TRAVEL | COVID TRAVEL | ISTANBUL | TURKEY
Complications At the Istanbul Airport
In these days of travel, there is a very high chance that screw-ups will happen, even when you think that you are prepared.
A few weeks ago I wrote a post, Riding the Waves of Worry, where I admitted my concerns about our upcoming travels to Turkey. I had read numerous reports from other travelers about how chaotic and hectic it is to travel these days and I was, of course, a bit concerned that we were leaving our safety bubble in Africa, and heading out into what could be a lot of hassle.
However, our experience was very good!
Although we did have one minor annoyance that turned out to be a bit of an inconvenience, surprise, surprise, it had nothing to do with covid!
An early flight
We flew from Entebbe, Uganda to Istanbul, Turkey yesterday. Being that it was a direct flight, we knew that we would already limit problems that could occur with lost baggage and missing connecting flights. So we felt pretty good that the process would go smoothly.
Our flight was to leave at 4:20 am, an ungodly hour to be awake and trying to catch a plane. Our friends dropped us off at the airport at about 10:30 pm after a nice evening having a couple of drinks and dinner by the beach.
I set our alarm for 1:40 am then laid down on a bench seat and quickly went to sleep. After what felt like 5 minutes, Chris shook me by the shoulder.
“Sweetie, it’s 1:40, time to wake up.”
“Already?!” was all that I could reply.
I dragged my dreary body up and we collected our luggage to make our way into the departure terminal.
Our gate was full of weary-looking people from all walks of life. As we all sat and waited for the flight to board, I couldn’t help but think that we all looked like zombies.
Of course, the flight was late. First, the time changed to 4:40, then it was delayed by another 15 minutes. We finally started boarding at about 5:15. By then most children were either sleeping on their parents or were having crying meltdowns. I took note of a mom traveling alone with 8 children and marveled at her patience.
My dad had gifted us points to fly with since my parents haven’t been able to travel for the past couple of years. We were ecstatic when he told us that they were business class tickets! Chris has never flown business class and the last time I did I was a teenager and traveling with my parents. We looked forward to a nice flight complete with all of the luxuries.
With our front row seats, we knew that we would be first off of the plane, first through customs, and first to collect our luggage. It was a dream!
Thanks Dad!
The plane finally left at about 6:15, 2 hours after it was meant to. I was so happy that we didn’t have connecting flights!
We both managed to watch a couple of movies in between bouts of sleep and eating. I think we were fueled by the excitement of leaving Africa after 2 years of being on the continent. We had been anticipating this day for a while, and we looked forward to the glitz and glamour of Istanbul, a lot of good food, and a place where we would fit in a little better.
Arrival in Istanbul
As predicted, we were first off the plane and made our way swiftly through the terminal following the signs for the customs counter.
Now, one thing that I knew we would have to deal with when we arrived to Turkey, was that we would have to purchase our visas on arrival. We don’t do credit cards these days, so we couldn’t do the e-visa online. However, I looked up the information and it said that it was $60USD each.
On our last day in Entebbe, we withdrew the money and changed it into USD to make sure that we had the required amount available. Honestly, I will never understand why all of these countries function in USD.
I wasn’t sure where we would have to purchase our visa, but in our past experiences with doing so we usually did it with the customs agent. So we proceeded to the customs counter being just the third and fourth people in line.
“Do you have your visa?” It was the first question we were asked.
“No, we don’t,” I told him.
“No e-visa?” He confirmed.
“No.”
“You have to go back out to the counter around the corner to purchase it first.”
“Okay, thank you.”
We proceeded back out of the lineup while the rest of our plane filed into the queue behind us.
DOH!
We made our way back out and could see the sign just down the corridor from where we were. We had walked right past it in our quest to find the customs counter.
We approached the window. I could see the list of prices on the agent's window. As I scanned the list I saw Canada at 70USD.
What?
Next to us was an ATM. Of course, we had planned to take money out of the ATM anyways so we could get some local currency, might as well do it now.
I pushed my card in and got the money, horrified to realize that the fee that they charged us was the equivalent of $ 11 USD. Not to mention that my bank back home in Canada charges $5 for foreign withdrawals.
I wasn’t surprised that the only option was to get Turkish Lira. I figured the Visa guy would accept both USD and Lira to purchase the visa.
I approached the counter. “Hello, we need 2 visas for Canada. I have $120 USD and the rest in Turkish Lira.”
“We don’t accept Lira here. You need USD. $140 for both.” He confirmed.
About 20 meters away we could see a foreign exchange counter. We made our way over there.
