Heeeeyyyy! I thought I’d write a blog dedicated to my long journey home from Lesotho. (Spoiler: the return trip was significantly better than the outgoing journey.)
Most of why my outgoing trip sucked was that I was so tired the whole time. 39 hours door-to-door, starting at 4pm Seattle time and ending around 5pm Lesotho time two days later. I didn’t sleep enough the night before because I always stress about packing the right things, and then I didn’t sleep hardly at all for basically two full days.
This time would be different! For one, I was well-rested from a normal night’s sleep. I decided to be daring and throw caution and good advice out the window by indulging in a glass of free wine on my first little leg to Johannesburg. No regrets.
I sipped my wine and enjoyed my last views of the beautiful mountains of Lesotho and this area of South Africa.
I had a quick two hour layover in Johannesburg, and I was in a pretty good mood thanks to the wine. Tehe. First I got a couple souvenirs and pondered how one would bring home an ostrich egg without breaking it in transit.
When I was checking out, the cashier was being reeeall cheeky!
“Do you have someone special to celebrate Valentine’s Day with? Ah, he must be very lucky to have a beautiful smile from you. Am I making you blush?”
And then as I was walking away, “Keep being beautiful.” Bahahahahaha. I’ll take it!
Then I pulled the ultimate power move to avoid getting hungry and avoid buying airport food before I would be fed dinner on my next flight. I asked a barista for a cup of hot water, and then I mixed in some instant oats. Bazinga! #winning
Once on the plane, I tried to have pasta for dinner, but they were fresh out, so I had to have fish. It wasn’t bad. I again indulged in some free wine – Turkish, this time.
I was in the middle section of the plane (as in, there were three columns of seats, and I was in the section surrounded by two aisles), but I was on the aisle seat, and the two middle seats before the other person in my row were empty. Shortly after takeoff, I moved in so that I had an empty seat on either side of me. I tried to watch Into the Woods, but I could not get into it. Then, I lay my body down onto my aisle seat, put my feet on the foot rest, donned my eye mask and earplugs, and passed the heck out.
Woohoo for sleep! I really got a good couple hours in, as well as some good blogging time and another movie. (Wonder – very sweet!) Breakfast was a bread pudding (pretty yummy) with some fruit and cheese (the cheese was not great), and I went against internet advice again and had some tea. Yum.
The tea was justified, though! After ten hours of flying, I was just one time zone from where I started, so it was 6am, and I had a fun adventure planned!
I wanted to get out of the airport on this nine hour layover since it would be daylight, and I didn’t want to spend another eight hours wandering this ridiculous place. Istanbul is far from the airport, though, so it would be a relative pain to get there and back.
Turkish Airlines to the rescue! Turns out they offer FREE tours for passengers with layovers at least six hours! Amazing! I had time to leisurely make my way through the airport, sort out the reservation, and rest before they loaded us onto two giant charter buses.
The sun was just rising as we left the airport, and as we got closer to the city, we could see more and more housing and apartment buildings. Our guide said Istanbul has a population of 21 million people???? Google says 15.5 million, but still. New York City has only 8.5, and Denmark has only 5.8. This place is populated!!!
Soon, the lady in front of me began nodding off, and she kept hitting her head against the window before springing awake. I felt so bad for her, haha.
As we neared the city center, our guide began pointing out buildings and sharing more fun facts about Istanbul. Apparently it straddles both the European and Asian continents, and the two sides have varying degrees of European and Asian influence.
The fun facts weren’t enough for the man next to me, though, who began pointing out extra things to me. Turned out he’d visited the city before, and he’d even been on these Turkish Airlines layover tours before, including this very one! Haha. Always nice to have an extra tour guide as your friend. I never did get his name, but he was an Argentinian man who had spent the last 25 years living in Spain, and he loved to travel. We chatted about my trip to Lesotho and his trip to Vietnam.
