us.  Just getting to the ID checkpoint took us 30 minutes.  We know this because one of the TSA agents gave us a yellow card when we entered the line, asking us to hand it to the agent at the other end of the line — apparently part of their ongoing quality control process to see how quickly passengers get through the line.

The lines to go through the final screening checkpoint were long, too, but they moved faster.  By 4:15p, we were in the clear, putting on our shoes and placing our laptops back in our bags.  The people mover train quickly whisked us to Terminal C.  Since boarding was to commence at 5:07p, we went directly to our gate.  As it turns out, boarding was delayed a bit.  In the last group to board, it was 5:50p before we were in our seats.

Compared to the mobile lounges, the people mover is a more convenient means
of traveling between the terminals.

When we purchased our airfare back in June, we also took the opportunity to upgrade ourselves to Economy Plus (E+).  On short flights, we wouldn’t dream of paying extra over the already exorbitant airfare — actually it’s the taxes and fees, which are nearly equal to the fare itself, that make ticket prices so ridiculous, but that’s a gripe I can do nothing about, so I’ll move on.

Not all E+ seats are equal, so when we found a couple of seats where one of them had more than the usual legroom, we snagged them immediately.  They were good seats to be sure, but we ended up in even better seats a week before departure.

How?  Well UA is apparently reconfiguring the seats on their fleet of Boeing 777-200s to 2-5-2 seating.  With our original seats now non-existent, UA reassigned us to 30A/B — exit row seats located in the rear half of the economy cabin (see red line behind the port wing on the seat chart).  This is the emergency door with a life raft built into it, which means it has a big bump-out with mega space all around it.  Such a deal!  One downside to our seats is that there is no window to look out of (though I can peek out the window behind me a bit).  Not a problem; I’d rather have the extra legroom.  And with our carry-on bags pulled out of the overhead bin and placed on the floor in front of us, we even have makeshift footrests to add to our comfort.

Enough about the seats.  Flight 902 did not get off to a smooth start.  After everyone was onboard it was determined that we were missing a passenger, so there was a further delay to find and remove her bags from the cargo bay.  We pushed back at 6:15p and started the slow roll to the runway.  Fifteen minutes later, we were parked with the engines off, and the pilot was announcing that the tower had stopped all traffic due to a weather delay somewhere in the airspace and it would be 40 minutes before we’d be rolling again.  Sigh!  Not pleasant, but with a four hour layover in Munich, at least we weren’t having to worry about a missed connection.

It’s not the fog at Dulles that delays us; it’s weather somewhere along our
route to Munich that is the culprit.

At 6:45p, the pilot announced that the tower had rescinded the delay and we were #3 for take-off.  Goody!  It still took us another 25 minutes to roll through the thickening fog before we were in the air and above the cloud cover.

(Photo to the left is from our approach to Munich on 3 October; sorry about the spots on the plexiglass porthole!)

After we reached cruising altitude, the drink service began, and with it the smell of smoked meat permeated the area around us.  OMG!  It was horrible.  Visions of the galley smells that had made me sick to my stomach on the London to Seattle flight when we moved permanently from Turkey to the US in 1982 danced through my mind.  “No, not again; please, not again” was all I could think of.

As it turns out, the passengers in the row immediately behind us had brought their own smoked something or another appetizer with them.  What were they thinking of!!!!  Luckily, once they wrapped up their “treat” the smell dissipated quickly.

I can understand people bringing their own food onboard.  After all, airline meals are often inedible.  We always have nuts and protein bars with us; maybe even some quartered apples or baby carrots.  But smoked meat — I’m going to hazard a guess that it was some kind of fish — that stinks to high heaven!!!  That’s a bit inconsiderate.

Dinner service followed and was the usual beef or chicken selections.  Mui and I both opted for the chicken.  How to describe it?  The salad greens were crisp, so that was good; the chicken was at least edible.  I’ve had worse.  The saving grace was the tiny brownie.  I’m sure it was less-than healthy, but it sure tasted good.

