Home Safe

 03-16-2022

I had a really short nap and then it's time to get dressed for the airport.  Gio is due at 1:30 but he texts me at 1:10 that he is outside! It's cool and we are downstairs in a few minutes with my incredibly heavy suitcase and other stuff.  Ammar and Gio talk about chow-chow puppies and I pretend that I'm not leaving.

It's never as easy as you think.  There's some form that the US requires and that I've never heard of.  Of course there's a lady who can fill that out for fifty lari and when we bring back the form I can have my boarding passes.  And my suitcase, filled with wine bottles, arak, baklava in a heavy case, my Valentine's gift, is overweight!  There's a first time for everything!  Finally we've cleared all the hurdles and I'm legal.  Ammar walks me to the escalator and ... time to go home.

Turkish Air does a terrific job of keeping people fed!  Here's a shot of the breakfast served on a 4:30 a.m. flight that's only a couple of hours long!  Of course when we deplane we have to take a bus to the terminal; but at least it isn't snowing or even raining very hard.

I've mentioned before that the Istanbul airport is the largest in the world.  They have a clearly-marked path for people who are only transiting through which avoids all the COVID restrictions for those who are coming to turkey.  Today the layover is only about two hours which means I only have to wait twenty-five minutes to find out where my next gate is! And it's only about a ten-minute walk to it!  It's good that I'm a early as possible.  I'd forgotten how many checks they have before we can go to the US!  Four different people look at our passports and then they remove almost everything from everyone's carryons and wand us! When it's time for the plane we hop on another bus and climb the stairs to our chariot.

Puppy needs a drink!

You keep watching this board until they finally announce the gate.

This is a ten-hour flight and I've chosen another window seat.  There are two full meals and lots of movies and a small bottle of Turkish wine, which is better than the French merlot but not nearly as lovely as any of the Georgian wines we've been enjoying for three weeks! The films included "A Wrinkle in Time", "Wag the Dog", "Blade Runner 2049", "Ghostbusters", "Jojo Rabbit", and "Best Sellers".  Admittedly I slept through parts of some of them! Interestingly there are no little personal fans on this flight!  I've still got on two long-sleeved shirts from dressing for the snow, and I could use the breeze! And the lady in the middle seat is a bit on the large size!

There's even a printed menu!

breakfast

dinner - there was also a pasta option

ice crystals on the window

We're on time to JFK and I sort of know how this routine goes.  Passport control is a breeze with the GOES card.  It's even easier than the last time because now you don't even insert your passport or give them your fingerprints!  The machine takes your picture and spits out your receipt!! Turn that in and move on to luggage claim!  Then move to another carousel because they told us the wrong one! Take your bag to the luggage drop off point and ask for directions to the Jet Blue ticket counter.  That means crossing the street and upstairs to the plane train to terminal five.  Then another substantial hike and downstairs again. As I'm reading the signs a well-dressed man asks me what I need and assures me that I am welcome to join the line!  (??)  Anyway, when it's finally my turn I get my boarding pass and make sure that my TSA pre-check is there.  Then it's on to security.  They barely look at me or my belongings, which is nice;  but they don't have any bins and my poor little iPhone winds up with a small cracks on the screen from bouncing along the rollers.  It's still functional, so it's all right.

This turns out to be the long layover, about four and a half hours, and there is a delay as the arriving plane is actually at a different gate and has to be cleaned before we can board; but it's finally time to go home.  Just a couple more hours and we're at TPA! Jet Blue gives us a can of soda and a package of cookies.  Not much like TK's offering on a similar flight! Betsy's smiling face greets me, my bag comes pretty quickly, and it isn't long before I'm driving home to my waiting kitty cats.

Home safe!