I spent the last 12 hours in Istanbul Turkey! I left Orlando Florida 730am on September 25 and finally get to leave for Riyadh at 930pm on the 26th.
When I departed the plane and entered the terminal, I sought out the Turkish Airline ticket booth to check on my flight to Riyadh. I was mobbed by three women, who appeared to be Turkish. They all were very intrigued by my sisterlocks. They were touching them and overwhelmed me with many questions about them. Once they were satisfied with the answered and verified what they had heard about sisterlocks, they went on their way.
I found out that my flight to Riyadh was cancelled twice, so Turkish Air provided me with a hotel room and 2 meal vouchers. But later, I find out, for a price! What a fiasco with my luggage. I didn't know I had to get the bags from the Delta baggage claim and recheck them in for Turkish Air! I always do carry-ons. My stub had that they were to go all the way to Riyadh. It took Turkish Air 4 hrs to find the bags before finding them in the Lost and Found department! Trust me that was persistence on my part that I was not leaving without my bags...I had all day. The cost to ship...$541!!!
I made a joke to some friends regarding the Tom Hanks movie, Terminal. In the last few hours, I was the cast and headliner in Terminal 2! Between the airport and the hotel, not only did I force the Turkish people to speak better English, but I think they loved and hated to see me go! There is only one incident that could have been an international one and that is when a boy about 12 years old took his gum out of his mouth and tried to hit me with it while I was sitting at the hotel waiting for the van to take me to the airport. He ran off. The hotel staff ran out to see which boy did it. Racial???? Somebody put a thought in that boy's head about something!
Other than that and for the most part, the Turkish were very hospitable. Would I do a vacation there.....maybe not!
All the best,
GMarie
When I departed the plane and entered the terminal, I sought out the Turkish Airline ticket booth to check on my flight to Riyadh. I was mobbed by three women, who appeared to be Turkish. They all were very intrigued by my sisterlocks. They were touching them and overwhelmed me with many questions about them. Once they were satisfied with the answered and verified what they had heard about sisterlocks, they went on their way.
I found out that my flight to Riyadh was cancelled twice, so Turkish Air provided me with a hotel room and 2 meal vouchers. But later, I find out, for a price! What a fiasco with my luggage. I didn't know I had to get the bags from the Delta baggage claim and recheck them in for Turkish Air! I always do carry-ons. My stub had that they were to go all the way to Riyadh. It took Turkish Air 4 hrs to find the bags before finding them in the Lost and Found department! Trust me that was persistence on my part that I was not leaving without my bags...I had all day. The cost to ship...$541!!!
I made a joke to some friends regarding the Tom Hanks movie, Terminal. In the last few hours, I was the cast and headliner in Terminal 2! Between the airport and the hotel, not only did I force the Turkish people to speak better English, but I think they loved and hated to see me go! There is only one incident that could have been an international one and that is when a boy about 12 years old took his gum out of his mouth and tried to hit me with it while I was sitting at the hotel waiting for the van to take me to the airport. He ran off. The hotel staff ran out to see which boy did it. Racial???? Somebody put a thought in that boy's head about something!
Other than that and for the most part, the Turkish were very hospitable. Would I do a vacation there.....maybe not!
All the best,
GMarie