The tourism portion of my journey started in earnest at 3
P.M., local time in India, on Sunday, January 3rd, 2016, as my Uncle
took me on a ride to Bangalore’s (I probably should say Bengaluru, as they have
definitely made an increasingly larger effort to use that name) airport. That
itself was a change, as the ride that for years was so maddening has now
improved with modern roads, an actual working highway cutting down the traffic
tremendously. The airport itself has improved as well on the departures side,
with more modern shopping and eating areas than they had two years back.
My flight was uneventful to Mumbai, a normal 1.5 hour
journey, affixed with a full meal service as per usual on Indian non-low-cost
airlines (I had a great meal on Vistara on my journey down to India). My time
in Mumbai was eventful, more because it was so long. I arrived in Mumbai at
7:30, and my flight out was at 6:50 AM the next day. That gave me more than
enough time to head into ‘town’, back to
Colaba to meet my family. First, though, I had to go to an apartment building I
hadn’t been to in 13 years. For reasons not worth getting into, I had to visit
what used to be my late Aunt and Uncle’s apartment in Santa Cruz (their kids
currently rent it out), and when I stepped into that apartment, somewhat
unchanged over 13 years, I was flooded with a rush of emotions.
I then headed to Colaba, reaching by 8:30 to meet my Aunt
and Cousin who live there, and have been cameo members of previous vacation reviews,
but also my Aunt and her family from Australia (also, oddly, been supporting
players in the Australia section of my RTW diary) and my Uncle who was visiting
from Boston. It was a semi-family reunion, that lasted till 11:30 when my
cousin in India, my two cousins from Australia and I went out to hit the town.
We decided to go up to Lower Parel (staying local would have
afforded us just ~30 minutes or so), to the roof-top bar at the St. Regis,
which affixes right next to the Phoenix Mall – the fact that each of those
places is in an area that 20 years ago was mainly mills is amazing. Sadly for
us, the rooftap bar was closed for a private event, so we went just one floor
down to essentially the lower floor of the rooftap bar, one with
floor-to-ceiling windows showing the Mumbai that hotels like the St. Regis
would want you to see, outfit with tall skyscrapers and glittering lights. The
bar was empty, with as many waiters and/or DJs as us, making it somewhat our
own private event. We stayed there until 2:00 – they said they closed at 3:00.
We were soon enough back in Colaba, with me saying my
goodbyes and taking a 3:30 uber to the airport. Mumbai Airport on the departure
end is truly beautiful now. It can compete with most international airports of
some reknown easily. I spent some time having one last dosa and one last
Kingfisher, and before I knew it we were boarding at 6:25… and boarding again
three and a half hours later.
Our plane towed away from the gate and taxied normally, but
then apparently a flight attendant found a phone underneath a seat. No one
sitting in the area claimed the phone to be theirs, and the flight considered
this to be a security risk, and therefore went back to the gate. The real
strange part about this is not that this happened, but that we wer mostly left
in our seats in the dark for about two hours. We finally disembarked at 9:00,
and made to all go through security while they sweeped the plane. They claimed
the process would take an hour to get back in the plane – instead it took 90
minutes, which was actually less than my expectations. The incident made news
in India, but I’m still amazed what made us have to sit on the plane for two
hours.
We finally left at 11:00, about four hours late. I finally
got to experience Turkish Airlines, and experience it I did. I was somehow put
in Economy Plus, and not like I was upgraded at the gate – I was assigned a
seat that was naturally in Economy Plus. Turkish’s Economy Plus is basically as
good as an average business class. The seats were not lie flat, but pretty
close. The TV screens were huge. The legroom and width were amazing. It was a
great seat to have to be forced to sit in for two hours. I also give Turkish
Airlines a great deal of credit for leaving the entertainment on during that
two hour sit on the tarmac, so for those wanting, they could watch a movie.
My one complaint on that first flight was the food, more so
because of the timing of the flight necessitates breakfast being the only real
meal being served. At its natural time, the flight was supposed to be from
6:50, landing at 10:30 local time. Instead, it was 11:00, landing at 2:30. The
breakfast was good, but I’m sure the food would have been better both if the
timing was improved, and if we were not on a flight to / from India.
Originally, I had a 13 hour layover in Istanbul, more than
enough time to leave the airport and see some of the city. Instead, I had a 9
hour layover. That isn’t bad, but given both the weather (it was raining and 40
degrees), me having already seen the city, and me having a lot of work to do
given my foolishly taking the week off, I decided to stay put in the airport.
In a way I am happy I did as I had a pretty enjoyable layover. Turkish Airlines
has two lounges that anyone can buy a day-pass for. I chose the less expensive
option, but for EUR 20 ($23.00), I was able to get a room with nice chairs,
free Wi-Fi, free appetizers and free wine or beer. That is actually an amazing
deal – one I would recommend anywhere where you have a long layover.
I also wandered to and through the Istanbul airport duty
free and restaurant options, both of which are plenty. The airport is quite
busy, and getting busier and Turkish tries to make the ME3 (Emirates, Etihad,
Qatar) into an ME4, turning Istanbul into more and more of a transit hub. What
is interesting is the airport has sacrificed seating space at the gates to make
their shopping and eating area just massive and end to end. I had ordered just
a couple of kofta kebobs and an Efes beer. Soon enough, it was midnight and
boarding time for my flight to Johannesburg.
The flight to Johannesburg sadly was in regular economy, as
their A330-300 did not have Economy Plus. I did have the first row in economy
so a little extra room. This flight was nine hours (Johannesburg is really far
away from everything), and being from their hub, it was slightly better
service. They had menus for the food – a small little touch that I love, and
the food was overall quite good. They served a nice dinner with beef kebobs,
and then a good continental breakfast before we landed. Turkish Airlines didn’t
do anything to separate itself, and it is definitely below both Etihad and
Emirates for me, but it is a solid airline and one that may be better if I took
one of their main routes (like NYC – Istanbul).
