Day 241: Waiting for our bags

Thanks, Havas Ground Handling Company for being the absolute worst company in the world. Ok, maybe that’s harsh, but we spent the entire day hanging out at Juliet and Daniel’s apartment waiting for our bags.

They did not arrive.

Instead of posting a video of how annoyed we were at Havas, I put a video and pictures up of the back streets between Taksim and Istiklal. We were here another day and I had so much fun walking around (especially after it was practically forbidden in South Africa) that I took more than enough video and pictures for one day! Enjoy!

About the bags:

When we called in the morning, we were told they would arrive at two o’clock. When we called at five o’clock, we were told they would arrive at six o’clock. Then they called us around nine o’clock to tell us our bags were on their way.

They did not arrive.

Thank God we had friends we were able to stay with, because the silver lining to this day was that it did not cost us as much as it could have if we weren’t staying with friends and didn’t have access to their kitchen.

Day 239: Cape Town to Jo-burg to Abu Dhabi to Istanbul

Four different airports and three flights over the span of twenty-four hours sounds like a chore, but after some of our epic bus rides through Africa, it really didn’t feel so bad. Our flights were rather uneventful. I wish I could say the same for the airports, but they were all a bit of a hassle.

Joburg changed gates for multiple flights and people (including us) were running around confused and trying to prepare themselves for the possibility of missing their flight. Luckily we made it and were fortunate enough to accompany half of China on our flight to Abu Dhabi. The poor flight attendants were extraordinarily patient. Andrew and I were extraordinarily immature, wide-eyed at the women in front of us eating their pudding desert with a knife. There are spoons in China. There were also spoons on our trays. We didn’t get it.

Abu-Dhabi, while beautiful, had a ridiculous amount of people crammed in one terminal, unwilling to go to their gate as additional long lines for security checks would have prevented them from sneaking back out for a snack or a bathroom. The security checks were frustrating. I thought one woman was going to lose it, but she managed to keep it together after we were shuffled from one line to another only to realize we were split up into two lines to then merge back into one line. Andrew had to go in and out of the scanner because something kept beeping on him.

It was here, where we think he lost his baggage ticket repeatedly trying to empty his empty pockets for security.

Once we arrived in Istanbul, we waited at baggage claim before realizing our bags did not arrive with us. A seemingly competent third party ground services company helped us file a report. We were told to call later with details of where our bags were.

We were nearly two hours late meeting Juliet in Taksim Square. I was counting on her not still being there waiting for us, but low and behold, she was. (What a wonderful friend, right?) We made our way to her house for a restful night of dinner and drinks in after a day of jumping continents.