Not totally inedible!

And so, I’ve managed to kill another hour of the flight.  Our ETA has been fluctuating between 8:15a and 8:30a (that’s about 2:30a DST).  I guess I’ll pull out my book and read a bit.  More later …

Later … Wednesday, 3 October
Flughafen München (Munich airport)
10:15a Munich Time / 4:15a DST – DC Time

We’re settled at a quiet gate at the Munich Airport.  Mui’s gone off to check emails at an internet kiosk, and I’m taking advantage of this time to update the blog post.

The remaining hours of UA 902 were uneventful.  It really, really was worth paying extra for the seats — the most comfortable we’ve been outside of business/first class (in award seats, of course).  An hour before we landed, the flight attendants came through with breakfast service — hah!  The six chunks of melon were fresh and tasty; the dried out croissant-wannabe had only one good thing going for it — it wasn’t frozen solid!!!

Ate the fruit; left the croissant-wannabe on the plate!

We landed at the Munich airport at 8:20a; it took another 10 minutes to get to our gate in the H terminal.  The last time I came through this airport was in April 2010 — the morning after Mount Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland erupted, wreaking total chaos with the air traffic.  On that occasion, I was traveling with mom and was thrown for a loop when, instead of walking directly from the arrival gate to the departure gate for our connecting flight as we’d done in the past, the planeload of passengers were directed to a meandering path that eventually ended at a passport/security checkpoint.  Well, we didn’t have to do that today.  We got off the plane and walked to the customer service counter in the middle of the terminal, remaining in the in-transit area without going through any checkpoints.

By 9:00a, we had our seats for the İzmir flight changed from two window seats in different parts of the plane to aisle/aisle seats across from each other.  From there, we wandered the length of the very long terminal to stretch our legs, before settling down at Brot & Kaffee for a €15 ($19.35) breakfast that consisted of an espresso macchiato, a large tea, a panini classico (mozzarella/tomato/basil), and an apricot croissant.  Yes; expensive to be sure, but since we had skipped the inedible breakfast on the plane, we were hungry — and we were tired of our own snacks.

Good food — including the panini classico, which we inhaled before I got a photo.

It’s now 11:00a and the next segment of our trip will begin at Gate H20 shortly after noon … time to make our way there.

LH 1780 being readied for the flight to İzmİr.

More later ...

Later … Wednesday, 3 October
Mom’s Apartment — İzmİr, Turkey
10:15P İzmİr Time / 3:15P DST – DC Time

We made it!

Lufthansa flight 1780 departed Munich on time at 12:20p.  Our flight time was a short 2½ hours.  In the past, I’ve lucked out with plenty of room to spread out on this flight — even to the extent of nabbing a three-seat row to myself and taking a much-needed nap.  Not this time.  Every seat on the plane was filled.  At least I had interesting companions — a mother and son on their way to join a tour.  Chatting with them about some of the places on their itinerary in Turkey kept me awake for the duration of the flight.

In deference to the many Muslims that are usually on this flight, Lufthansa
serves pasta for lunch.  Piping hot, so watch out with that first forkful.

We landed a few minutes early at İzmir’s Adnan Menderes Airport.  With Turkish IDs tucked into our US passports, we did not need to get visas ($20/person), so we went directly to the immigration booths, using the foreign visitors queue in lieu of the Turkish citizens queue, which was much longer.  Within 10 minutes, we were at the luggage carousel, collecting our one checked bag.

Aylin and Murat were waiting for us just outside the secure area.  With hugs and laughter, we exchanged greetings, happy to see each other again nearly one year after bidding farewell outside the same terminal building.

Despite the usual rush-hour traffic mess, the drive from the airport to mom’s apartment in Alsancak wasn’t long.  Murat stopped in front of the building just long enough to drop off Aylin and me, and give mom a chance to say hi to Mui.  Then the guys were off to Narlıdere, a suburb of İzmir, where Mui’s mom was waiting for him at the beach house (she lives in Ankara; except for the few months she spends here each year).

