H escorted us to the commuter train for the airport. We went off with only the smallest of hitches. As stated before, our water filters consistantly attract attention by the screeners. This time, they looked at them so intently and called over so many people that I was worried we wouldn't be able to take them with us. Eventually the screeners did let us through, and we were off to Istanbul. Again.
We made it into Istanbul without a hitch, and followed signs to the international transfer area. Akbar airport is very nice, and we spent our long layover puttering around the duty-free shops and calling home. Oddly enough, even with the plethora of shops, we could not find one single deck of playing cards. We might be in for some looo-ooong trainrides. Besides shopping and calling, we had some choice people-watching. The airport was FULL of holy men. Most were wearing all white wrap garments (sort of like heavy cotton man saris), plus an African holy man in his embroidered outfit, all escorted by vieled women. Ramadan is starting, but these men weren't fasting - unless brownies don't count as breaking fast. Does anyone know of any really important holy event happening around Istanbul or somewhere that Turkish Air might be flying?
When the time came to board the flight to Delhi, our visas were checked, our tickets stamped, and into the plane we went. It was like a trans-atlantic flight in seat layout, and unfortunately we were stuck in the middle row. Also in our row was a gregarious young Indian man who is part of the couch-surfing network. We may get in touch with him once we are in India if we decide to go to his neighborhood.We landed in Delhi at 3:30 in the morning. Our book had warned that the arrivals hall would be utter madness at this our because most international flights arrive in the wee small hours, but the baggage claim area was nearly empty. We settled into chairs with our packs, and decided to wait for daylight to venture out into the big, bad world. For that, next post!
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