“Hello, I need to purchase 20 USD,” I told the agent.
After telling me what the price would be in Lira, he asked me for my passport. I pushed it through the window.
He rifled around in his drawer, then spoke to his neighboring agent in Turkish. I could see that something was up.
“We don’t have 20 USD, we only have 15.” He told me as he set 3 $5 bills on the counter. “After that, we only have 50s.”
What the hell? I was aghast that between the two of them they didn’t have one $20 bill. I wasn’t about to exchange my Liras for more USD that I wouldn’t need so asked, “Is there anywhere else in this terminal where we can purchase USD?”
“Yes, there is another counter down that way about 300m.” He told me as he pointed the way.
“Okay, thanks.”
We started to walk down the terminal, passing the customs counter lineup that was now numbering in the hundreds of people. I rolled my eyes.
Our smooth exit from Istanbul airport had certainly been thwarted.
We made our way down to the next exchange counter. We were second in line, and remembering that I would need my passport to do the transaction, I started searching for it. I opened our passport wallet and was aghast to realize that it was not there!
I crouched down on the floor, and went through my purse and everything that I had on hand. No passport.
“Did that guy give me my passport back?” I asked Chris with rising panic. I could have sworn that he did, and was concerned that I somehow dropped it on the floor of the airport.
“I have no idea.” He said.
The lady in front of us cleared the way and the agent told us to approach. “I can’t find my passport,” I told her.
“You can’t find your passport?!” She exclaimed with an astonished look.
“I think I left it at the last exchange counter. We will be back.”
We raced off walking as fast as we could back the 300m to the last counter. We were scouring the ground on our way, wondering if it was dropped.
We almost made it back when the agent I had dealt with, who was now just walking through the terminal, saw us.
“Maam, your passport is at the exchange counter!” He called to us. Breathing a sigh of relief, we made our way there to collect it.
Then, we walked back again the 300m to the other counter.
The lady was relieved to see us and happy that I had found my passport.
We exchanged the money, then made our way to another visa counter that was at that end of the terminal. On our last pass by, we had seen that the lineup at the customs counter had decreased drastically. We hoped that we would make it there before another plane unloaded.
We got our visa stamps in our passports and then proceeded back to customs. All told, we walked almost 1200m just to get the silly $20 exchanged!
I laugh now as I write this because we could have exchanged the money with Chris’ passport when we went all the way to the other exchange counter the first time. But in the panic of not knowing where my passport was, we never thought of it!
We only waited for about 10 minutes in the customs line, thankfully, and then proceeded to the baggage collection. It had been more than an hour since we arrived at that point, and our bags, complete with their priority tags on them, because we were in business class, were now off the carousel and waiting for us on the floor.
We made our way out to the transportation area of the airport and then proceeded to figure out how we were going to get to our hotel. That is another story in and of itself! But at 2:15, 2 hours after we arrived at the airport, we finally were on our way into the excitement of Istanbul!
About Covid
As I know that North America and parts of Europe are still dealing with the onslaught of covid travel, I wanted to report on our covid experience during this leg of our journey. Like much of our time spent in this part of the world these past few years, there was little mention of covid, and certainly, no rules or protocol that was followed.
Turkey has lifted all covid restrictions, and there were very few masks worn on the plane, in airports, or anywhere else that we went on this trip. There was no need for a PCR test and no need for a vaccine certificate.
While walking around Istanbul today, we noted that much less than 1% of people were wearing masks, even on the busy transit trains.
It seems as though covid is officially done in this part of the world.
At least the fear of it has passed.
Travel Conclusion
While I was prepared for a nightmare of travel annoyances for this trip, I was pleasantly surprised that we had no problems at all, except, of course, our visa mishap, which we did attempt to prepare for.
There was no chaos in the airports, no people yelling on the plane, and nothing was out of sorts at all. In fact, one would think that the last two years of chaos had actually never happened.
I chuckle now at my apprehension and the fact that I let other people's nightmare stories give me a certain amount of anxiety before heading out on this trip.
It’s like all things in this life, fearing what we don’t yet know is a complete waste of time and energy.
Thanks for following along on our journey! We are ecstatic to be back in Istanbul and can already see that this was just the medicine we needed.
Stay tuned for more adventures to come!
xo Jill
Hi there, we are 2 Canadians, Jill and Chris from Artistic Voyages. We have been nomadic since 2017 living in numerous different countries, and experiencing the life and diversity of our planet on the ground and firsthand. We paint FREE murals in exchange for accommodation. Consider tipping us on Ko-fi!
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