And so, I’m cozily ensconced in the rocking chair.  The welcome home dinner is over; Aylin and Murat are back at their apartment — they live one floor down, so they didn’t have far to go.  It wasn’t easy to stay up late after 32 hours of being on the go, but I’ve managed to do so thanks to the pressing job of wrapping up this post.  With the effects of jetlag thus minimized, I’ll be ready to enjoy whatever tomorrow holds.  In the meantime, I’m pooped and the bed is looking mighty good just about now.

Good night!

All Good Trips Must Come to an End

Thursday — April 29

Did you know that a Lufthansa aircraft receives six layers of paint that add a mere .2 mm of thickness to the skin of the plane? That’s the information I gleaned from the in-flight magazine I was reading earlier. The article was about the new flagship — the Airbus 380 — but the process that was described probably applies to the entire fleet.

For all intents and purposes, my trip to Turkey is wrapped up. At the moment, I am on Lufthansa Flight 3371, flying from İzmir to Munich on the first leg of my trip back home. By this time tomorrow, I’ll be in DC.

First, a flashback to April 28.  There’s no separate blog post for yesterday, because I took a break from sightseeing to rest my right foot a bit. I’ve been walking with a slight limp, favoring that foot since my outing to the Agora on the 26th. Not sure what I did to it, but I needed a reason to stay home and pack anyway, so the day wasn’t a total loss. Mid-day, I took a break from the dreaded packing chore to limp to Amore Café for lunch with mom and Aylin. Good home-style cooking, as always — the creamy tomato soup was the perfect warmer-upper on a breezy, cool spring day; the pasta and zucchini frittata was light and tasty.

OK, let’s get on with today.

I didn’t go anywhere this morning either, giving my foot a bit more time to heal from whatever damage I’d done to it (the sharp pain when I step on it is all but gone). The morning flew by with last minute travel preparations and farewell calls to friends and family. Murat arrived shortly after 2:00p and we headed to the airport for my 4:25p flight.

Normally, I’d be concerned about cutting it so close for an international flight, but Adnan Menderes Airport doesn’t see much in the way of international air traffic this time of the year. As expected, the Lufthansa counter was devoid of lines. The agent efficiently processed my boarding passes for today’s flight as well the next leg to the US tomorrow, and checked my luggage through to Dulles International (yay!). Saying farewell to family is never easy, so rather than prolong the agony, I bid mom and A&M a slightly-tearful goodbye, hurried through passport control, and made my way into the nearly deserted passengers-only area.

A shame that such a nice international departures salon sees so little action.

I arrived at Gate 34 just as the inbound flight from Munich touched down — the same one that brought mom and me to İzmir 14 days ago. Boarding commenced on time and was reasonably fast for an almost-full flight. As soon as the aircraft door was closed, I jumped into the aisle seat in front of my assigned one, giving myself room to spread out for the 2½ hour flight.

I’m so glad Lufthansa still has a direct flight between İzmir and Munich.

And that brings me to the here and now. The flight attendants are collecting the last of the meal service items in preparation for landing at Flughafen München-Franz Josef Strauß.  Time to stow the laptop; more from my hotel in Freising …

Later … 9:30p in Freising

The flight from İzmir landed 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled 6:05p arrival. We deplaned onto the tarmac and were shuttled to Terminal 2. The usual queue at passport control was non-existent; not that I’m complaining. Within a few minutes, I was on my way to find the shuttle for the Marriott Munich Airport Hotel.  Luckily, the instructions I’d received from the hotel mentioned that on occasion they use the Freising taxi service, otherwise I would not have known to ask the cabbie that showed up if he was the ride I had arranged in advance (11€/person).

The hotel’s name is a bit of a misnomer as it is not located at the airport. Rather, it is in nearby Freising, about 15 minutes away. The town, which dates back to the 8th Century, has always been considered the “spiritual center of Bavaria.” In fact, my arrival at the hotel coincided with the tolling of the bells of the nearby Dom (cathedral); nice welcome.  Check-in was speedy and within minutes I was settling into my room.  (By the way, Mui booked the hotel for me by bidding on Priceline; got it for about half the going rate.)

