Living internationally since 1992 means I’ve been on many flights over the years. I mostly enjoy travel days because it means a day with no phone calls, emails, etc. A little break from my life for reflection, reading, and talking with family. I love the fact that our teenage children are trapped with us.
My “day” started at 1:45 AM with the alarm going off after 3 hours of sleep. My home village of Caspian is almost a 3-hour drive to Austin Straubel Airport in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Green Bay is a better option to fly out of than the closer airports of Marquette and Kingsford in my opinion. Despite the longer drive, there are more flights and easier logistics when it comes to checking in luggage and making connections. The only downside today was a 6:01 AM departure from Green Bay to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.
We almost missed the connecting flight. We forgot that most international flights depart out of Terminal 5 at O’Hare Airport, which is located away from the other terminals. We were sleeping and waiting around for a gate announcement in one of the domestic terminals, but it never did come on the departure information boards. Thankfully, Nadia asked some nearby passengers about the Turkish Airlines flight and they reminded us that we needed to go to Terminal 5. When we finally realized that, it was close to boarding time. We had the option of taking the train shuttle, which requires going through security again, or taking an 11:30 AM bus that literally drives between runways. We decided to take the bus which was a mistake. A summer storm temporarily halted flights and planes were backed up. We waited for 25 minutes to cross a particularly busy tarmac route. Finally, the kind pilots of Scandinavian Airlines saw the line of utility vehicles and buses full of travelers and let us pass. We made it to the gate with 5 minutes to spare before they closed boarding. The storm also delayed the departure of the flight which left around 1:30 PM Central time.
The long flight from Chicago to Istanbul was exhausting for me. There was a lot of turbulence and it was hot and stuffy in the plane. We paid to choose our seats (another money-making process for airlines) and had the emergency exit rows which gave me plenty of leg space. I watched Quentin Terantino’s Django which is a great movie. I also watched 65, a science fiction movie starring Adam Driver. It was not good, just him and a girl fighting against dinosaurs. By the time we arrived in Istanbul at 8:00 AM the next day after 9 and 1/2 hours of flight time, I was in rough shape. I get headaches during long travel, no matter how much water I drink. I was also sleepy and had nausea from the bumpy flight.
The Istanbul Airport’s “Yotel Air” is a godsend! We booked two rooms for 7 hours and it allowed me to shower, use the toilet, take a long nap in a comfortable bed, iron my clothes, and feel much better for the last leg. Worth every penny of the 150 Euros! I could have slept a bit more, but am ready to board our final flight, Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Tashkent. The massive airport in Istanbul is beautiful. One downside of the size of the airport is the length of time it takes a plane to taxi from the runway to a terminal. It was about a 20-minute taxi to the terminal. I am always amazed at the variety of human colors and cultures one sees. It is so different from the past 3 weeks we spent in my home village of Caspian where 96% of the population is white. It made me realize again how isolated of a childhood I had. For example, I never heard a foreign language spoken in person until I went to university.
The final leg of 4 and 1/2 hour’s flight was really smooth. I watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes and mostly slept. The flight left around 7:00 PM and we arrived in Tashkent around 2:00 AM on Friday, July 28 with the time change. Not much to note on the flight or our arrival to our home in Tashkent. It was interesting that Turkish Airlines as part of their flight information provided during the flight gave passengers the prayer times and the direction of Mecca. You would not find that on a non-Islamic country’s airline or if the destination was not to an Islamic country. As you can see below, there is 1 minute and 36 seconds until the prayer time and Mecca is 3,528 kilometers to the north west.
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