Soon, we made it to the old city walls of Constantinople and the palace, which was covered in scaffolding. I hope I can come back some day and walk around, but this was just a short bus tour to fill in my short layover.
We passed several grand mosques, and we could see the tall towers (I learned that these are called minarets) of many more in the distance. I saw my first of these on my trip to Mostar last spring!
We eventually made our first of two stops on the Galata bridge. It was a fairly big and busy bridge, but the unusual thing was the dozens and dozens of people fishing off the edge! I’ve never seen anything like it!
The bridge was also pretty slippery from the overnight rain, so I was giggling as I made my way slowly across it, barely keeping my footing.
There were some stairs to go down to a cafe, but I didn’t venture down since we only had ten minutes. Now that I’m doing some googling, I feel like a doofus! Turns out this is a double decker bridge, and the bottom is filled with restaurants, cafés, and shops! Next time, I guess…
After our ten minutes on the bridge, we piled back onto the bus until our next stop – breakfast! We stopped between a large mosque and a large palace at a cafe, and we were all served a free simit and Turkish tea. Yummy!
They even brought around some Turkish delights to sample at the end, and I got some Turkish coffee grounds to bring home to Sean.
Then it was off to explore a bit! My first stop was the nearby mosque. To enter, I had to cover my hair with my scarf, and I also had to put an extra skirt on over the one I was already wearing so that my ankles would be covered. The security man winked at me to signal that I was ready to enter, haha.
You have to remove your shoes to enter the mosque, which is entirely carpeted, presumably to make praying more comfortable. Very cozy.
My next stop was less romantic – the bathroom. Anybody know what this washing station is for adjacent to the sinks? The only thing I can figure is for washing your feet if you use the squatting toilet, but then… Won’t your shoes and legs be all wet? Unclear!
Next, I wandered along the water and watched the stray doggos and kitties for a while. There was food left out for them, but they were mostly just lounging around. Not a bad life.
I bent down to take a photo of this pretty orange tabby, and he quickly walked up for a nuzzle, haha.
Then I walked to the palace gardens to admire the walkways and the clock tower.
No time to enter the palace itself, and thank goodness! Turkish citizens had $5 entry, but foreigners had a $30 entry! I do wonder what was inside, though!
I rounded out our stop with a yummy-looking fruit cup.
I vaguely regret eating the fruit with my hands. The pomegranate seeds at the bottom of the cup were especially awkward! Luckily I had saved about six wet wipes from various plane rides, and one of those came in quite handy after my snack!
When we all boarded the bus, our guide asked, “Is everyone here?” Then followed an awkward silence where nobody really knew how to answer, so he said, “If you are here, say ‘I am here.'” Bahahaha. That got some laughs, and we were off, hopefully with everyone in-tow!
Back at the airport, we passed a giant new mosque.
Then it was time for multiple security checkpoints. Not sure why. We had to go through a checkpoint just to enter the airport, and then again to enter the actual terminal. I still had a couple hours until my flight, so I used the opportunity to lazily shop, which I hadn’t had the energy for on my last layover.
I picked up a new book (Daisy Jones and the Six) and a cute pair of tennis shoes. I didn’t have to worry about packing light anymore! Home was just one stop away!
I kept seeing statues pointing to the “airport museum,” but I was disappointed to learn there was an entry fee. I think it was €15, but the desk man said it only took 20 minutes to walk around the museum. Too rich for my blood!
I was eyeing the fancier looking restaurants and considering splurging on something nice to avoid a repeat of my $30 for a cup of noodles + matcha + cheesecake debacle of last week.
Then lo and behold! I saw a bunch of people cleaning their bowls of what looked like soup, and that sounded delightful. Turns out it was kind of like an IKEA-style restaurant. Grab a tray, point at what you want, get as much as you want, and pay a la carte! The food was all so colorful and yummy looking.