A quiet room at the Marriott, which is conveniently near downtown Freising.

From my 2004 overnight stay in Freising, I knew that Marienplatz (Mary’s Square), was an easy 5-minute walk from the hotel. I still had some daylight left, so I grabbed my point & shoot camera and headed off to explore the town for a bit. (You’ll find a copy of the 2010 Freising Visitor Guide here.)

Wandering around cobblestone streets, I enjoyed the sights and sounds of the charming Bavarian town. Spying an internet café not far from the town square, I took advantage of the reasonable rates (1€ for 30 minutes) to let family and friends know of my safe arrival in Germany.

The bears that delighted us in 2004 are still on the streets of Freising.
Legend has it that Saint Corbinian, who settled at a shrine here in 724, ordered
a bear to carry his luggage over the Alps after it had killed his packhorse.
The saddled bear is still the symbol of the city, displayed in the coat of arms.

Left: The bell tower of the Church of St George peeks out from between buildings.
Right: Downtown Freising; not far from Marienplatz.

Glimpse of downtown Freising.

Marienplatz

A closer look at the mural decorating the Rathaus (Town Hall).

Left: The Pillar of Mary and St George’s Church on Marienplatz.
Right: The Statue of St George (of dragon-slaying fame) decorates the façade of the church.
(for extra bonus points, find the dragon in the picture)

As the time was getting on towards 8:00p, I decided to grab a bite to eat at one of the cafés on Marienplatz. Planning to partake of the featured Bavarian menu, I settled on Sepp & Soda. Once seated, however, I realized that I wasn’t that hungry, so I just ordered the “Leberknödelsuppe mit frischem Schnittlauch” (traditional soup with dumplings and fresh chives) and the “Kleiner Salat” (small salad with tomatoes and roasted pumpkin seeds). I washed it all down with a Becks Pils (it was the only beer on the menu that came in a small size).

A warm evening in Freising + an ice cold beer = a perfect al fresco meal.

A post-dinner stroll to buy bottled water did not yield what I was looking for, but all was not lost.  I found an excellent creamy treat at the “eisdiele” (ice cream parlor): a scoop of chocolate ice cream topped with a scoop of orange … yummy!

Now, it’s time to get a good night’s rest before resuming my trip to the US tomorrow.

Up Next: One More Day of Travel Takes Me Home

Later … Willkommen an Bord!

Friday — April 16

No three words could have sounded sweeter! When the Lufthansa gate agent announced the boarding of Flight 3370 to İzmir, there was palpable relief in the gate area. For the ground staff, it meant that many fewer passengers stranded due to the ash cloud from the volcanic eruption in Iceland. For us, it meant that we would make it to our final destination after all.

Lunch has been served; the trays and empty beverage glasses have been collected. I even managed a short but very refreshing nap, stretching out across the row of three seats I have to myself. Mom’s across the aisle from me, reading her book. She too has three seats to herself. Not sure how we got so lucky (the flight is more than 2/3rd full), but we’re not questioning our good fortune. The two-hour flight to İzmir is already half over, so I need to hustle if I want to get this post written.

The last three hours of the flight from DC to Munich seemed interminable. This flight usually goes over Ireland and England for a shorter route; not this time. Our flight path today took us across the Bay of Biscay. Then we flew over central France, followed a corridor between Italy and Switzerland, and finally turned north to Germany. The bonus of the detour was a chance to see the Alps. The sky was a clear blue; the sun was glinting off the snow covered, jagged peaks. It was an exceptionally beautiful scene that even our sleep-deprived eyes could appreciate.

Finally, at 8:38a, just 20 minutes later than our initial scheduled arrival time, we landed at Munich Franz Josef Strauss Airport. There was noticeable haze hanging over the airport, prompting us to wonder if our travel luck was going to hold? Were we going to get out of Munich and make it to İzmir? Frankfurt was already closed, the flight crew said. Could Munich hold off for another four hours?

