Day 1: We fly to Istanbul en-route to Indonesia
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An afternoon departure from Heathrow,
connecting, in Istanbul, to a late night flight
to Denpasar, Bali.
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Saturday 22nd August 2026
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We took an Uber from
our house to Heathrow's Terminal 2 and after checking in
at the Turkish Airlines desk, we were directed to the United
Airlines Club lounge to await our flight departure. We've
been to nicer lounges on our travels, but it wasn't bad. |
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From the lounge we spotted
our plane arriving at a nearby gate. |
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The boarding process
was efficient and we departed on time. We were impressed
by the greeting we received and the seats we had chosen.
Bruce was even more impressed by having access to the plane's
three cameras so that he could watch and film the take off.
The video shows some of the landmarks he spotted as we were
ascending. |
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This was the view moments
after take off. |
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A bit of research later
and Bruce was able to match his photo to some actual landmarks. |
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Shortly afterwards and
now using the "downward" camera, we flew directly
over Wimbledon Village, but not quite over our house. What
is striking is how dry everything looked after more than
two months of no rain. |
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The satellite image
confirmed what Bruce thought he was looking at, including
Rushmere Pond, which had significantly more water in it
at the time the satellite image was taken. |
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The menu for this afternoon's
flight looked interesting. |
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We both had the same
starter. Geoff was particularly impressed with the artichoke
bottoms and make a mental note to see if he could find some
when we got home (he did!). |
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After landing at Istanbul's huge airport,
our plane seemed to do a tour of the airport before arriving
at the gate almost twenty minutes later.
After disembarking, we were surprised
and pleased to be ushered straight into the departure
concourse for our onward flight. We thought we might have
had to go through security screening beforehand. (It didn't
happen like that on the way back). It didn't stop us having
to walk a long way to the airport's central hub area,
however.
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The view from the Turkish
Airlines business class lounge. |
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We had a wait of around
two hours for our next flight and we weren't very hungry,
but of course, when in Türkiye, it would impolite not
to have some delicious Turkish Delight! |
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After an hour and a
half in the calm and spacious lounge, we took another long
walk to the departure gate for our flight to Denpasar, Bali. |
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Once on board, we were
pleasantly surprised to be introduced to a charming chef,
who came round to discuss our meal options. Looking at the
menu, it was clear that Turkish Airlines offers a much more
comprehensive service on its long-haul flights than on its
shorter European routes, with a greater choice of meals
and wines.
As it was almost midnight local time and we had already
eaten dinner on our previous flight, neither of us was particularly
interested in eating again. Geoff, in fact, went straight
to sleep! Bruce, however, mindful that this was going to
be a twelve-hour flight, thought he could manage something
and chose the lamb dish, but skipped dessert. It turned
out to be delicious.
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Afterwards, he too fell
into a lovely sleep anticipating the excitement that tomorrow
would bring. |
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