I got a bowl of hot soup and a side bowl of some kind of sweet medley, and I was giddy with excitement. And this cost less than $15. I felt so dumb. I literally walked right past this place on my last layover and didn’t notice it because it looked too expensive. Gah!
The soup was perfect and hit the spot. The sweet stuff was… Interesting. Topped with pomegranate seeds, pistachio chunks, other nut pieces, and dried fruit, the base was soooo sweet! I thought it was oats and white beans, but upon some googling, it seems the “oats” were actually “wheat berries.” Not sure I’ve ever eaten rolled wheat berries! These were all soaked in some kind of sweet syrup concoction. It’s called ashure, or Noah’s pudding. It was yummy, but it was a bit overpowering with the sweetness, and the soup had filled me up, so I got a coffee cup and piled the rest of the pudding inside for the road.
There was a really weird security check AT my gate. Like, the check was only for the gate to Seattle and for no other flights. They opened and looked inside every bag like at a theater, and then they gave every person a pat down.
I was super confused and a little displeased. I’ve never seen something like that before. Was it from the Turkiye side or for going to the US?? I have no idea! Very strange. Very off-putting.
But once that was behind me, it was just one long plane ride between here and home. Finally!
There were (yet again) a few nearby people coughing constantly. I wish there was a rule that you need to wear a mask if you’re constantly coughing in en enclosed space like a plane or a theater! Meh.
There was also a child a few rows behind me who started screaming bloody murder a few minutes before take off. It wasn’t clear what he wanted. And he really wasn’t just crying – he was SCREAMING. Probably about four or five years old. I’m guessing he was just tired, but I found myself wondering what the heck we would do if he kept it up the whole flight. He got to the point where he started coughing as if he might puke from screaming so hard!!! Once we took off, a flight attendant tried to soothe him, and it didn’t seem to work at first, but he did quiet down after another five minutes or so. It was a very long and loud fifteen minutes.
I felt kind of guilty because I had purchased a window seat, and there was nobody in the two seats next to me, so I moved to the middle seat to discourage others from sharing my row…. Hahaha. I suck, I know. I wanted that good sleep, though! And it ended up being a good thing, because once we took off, I moved back to the window to look outside, and the person in front of me let their seat all the way back and it hit me in the forehead! She didn’t even apologize! It was very awkward and I was pretty tiffed. Luckily I could move to the middle seat to watch a movie and not have her in my lap the whole time.
I (regretfully) opted for the Turkish meatballs instead of the pasta for dinner. It was just too much meat for me! Fairly tasty, though. I also treated myself to another free glass of wine.
I reluctantly finished Into the Woods, and then I watched The Creator (I liked it!), and I started Chocolat, but wasn’t able to finish before we landed because the “time until landing” feature was freaking out. With the full row to myself, I was free to visit the restroom whenever I wanted, look out the window at will, and lay entirely flat for several hours of good sleep! I felt so spoiled! It was honestly such night and day compared to my lack of sleep on my outgoing flights.
Enjoy some fun aerial images and some fun shots from the plane cameras.
(Can you really see the curvature of the Earth when you’re flying a plane this high, or is that just some effect of the camera lens??)
Just before landing, we were served lasagna (got some free red wine this time) and the BEST dessert ever! Apparently it was tres leches cake, but I’m not usually a fan, and this was heavenly. It was extra moist, so it was more like a custard than a cake. So light and just the right amount of sweetness. Gah! Now I’m craving it.
I knew I was home when we landed to grey skies and rain drops on the windows. Woohoo! Hahahaha. I was so thrilled to see Sean after a speedy walk through customs (thanks, Nexus), and I managed to stay awake until 8pm or so before the time difference caught up with me.
All in all, a pretty great journey home! Way less painful than the way there!
And that’s a wrap on my quick trip to Lesotho! I hope to see more of Turkiye another time, but not too shabby for a layover.
Bye for now!
Saygılarımla/ best regards!
-Lizzy-wa