In past years, deplaning in Munich was a straightforward affair. The aircraft would arrive at Terminal 2; passengers would walk down a very long concourse; those staying in Germany or connecting to domestic flights would veer off to the left to go through passport control; those connecting to international flights would stay in the terminal. That most definitely wasn’t the case today. After deplaning, we walked down long hallways, turning corner after corner, walking up and down stairs. Eventually, we found ourselves in an area filled wall-to-wall with passengers queued up to go through security. Mom and I both had the pleasure of getting wanded and frisked; my carry on was almost entirely disassembled by a security agent who was in a very nasty mood. I'm not sure why the change was made, but it was far more difficult to be a transit passenger at this airport today.

Once we were clear of security, the first order of business was to check the departures board. Our hearts sank when we saw row after row of flights with the dreaded red words alternately flashing: “annullierte/canceled.” Our hearts dropped further when we realized that there were no flights past 11:05a listed. There was nothing to do but find the nearest service counter.

Considering the number of flight cancellations, the loooooooong line at the counter came as no surprise. No way did we want to get in that line. Looking around, we spied a Lufthansa agent sitting at one of the nearby gates. She was friendly and helpful. Not only did she confirm that our flight was still a go, but she also reissued our boarding passes, assigning us aisle-aisle seats.

Next we turned our attention to getting a bite to eat. We settled on a bistro-type place and ordered a light breakfast, taking an hour or so to eat one croissant and one pancake (crêpe, really) filled with apricot jam. What can I say; we needed to kill time until our 12:05p departure.

A long walk down the length of the terminal eventually ended at our gate, where we managed to kill another hour. The scheduled 11:35a boarding time came and went; passengers started to get antsy. The gate agent was glued to her monitor, occasionally pecking at her keyboard. The phone rang and she answered. The look on her face said it all and her words confirmed it — the flight was delayed!

A few minutes later, the phone rang again. She answered; she listened; she rapped out a few staccato words and hung up. The announcement this time informed us that our flight crew was stuck in Hamburg, which was closed due to heavy ash in the airspace. Good news followed — a crew that was waiting for the Berlin airport to re-open was at a hotel in nearby Erding. They were now being assigned to us.

Our aircraft is at the gate; we just need a crew to fly it!

Long story short, after a one-hour delay, boarding was announced. We hurried through the turnstiles, made our way down the jetway, and settled into our seats … all in record time, I might add. The Captain came on the PA to say they wanted to get out of Munich without delay; more info to come after we were airborne. Five minutes later, the aircraft doors were locked and cross-checked, and the Airbus 320-200 was pushing away from the gate.

And that brings us to the here and now. We’re flying over the Aegean Sea; the Turkish coastline is in sight. Landing at Adnan Menderes Airport can’t be far behind. More later…

We’ll be feet dry over Turkey shortly.

It won’t be long before we’re on the ground in İzmir.

Later … 10:30p in İzmir

Mom and I just had dinner with Aylin and Murat (sis & BIL … here on out A&M). I’ve been up for 21 hours straight, so it comes as no surprise that I am feeling a bit woozy from lack of sleep. (I’m afraid I’ve not mastered the art of sleeping upright.) A few quick words to wrap up this blog entry and then I’m off to bed.

Lufthansa Flight 3370 was on the ground at 4:35p. Going through passport control was a cinch as our flight was the only international arrival.

On the ground at Adnan Menderes Airport.
(the building where Onur Air is parked is the domestic terminal)

The luggage didn’t take long to show up on the baggage carousel and soon we were leaving the restricted area to find A&M waiting to whisk us to mom’s apartment in Alsancak. A very nice reunion followed.

Not sure what we’re going to do tomorrow. I have a few errands to take care of … that much I know. The rest is TBD; we’ll just go with the flow.

Up Next: From Pazar to Boutique