After wrapping up the Europe part of our trip, Mom and I bid goodbye to hubby and MIL, and continued our travels to the Middle East. Our travel 'bootcamp' continued as we hopped across 5 countries in 6 days - Turkey, Jordan, Oman, U.A.E, Qatar. Thankful that Mom was willing to accompany me to this part of the world as I continued my quest of exploring more new contries. =)
26 May 2025 (Mon): Geneva - Istanbul
After traveling together for 19 days, our group bid goodbye in Holiday Inn Express Geneva Airport as we split up to different destinations. Mom and I are continuing our travels to the Middle East, MIL is heading to Nice (France), while hubby is taking the train to Zurich to catch his flight back to the US.
Mom and I took the 7.30am hotel shuttle to Geneva airport. This hotel was perfect for us because it was super easy to get to the airport. Hubby's train to Zurich was also departing from Zurich Airport.
Arrived Geneva Airport at 7.35am. Check-in for Turkish Airlines was quick and easy. Mom and I offloaded some of our stuffs for hubby to bring home so that we could travel lighter for this part of the trip, knowing that we'll be hopping around a good bit. We booked our business class flights from Geneva - Istanbul - Amman with 20,000 Aeroplan miles + CAD 106 ($74) per person.
We were able to access the Swiss Senator Lounge in Geneva Airport with our business class tickets. The lounge was pretty basic but was good enough for a quick stop and champagne to start the day.
Geneva to Istanbul at 10.25am. This was my first time flying Turkish Airlines. I intentionally chose this flight with a long transit in Istanbul for a quick visit.
Mom actually didn't know that we had business class seats on this flight until we got to our seats (I used my Star Alliance Gold status as an excuse for priority check in an boarding...lol!). Even though this was not a lie-flat seat, Turkish Airlines is still considered to have the best short haul business class in Europe. Welcome drinks were served before we departed.
Goodbye Geneva, goodbye beautiful Switzerland!
The flight attendant gave us the menu for food and beverage for this 3-hour flight. We had fresh fruit salad, croissant, smoked beef, cheese, tomatoes, and dried fig jam for appetizer. For the main meal, we opted for omelette with cottage cheese, marinated olives, and tomatoes. I also tried Turkish coffee.
Landed in rainy Istanbul at 2.40pm. We had about 11 hours transit in Istanbul so the plan was to head out to do some sightseeing in the city before we hop on our next flight. There were quite a lot of people at the immigration but it moved fast and we cleared immigration in 10 minutes. Malaysians don't need visa to visit Turkey and we weren't asked any questions either so it was quick and easy.
Arrived Geneva Airport at 7.35am. Check-in for Turkish Airlines was quick and easy. Mom and I offloaded some of our stuffs for hubby to bring home so that we could travel lighter for this part of the trip, knowing that we'll be hopping around a good bit. We booked our business class flights from Geneva - Istanbul - Amman with 20,000 Aeroplan miles + CAD 106 ($74) per person.
We were able to access the Swiss Senator Lounge in Geneva Airport with our business class tickets. The lounge was pretty basic but was good enough for a quick stop and champagne to start the day.
Geneva to Istanbul at 10.25am. This was my first time flying Turkish Airlines. I intentionally chose this flight with a long transit in Istanbul for a quick visit.
Mom actually didn't know that we had business class seats on this flight until we got to our seats (I used my Star Alliance Gold status as an excuse for priority check in an boarding...lol!). Even though this was not a lie-flat seat, Turkish Airlines is still considered to have the best short haul business class in Europe. Welcome drinks were served before we departed.
Goodbye Geneva, goodbye beautiful Switzerland!
The flight attendant gave us the menu for food and beverage for this 3-hour flight. We had fresh fruit salad, croissant, smoked beef, cheese, tomatoes, and dried fig jam for appetizer. For the main meal, we opted for omelette with cottage cheese, marinated olives, and tomatoes. I also tried Turkish coffee.
Landed in rainy Istanbul at 2.40pm. We had about 11 hours transit in Istanbul so the plan was to head out to do some sightseeing in the city before we hop on our next flight. There were quite a lot of people at the immigration but it moved fast and we cleared immigration in 10 minutes. Malaysians don't need visa to visit Turkey and we weren't asked any questions either so it was quick and easy.
I was hopping to take the Turkish Airlines free transit tour but unfortunately, our award tickets were issued by Air Canada so we were not eligible for the free tour. Participants must have a Turkish Airlines ticket with a ticket number starting with 235 (our tickets started with 014).
Couldn't be lazy with the free transit tour so had to navigate the public transport in Istanbul. Glad I did some homework beforehand. We went to level -2 of the arrival terminal to find the Havaist airport bus. There were many buses with different destinations. Found the 3.50pm bus to Aksaray at Platform 12, and was able to pay for the ride with credit card before boarding the bus.
The bus ride to the city took an hour and cost TRY 275 ($7)/pax each way. The bus was completely full.
Arrived Aksaray bus stop at 4.50pm. Fortunately, the rain stopped and the weather was actually very nice (cool) to walk around. We could have taken the tram but we opted to walk 20 minutes to the Grand Bazaar coz the weather was nice and I was too lazy to figure out how to pay for the tram tickets and didn't bother withdrawing any cash from the ATM either.
First stop...Grand Bazaar, one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. There were so many people there. I'm not a fan of crowded places so we just quickly walked through the bazaar from one end to another in 5 minutes and left.
Couldn't be lazy with the free transit tour so had to navigate the public transport in Istanbul. Glad I did some homework beforehand. We went to level -2 of the arrival terminal to find the Havaist airport bus. There were many buses with different destinations. Found the 3.50pm bus to Aksaray at Platform 12, and was able to pay for the ride with credit card before boarding the bus.
The bus ride to the city took an hour and cost TRY 275 ($7)/pax each way. The bus was completely full.
Arrived Aksaray bus stop at 4.50pm. Fortunately, the rain stopped and the weather was actually very nice (cool) to walk around. We could have taken the tram but we opted to walk 20 minutes to the Grand Bazaar coz the weather was nice and I was too lazy to figure out how to pay for the tram tickets and didn't bother withdrawing any cash from the ATM either.
First stop...Grand Bazaar, one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. There were so many people there. I'm not a fan of crowded places so we just quickly walked through the bazaar from one end to another in 5 minutes and left.
It started raining so it was time to speed up our sightseeing with a quick photo stop of Nuruosmaniya Mosque which was located just outside the bazaar.
2nd stop...Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque), known for its beautiful blue tiles. We made it here just in time for some shelter as it started raining harder.
Entrance to the Blue Mosque is free. We had to take off our shoes but was able to hold them in our hands. Women are also required to cover our heads in the mosque so we conveniently used our rain jacket hoods as head covers...lol!
3rd and final stop...Hagia Sophia Mosque. This was just a quick photo stop. Fortunately, the rain stopped so we were able to continue our 'walking tour'.
Walked 20 minutes back to Aksaray bus stop to take the 7.05pm shuttle bus back to the airport.
Made it back to Istanbul airport at 8pm with a few hours to spare before our 2am flight.
Headed to the Turkish Business Lounge, which we were able to access with our business class tickets. This lounge is huge with plenty of seating areas and food options.
Had dinner, showered, chilled and rested before our late-night flight. I should have napped more coz it is going to be a long day tomorrow.
That's all for our quick transit in Istanbul.
Next stop...Jordan!
No comments:
Post a Comment